JavaFX - Using Progressbar on dynamically loaded Gridpane - javafx

Question

I'm using a GridPane, where I'm loading my data from a DB to the Pane, creating rows and columns dynamically. It works fine, but sometimes, if there is a lot of stuff (about 30 rows and 30 columns, and every cell has a EventListener) to load, it takes more than a second to see the loaded stuff.
So, I thought, that it will be great to add a ProgressBar or a ProgressIndicator. I tried that, but I realized that it does not depend on the loops, which are filling and creating the dynamic GridPane, but on the fact that the "loading and applying" takes a lot of time. My ProgressIndicator jumps from 0 to 100 and that's not what I want.
Do you have some ideas how to solve that problem? I read some articles about Preloaders, and I'm looking for a similar functionality, but I can't use Preloaders for that problem.
Best regards,
Edit: Now I got a solution, which works, but I don't think that someone else would write such code :S.
I created a class called LoaderDienstplan:
public class LoaderDienstplan extends Task {
//Some member variables for starting call() method
#Override
protected Object[] call() throws Exception{
// calling DB and service
updateProgress(1,1);
return; // Returning an ObjectArray with Lists,Data and a reference to my Controllerclass
}
#Override
public void run(){
final Object[] b = call();
Platform.runLater(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run(){
//Updating GridPane
}
});
}
}

Answer 1

public class LoaderDienstplan extends Task {
MyInterface listener;
//Some member variables for starting call() method
#Override
protected Object[] call() throws Exception{
// calling DB and service
updateProgress(1,1);
return; // Returning an ObjectArray with Lists,Data and a reference to my Controllerclass
}
public void setListener(MyInterface listener) {
this.listener = listener;
}
#Override
public void run() {
final Object[] b = call();
Platform.runLater(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run() {
//Updating GridPane
listener.updateGUI(something);
}
});
}
}
And the interface:
public interface MyInterface {
void updateGUI(Something something);
void loadingFinished();
}
And from your Controller class, must implements MyInterface:
LoaderDienstplan load = new LoaderDienstplan(...);
load.setListener(this);
Make this class:
public class Loader implements Runnable {
private final MyController listener;
private final List<File> stuff;
public DoubleProperty progressProperty;
public Loader(MyController listener, List<File> stuffToLoad) {
this.stuff = stuffToLoad;
progressProperty = new SimpleDoubleProperty();
this.listener = listener;
}
private void updateProgress(double value, double max) {
progressProperty.set(value / max);
}
public DoubleProperty progressProperty() {
return progressProperty;
}
#Override
public void run() {
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
//load the stuffs
}
});
//each time you load another stuff, do:
updateProgress(index, totalAmountOfStuffs);
//when finished, do:
listener.finished();
}
}
Put a veil and an indicator around the GridPane, like this (i made the veil (Region) and indicator (ProgressIndicator) from the JavaFX SceneBuilder):
//lets say your progress indicator is called progressIndicator and the shaded `Region` is called veil
progressIndicator.setMaxSize(150, 150);
veil.setStyle("-fx-background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4)");
And run the Loader class from another thread like this:
private void startLoading() {
progressIndicator.setVisible(true);
veil.setVisible(true);
Loader loader = new Loader(this, stuffToLoad);
progressIndicator.progressProperty().bind(loader.progressProperty());
new Thread(loader).start();
}
#Override
public void finished() {
progressIndicator.setVisible(false);
veil.setVisible(false);
}
What it looks like for me: