Question

public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
    //Invoked when a mouse button has been pressed on a component.
    if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1) {
        isDown = true;
        System.out.println("isDown is now true");
    }
    if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON3) {
        isDown2 = true;
        System.out.println("isDown2 is now true");
    }
    do {
        Point location = MouseInfo.getPointerInfo().getLocation(); 
        int x = location.x - (drawingPanel.getLocationOnScreen()).x;
        int y = location.y - (drawingPanel.getLocationOnScreen()).y;
        drawingPanel.paint(drawingPanel.getGraphics(), (x - (x % 20) - 1), (y - (y % 20) - 1), 19, 19);
    } while (isDown);
    System.out.println("Mouse has been pressed down.");
}

public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {
    //Invoked when a mouse button has been released on a component.
    if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1) {
        isDown = false;
        System.out.println("isDown is now false");
    }
    if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON3) {
        isDown2 = false;
        System.out.println("isDown2 is now false");
    }
    System.out.println("Mouse has been released.");
}

This is what I have so far. My original intentions were to design the code so that the boolean isDown would be set to true when the mouse was pressed down and then I would have the while loop run while isDown is true. If the mouse button is released, I would set isDown to false in order to terminate the while loop.

What I am messing up here? Is it not possible for two MouseEvent methods to be running at the same time? The change in the isDown boolean variable is not being registered and I have an infinite while loop on my hands.

Answer 1

This is a classic violation of the Event Dispatching Thread.

All UI code is run from within a single thread. All events are dispatched the UI from this same thread, meaning that should you block this thread (using a loop or other blocking operation), no events will be dispatched. This will make your program look like it’s hung.

Take a look at Concurrency in Swing for more details.

What you really should be doing is using a MouseMoitionListener to track drag events instead. Check out How to use Mouse Listeners for more details.

This drawingPanel.paint(drawingPanel.getGraphics(), (x - (x % 20) - 1), (y - (y % 20) - 1), 19, 19); also worries me to no end.

You should never be using getGraphics to perform custom painting. getGraphics can return null and is only a snap shot of the last paint cycle. Any painting done using this method will be removed/cleaned when another repaint occurs.

You should be creating a custom component (such as a JPanel) and overriding it’s paintComponent method and performing any painting you need in it. Check out Performing Custom Painting for more details

Example

public class MouseDraggedTest {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new MouseDraggedTest();
    }

    public MouseDraggedTest() {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                try {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
                } catch (Exception ex) {
                }

                JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                frame.add(new TestPane());
                frame.pack();
                frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                frame.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }

    public class TestPane extends JPanel {

        private Map<Point, List<Point>> mapPoints;
        private Point currentPoint;

        public TestPane() {
            mapPoints = new HashMap<>(25);
            MouseAdapter mouseListener = new MouseAdapter() {
                @Override
                public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
                    currentPoint = e.getPoint();
                    mapPoints.put(currentPoint, new ArrayList<Point>(25));
                }

                @Override
                public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {
                    List<Point> points = mapPoints.get(currentPoint);
                    if (points.isEmpty()) {
                        mapPoints.remove(currentPoint);
                    }
                    currentPoint = null;
                }

                @Override
                public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent me) {
                    List<Point> points = mapPoints.get(currentPoint);
                    points.add(me.getPoint());
                    repaint();
                }
            };
            addMouseListener(mouseListener);
            addMouseMotionListener(mouseListener);
        }

        @Override
        public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
            return new Dimension(200, 200);
        }

        @Override
        protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
            super.paintComponent(g);

            for (Point startPoint : mapPoints.keySet()) {
                List<Point> points = mapPoints.get(startPoint);
                for (Point p : points) {
                    if (startPoint != null) {
                        g.drawLine(startPoint.x, startPoint.y, p.x, p.y);
                    }
                    startPoint = p;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}