Delay of the swing timer.

Question

I’m making a little game that flashes some images in order on the frame, my goal is that they blink in order, but they’re all flashing together:

public class Logica {

    List<Integer> seqAlea = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    List<Integer> seqInsere = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    Random geraNumero = new Random();
    Timer timer = new Timer(1500, null);

    public void comecaJogo() {
        for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
            numero = geraNumero.nextInt(4) + 1;
            seqAlea.add(numero);
        }
    }

    public void piscaImagen(ImageIcon img1, ImageIcon img1b, JLabel lbl) {
        timer.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            int count = 0;
            @Override               
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
                if(lbl.getIcon() != img1){
                    lbl.setIcon(img1);
                } else {
                    lbl.setIcon(img1b);
                }
                count++;
                if(count == 2){
                    ((Timer)evt.getSource()).stop();
                }
            }
        });
        timer.setInitialDelay(1250);
        timer.start();
    }

On the frame is:

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;

public class Main extends JFrame implements ActionListener {

JLabel lblImg1 = new JLabel();
JButton btnImg1 = new JButton("Economize Energia");
final URL resource1 = getClass().getResource("/br/unip/IMGs/img1.jpg");
final URL resource1b = getClass().getResource("/br/unip/IMGs/img1_b.png");
ImageIcon img1 = new ImageIcon(resource1);
ImageIcon img1b = new ImageIcon(resource1b);

JButton btnImg2 = new JButton("Preserve o Meio Ambiente");
JLabel lblImg2 = new JLabel("");
final URL resource2 = getClass().getResource("/br/unip/IMGs/img2.jpg");
final URL resource2b = getClass().getResource("/br/unip/IMGs/img2_b.jpg");
ImageIcon img2 = new ImageIcon(resource2);
ImageIcon img2b = new ImageIcon(resource2b);

JButton btnImg3 = new JButton("N\u00E3o \u00E0 polui\u00E7\u00E3o!");
JLabel lblImg3 = new JLabel("");
final URL resource3 = getClass().getResource("/br/unip/IMGs/img3.jpg");
final URL resource3b = getClass().getResource("/br/unip/IMGs/img3_b.jpg");
ImageIcon img3 = new ImageIcon(resource3);
ImageIcon img3b = new ImageIcon(resource3b);

JButton btnImg4 = new JButton("Recicle!");
JLabel lblImg4 = new JLabel("");
final URL resource4 = getClass().getResource("/br/unip/IMGs/img4.jpg");
final URL resource4b = getClass().getResource("/br/unip/IMGs/img4_b.jpg");
ImageIcon img4 = new ImageIcon(resource4);
ImageIcon img4b = new ImageIcon(resource4b);

Logica jogo = new Logica();

JButton btnComecar = new JButton("Come\u00E7ar");

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Main window = new Main();
    window.setVisible(true);

}

public Main() {

    setBounds(100, 100, 800, 600);
    setLayout(null);
    setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

    lblImg1.setIcon(img1b);
    lblImg1.setBounds(78, 48, 250, 200);
    btnImg1.setBounds(153, 259, 89, 23);
    btnImg1.addActionListener(this);
    add(lblImg1);       
    add(btnImg1);

    btnImg2.setBounds(456, 259, 186, 23);
    btnImg2.addActionListener(this);
    lblImg2.setIcon(img2b);
    lblImg2.setBounds(421, 48, 250, 200);
    add(btnImg2);
    add(lblImg2);

    btnImg3.setBounds(114, 525, 186, 23);
    btnImg3.addActionListener(this);
    lblImg3.setIcon(img3b);
    lblImg3.setBounds(78, 314, 250, 200);
    add(lblImg3);
    add(btnImg3);

    btnImg4.setBounds(456, 525, 186, 23);
    btnImg4.addActionListener(this);
    lblImg4.setIcon(img4b);
    lblImg4.setBounds(421, 314, 250, 200);
    add(lblImg4);
    add(btnImg4);

    btnComecar.setBounds(68, 14, 89, 23);
    btnComecar.addActionListener(this);
    add(btnComecar);

}

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
    if (e.getSource().equals(btnImg1)) {
        jogo.piscaImagen(img1, img1b, lblImg1, 500);
    }  else if (e.getSource().equals(btnComecar)) {
        jogo.comecaJogo();
        System.out.println(jogo.seqAlea);
        for (int i = 0; i < jogo.seqAlea.size(); i++) {
            switch (jogo.seqAlea.get(i)) {
            case 1:
                System.out.println("Posição: " + i + " " + jogo.seqAlea.get(i));
                jogo.piscaImagen(img1, img1b, lblImg1, 500);
                break;
            case 2:
                System.out.println("Posição: " + i + " " + jogo.seqAlea.get(i));
                jogo.piscaImagen(img2, img2b, lblImg2, 1000);
                break;
            case 3:
                System.out.println("Posição: " + i + " " + jogo.seqAlea.get(i));
                jogo.piscaImagen(img3, img3b, lblImg3, 1500);
                break;
            case 4:
                System.out.println("Posição: " + i + " " + jogo.seqAlea.get(i));
                jogo.piscaImagen(img4, img4b, lblImg4, 2000);
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

}

How can I make the images blink in order?

Answer 1

One of the ways to solve the problem is to assign a delay different initial for each animation, e.g:

public void piscaImagen(ImageIcon img1, ImageIcon img1b, JLabel lbl, int initialDelay) {
    Timer timer = new Timer(1500, null);
    timer.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
        // Mesmo código da pergunta
    });
    timer.setInitialDelay(initialDelay);
    timer.start();
}

And on the switch:

for (int i = 0; i < jogo.seqAlea.size(); i++) {
    System.out.println(jogo.seqAlea.get(i));
    switch (jogo.seqAlea.get(i)) {
    case 1:
        jogo.piscaImagen(img1, img1b, lblImg1, 0);
        break;
    case 2:
        jogo.piscaImagen(img2, img2b, lblImg2, 500);
        break;
    case 3:
        jogo.piscaImagen(img3, img3b, lblImg3, 1000);
        break;
    case 4:
        jogo.piscaImagen(img4, img4b, lblImg4, 1500);
        break;
    }
}

This way each image will start flashing half a second after the previous one (you can increase the delay as needed).