Hi

I'm making an end-user application which generates pdfs based on user input. Depending on the complexity of the input the pdf files can take a really long time to save, and the application gets stuck during that time.

I was wondering if there is a way to make this more user friendly. 2 specific questions (based on Java inexperience, I'm afraid)

- Can I make the pdf saving on a thread? and if so, where could I find good references for doing that (I think simple thread usage in processing could do).

- Is there a way to add a progress bar to the process? I don't really need components or so. I would be fine if I find a way to retrieve the savedBytes during the process.

Any pointers greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot

mm, from your response I infer (and now it looks obvious) that most of the time is spent computating the pdf rather than saving it to disk... I guess I'll have to put that process (createGraphics rather than save) on a thread. correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll check the tutorial. It looks less scary with your tips

thanks a lot

there's no way to change it without recompiling, the buffer is set to 16384 (16kb) inside beginDraw() if you wanna futz with it. for an 600k file i'm guessing 16k will be a decent buffer size, but you're obviously welcome to mess with it a bit. you could probably even just make a new tab, and do:

Code:

import processing.pdf.*;

public class BigPDF extends PGraphicsPDF {
  public void beginDraw() {
    // contents of beginDraw() with your changes goes here
  }
}
 

and then in your main code:

size(800, 800, "BigPDF");

and see if that lets you change it without recompiling pdf.jar.