JavaFX stop() method freezing GUI - user-interface

I have an application that uses the stop() method to do cleanup tasks (close threads, free up resources, etc). That cleanup is all encapsulated into one Task object and that task's progress is bound to ProgressBar and Label components, like so (note that the headless value is obtained from reading a config file and just means that the user has chose to run the app with no GUI, in this case it's obviously set to false) :
CompleteShutdownTask task = new CompleteShutdownTask();
if (!headless)
{
ProgressBar progressBar = statusBar.getProgressBar();
progressBar.progressProperty().unbind();
progressBar.progressProperty().bind(task.progressProperty());
Label progressLabel = statusBar.getProgressLabel();
progressLabel.textProperty().unbind();
progressLabel.textProperty().bind(task.messageProperty());
}
I know this logic works because I also have an initialization task bound to these components in the exact same way when the program starts and that works fine. My issue is that the task runs fine but the GUI becomes completely unresponsive while the stop() method runs. I even have a super simple method to disable the buttons while this runs and even that doesn't work, the GUI is completely frozen while stop() executes.
Is it normal for this sort of GUI freezing to occur while the stop() method executes?

Related

Finish workflow when activity goes wrong

I have a workflow that executes a couple of activities. When the activity finish, it returns an Outcome either Done or Cancel, from outside and before running the next activity, I need to check if the previous activity was ok or not, in case not, I need to cancel the workflow. I have this
public class CreateEmployee : IWorkflow
{
public void Build(IWorkflowBuilder builder)
{
builder
.WithDisplayName(this.GetType().Name)
.Then<GetDataById>(x => x.WithDisplayName(x.ActivityType.Name))
.When(OutcomeNames.Cancel).Finish()
.Then<InsertEmployee>(x => x.WithDisplayName(x.ActivityType.Name))
.When(OutcomeNames.Cancel).Finish()
.Then<InsertMapping>(x => x.WithDisplayName(x.ActivityType.Name))
.When(OutcomeNames.Cancel).Finish();
}
}
For example, after executing activity GetDataById, if the return is "Cancel", I call Finish(), is this going to stop just the activity and continue the workflow or the workflow will stop completely? I'm not able to test it because I'm using DI and I need to prepare the whole unit test, because I didn't find anything directly related to cancel the whole workflow
I'm not sure if I have fully understood your question, but in the documentation about finish activity it's stated that:
when this activity is used within a workflow, the workflow instance
will enter the Finished state. When used in a child composite
activity, that activity will stop execution and yield back control to
its container. However, it will not stop workflow execution itself.

Spring #Async cancel and start?

I have a spring MVC app where a user can kick off a Report generation via button click. This process could take few minutes ~ 10-20 mins.
I use springs #Async annotation around the service call so that report generation happens asynchronously. While I pop a message to user indicating job is currently running.
Now What I want to do is, if another user (Admin) can kick off Report generation via the button which should cancel/stop currently running #Async task and restart the new task.
To do this, I call the
.. ..
future = getCurrentTask(id); // returns the current task for given report id
if (!future.isDone())
future.cancel(true);
service.generateReport(id);
How can make it so that "service.generateReport" waits while the future cancel task kills all the running threads?
According to the documentation, after i call future.cancel(true), isDone will return true as well as isCancelled will return true. So there is no way of knowing the job is actually cancelled.
I can only start new report generation when old one is cancelled or completed so that it would not dirty data.
From documentation about cancel() method,
Subsequent calls to isCancelled() will always return true if this method returned true
Try this.
future = getCurrentTask(id); // returns the current task for given report id
if (!future.isDone()){
boolean terminatedImmediately=future.cancel(true);
if(terminatedImmediately)
service.generateReport(id);
else
//Inform user existing job couldn't be stopped.And to try again later
}
Assuming the code above runs in thread A, and your recently cancelled report is running in thread B, then you need thread A to stop before service.generateReport(id) and wait until thread B is completes / cancelled.
One approach to achieve this is to use Semaphore. Assuming there can be only 1 report running concurrently, first create a semaphore object acccessible by all threads (normally on the report runner service class)
Semaphore semaphore = new Semaphore(1);
At any point on your code where you need to run the report, call the acquire() method. This method will block until a permit is available. Similarly when the report execution is finished / cancelled, make sure release() is called. Release method will put the permit back and wakes up other waiting thread.
semaphore.acquire();
// run report..
semaphore.release();

android: AsyncTask onPostExecute keep working even if start new activity on doInBackground

i am building an application for clients to get questions from server and answer it, if the server doesn't have questions i want to go to new screen and print message that try again in few minutes, getting questions is in AsyncTask , if the server doesn't have questions , it will sends in the header of the responds, a header isFindAQuestion with the value false, here is the code on client to ensure if false , i print on LogCat and i see the message = false, but my problems that even if i start new activity with the intent, this activity keep working and show me exception and it is null pointer exception because on the onPostExceute will take a parmeter null and try to process it, i put finish() in the end of false statement but doesn't finish the activity
if (response.getFirstHeader("isFindAQuestion").getValue()
.toString().equals("false")) {
Log.d("message", "false");
Bundle basket = new Bundle();
basket.putString("Message", "sorry no enought questions");
Intent goToAnswerQuestion = new Intent(AnswerQuestion.this,
FinishTime.class);
goToAnswerQuestion.putExtras(basket);
startActivity(goToAnswerQuestion);
finish();
}
Editis it because AsyncTask is working on thread so if the activity is finished, that thread will keep working? and if so how can i stop that thread?
doInBackground is not executed in the UI thread, but in a separeted thread:
invoked on the background thread immediately after onPreExecute()
finishes executing. This step is used to perform background
computation that can take a long time.
If you want to stop your background operation and perform some activities on the UI thread the better thing is to call cancel() and then perform all the stuff you want in the onCancelled callback wich is executed on the UI thread.
From the AsyncTask documentation:
A task can be cancelled at any time by invoking cancel(boolean).
Invoking this method will cause subsequent calls to isCancelled() to return true. After invoking this method, onCancelled(Object), instead of onPostExecute(Object) will be invoked after doInBackground(Object[]) returns.
To ensure that a task is cancelled as quickly as possible, you should always check the return value of isCancelled() periodically from doInBackground(Object[]), if possible (inside a loop for instance.)
protected void onCancelled (Result result)
Runs on the UI thread after cancel(boolean) is invoked and doInBackground(Object[]) has finished.
The default implementation simply invokes onCancelled() and ignores the result. If you write your own implementation, do not call super.onCancelled(result).

Eclipse RCP: Display.getDefault().asyncExec still blocking my GUI

I have a simple viewPart offering some text fields to enter parameters for a selenium test. After filling out these fields the user may start the test which approx. needs 30-45 minutes to run. I want my GUI to be alive during this test giving users the chance to do other things. I need a progress monitor.
I tried to put the selenium test in a job containing Display.getDefault().asyncExec to run it. But my GUI freezes after some seconds giving the busyindicator. The selenium does not update any other view but the progress monitor.
Is there another way to ensure that the job wont block my GUI?
Best,
Mirco
Everything executed in (a)syncExec is using the display thread and therefore blocking your UI until it returns. I suggest you use Eclipse Jobs. This will use the progress indicator that the workbench already offers out of the box.
I would suggest to split your code into code that updates the UI and the code that executes other business. Execute all of it in a separate thread, and when you need to retrieve or set some action to the UI then use the "Display.getDefault().asyncExec".
Thread thread = new Thread("Testing") {
// some shared members
public void run() {
someBusiness();
// or use syncExec if you need your thread
// to wait for the action to finish
Display.getDefault().asyncExec(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// UI stuff here
// data retrieval
// values setting
// actions trigging
// but no business
}
});
someBusiness();
};
thread.start();

Windows Forms: thread safe access to GUI?

in the last hours I've struggled with delegates and accessing Windows Forms controls (C++) where I've used this tutorial (the first thread safe method): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171728.aspx#Y190
Changing TextBoxes and Labels works perfectly but when I want to show or hide the whole GUI from another thread this fails.
I use the following methode (which is part of the GUI class):
System::Void UI::showUI(boolean value) {
if (this->InvokeRequired) {
SetTextDelegate^ d = gcnew SetTextDelegate(this, &UI::showUI);
this->Invoke(d, gcnew array<Object^> { value });
} else {
if (value == true)
this->Show();
else
this->Hide();
}
}
In the first call the if-clause is true so Invoke is called. But usually the showUI method should be called a second time automatically where the if-clause returns false, but this is not happening. So the GUI is neither shown nor hiden.
Is it necessary to show/hide the GUI with a delegate or can I do it from every possible thread? If a delegate is necessary, why is showUI not executed a second time?
Thanks,
Martin
edit: okay the name SetTextDelegate is not appropriate but this is not the point...
This is a pretty standard case of deadlock, not uncommon with Control::Invoke(). It can only proceed if the UI thread is not busy. Use Debug + Windows + Threads and double-click the Main thread. Look at the call stack to see what it is doing. The typical case is that it is blocking, waiting for the thread to finish the job. That will never happen since the thread can't complete until the Invoke() call returns.
Don't block the UI thread.
Consider using BackgroundWorker, its RunworkerCompleted event is nice to do stuff after the thread completes, removing the need to block.

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