I have created a GUI Java menu using a pull down menu in which I want to have the date and time show up. I am currently getting null for my time value and I think it is because I am not refreshing this each time I calculate my time in my thread, but I'm not 100% sure. I was asked by my instructor to use a thread rather than possibly use the timer function that is available. Any help that can be provided would be greatly appreciated...Here is my code:

import java.awt.*; 
import javax.swing.*; 
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

public class Test extends JFrame 
 { 

     String Current_Date = getDate(); 
     String Current_Time;
     getTime a1 = new getTime(); 

     JLabel Date = new JLabel(Current_Date); 	  
     JLabel Time = new JLabel(Current_Time);

     JMenuItem OptionA = new JMenuItem("Linear Measure");
     JMenuItem OptionB = new JMenuItem("Area"); 
     JMenuItem OptionC = new JMenuItem("Temperature"); 
     JMenuItem OptionD = new JMenuItem("Weight"); 
     JMenuItem OptionE = new JMenuItem("Volume and Liquid"); 
     JMenuItem OptionF = new JMenuItem("Speed"); 

     public static void main(String[] arguments)
      { 
       Test frame = new Test();
      } 

     public Test()
      { 

	 setLocation(50, 100);
         setSize(500, 600); 

	 setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
	 //JMenu ConvT = new JMenu("Conversion Tables " +
         //                        "                                             " +
         //                        Current_Date +
         //                        "                                              " +
         //                        Current_Time); 
	 
	 JMenu ConvT = new JMenu();
	 ConvT.setText("Conversion Tables " +
                       "                                             " +
                       Current_Date +
                       "                                              " +
                       Current_Time); 

	 ConvT.add(OptionA);
	 ConvT.add(OptionB);
	 ConvT.add(OptionC);
	 ConvT.add(OptionD);
 	 ConvT.add(OptionE);
	 ConvT.add(OptionF);
 	 JMenuBar JMB = new JMenuBar();
         JMB.add(ConvT);
	 setJMenuBar(JMB);
	 setVisible(true);

      }
 
	String getDate()
         {
	  String Date;
	  /* get current Date  */
          Calendar now = Calendar.getInstance();
          int month = now.get(Calendar.MONTH) + 1;
          int day = now.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH);
          int year = now.get(Calendar.YEAR);

          Date = month + "/" + day + "/" + year;
          return Date;
         } 

	public class getTime extends Thread
	 {
	   private boolean keepGoing;
	   String Time;

	   public getTime()
	    {
      	      keepGoing = true;
	      start();
   	    }

   	   private void pause(double seconds)
	    {
      	      try
	       {
         	 Thread.sleep((int)(seconds*1000));
      	       } catch (InterruptedException ie)
		 {
      		 }
	    }

	public void run()
         {
      	   while (keepGoing)
	    {
	
              Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();

              int intHour = c.get(Calendar.HOUR);
              int intMinute = c.get(Calendar.MINUTE);
              int intSecond = c.get(Calendar.SECOND);

  	      String hour = format(intHour);
              String minute = format(intMinute);
              String second = format(intSecond);

	      Test.this.Time.setText(hour + ":" + minute + ":" + second);
	      //Time = hour + ":" + minute + ":" + second;
	      
              pause(1.0);

	    }
         }

	/* Verifies the size of an int and adds a leading 0 if */
	/*  it is smaller than two characters (10).            */
             String format(int i1)
	      {
                if (i1 < 10)
                 {
                   String s2 = "0" + i1;
                   return s2;
                 }
                   return "" + i1;
                 }

}
}

Make the component that shows the time a self contained bean.
Create something that inherits from JPanel or JComponent and use that as your base, then display the time on there.
Give it a thread that updates the component, then goes to sleep for a while (a second would be logical, but you might want an update interval a bit longer to save system resources and display only minutes).

You can then just drop that component into your application and it should work (and it should work in any application...).

Initialise the thread when you initialise the canvas on which the time is to be displayed and it will immediately start working.

The entire thing will be self contained, so no need for outside interference (as an extra feature you might want to have a way to retrieve the current time in the component and maybe some options to set fonts and colours for the display but that's eyecandy and not needed for core functionality so don't add those initially).

I'm not sure what you mean..I just learned a bit about threads in class this week and my instructor wants us to use them in some form. May I please ask that you show me what you mean? :confused:

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