swing - Create a plain message box that disappears after a few seconds in Java -

i wonder best approach make joptionpane style plain message box disappear after being displayed set amount of seconds.

i thinking fire separate thread (which uses timer) main gui thread this, main gui can carry on processing other events etc. how make message box in separate thread disappear , terminate thread properly. thanks.

edit: come following solutions posted below

package util;  import java.awt.borderlayout; import java.awt.dimension; import java.awt.event.actionevent; import java.awt.event.actionlistener;  import javax.swing.jframe; import javax.swing.jlabel; import javax.swing.swingconstants; import javax.swing.timer;  public class disappearingmessage implements actionlistener {     private final int one_second = 1000;      private timer timer;     private jframe frame;     private jlabel msglabel;  public disappearingmessage (string str, int seconds)  { frame = new jframe ("test message"); msglabel = new jlabel (str, swingconstants.center); msglabel.setpreferredsize(new dimension(600, 400));  timer = new timer (this.one_second * seconds, this); // need fire once make message box disappear timer.setrepeats(false); }  /**  * start timer  */ public void start () { // make message box appear , start timer frame.getcontentpane().add(msglabel, borderlayout.center); frame.pack(); frame.setlocationrelativeto(null);  frame.setvisible(true);  timer.start(); }  /**  * handling event fired timer  */ public void actionperformed (actionevent event) { // stop timer , kill message box timer.stop(); frame.dispose(); }  public static void main (string[] args) { disappearingmessage dm = new disappearingmessage("test", 5); dm.start(); } } 

now question that, cam going create multiple instances of class throughout course of interaction between user , main gui, wonder whether dispose() method cleans every time. otherwise, may end accumulating lots of redundant objects in memory. thanks.

i think in situation, can't use of joptionpane static methods (showx...). have create joptionpane instance instead, create jdialog , show jdialog yourself. once have jdialog, can force visibility.

// replace joptionpane.showxxxx(args) new joptionpane(args) joptionpane pane = new joptionpane(...); final jdialog dialog = pane.createdialog("title"); timer timer = new timer(delay, new actionlistener() {     public void actionperformed(actionevent e) {         dialog.setvisible(false);         // or maybe you'll need dialog.dispose() instead?     } }); timer.setrepeats(false); timer.start(); dialog.setvisible(true); 

i haven't tried can't guarantee works think should ;-)

of course, here timer javax.swing.timer, else mentioned, you're sure action run in edt , won't have problem creating or terminating own thread.