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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-04T16:17:30+00:00

So at this stage I have a server and a client where each of

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So at this stage I have a server and a client where each of them has both input and output stream.

I am implementing a video streamer using VLC wrapper. Basically, when I choose a video on the client, it sends a string of the object the server should expect to receive next. (videoFile/commentWrite/ratingWrite). It sends all of those three objects on choosing a video so it updates the stream, updates the comment box and the rating box.

The problem now is that when I need to send those headers and receive data I have to use something like:

        replyToServer.writeObject("videoFile");
        replyToServer.writeObject(selectedVideo);       

        //get comments
        listening();

        //get rating
        listening();

So it’s hard coding by knowing in front know many replies your are expecting. Moreover, what if you want to receive something from the server at any point of your work on client, but you cannot use a simple while loop to check on listening() function as it will block all the other functionality.

PS. listener is structured like:

public void listening() throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
    String mode = null;
            // blocks the process till gets the output.
        mode =  (String) inputFromServer.readObject();
        System.out.println("Mode Received:" +mode);

    if (mode.equals("videoList")) {
        getListFromSocket();
    } else if [.....]

So… So I understood that it could be done by using threads. I haven’t really done much threads using Java, but is it possible to make some kind of interrupt on (String) inputFromServer.readObject(); or inputFromServer.available() So as soon as it sees that there is something on the stream it jumps to the listening() function?

UPDATE:

by using lxx code I noticed that the null exception I am receiving is due to updating the gui. I have a function updateComments in that listening();. Everything seems to be working fine as I see the comments etc. But still it shows those null exceptions in the console…

    public void updateComments(List<Comment> commentList) {



    commentLabel.setText("<html><div style='width:130px; border: 1px solid black; list-style-type: none; text-align:left;'>");
    if (commentList.size() == 0) {

         commentLabel.setText(commentLabel.getText()+"<font style='font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;  font-weight:normal; color:#444;  font-size:9px;'>No comments...</font><br>");

    } else {

    for (Comment tempComment : commentList) {

         commentLabel.setText(commentLabel.getText()+"<div style='margin:3px;'><font style='font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;  font-size:9px; color:#333;'>"+tempComment.getUser()+":</font><br>");
         commentLabel.setText(commentLabel.getText()+"<font style='font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif; font-weight:normal; font-size:8px;'>"+tempComment.getText()+"</font><br>");
         commentLabel.setText(commentLabel.getText()+"<font style='font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif; font-weight:normal; font-size:7px;'><i>"+tempComment.getDate()+"</i></font></div><hr>");
    }


    }
     commentLabel.setText(commentLabel.getText()+"</div></html>");

}
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Why not put listening(), or a loop which calls listening (your blocking operations) in a Thread:

    new Thread(new Runnable() {

    @Override
    public void run() {
        listening();

    }

}).start();

    This way the blocking operations are in a separate thread and your main code continues executing normally.

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