Hi there, I've had some problems with a project over the past few days that collects and displays tweets to a 3D Earth using Twitter4j. I'm quite a new programmer so I'm learning as I go and this forum has become a great resource.

Essentially I have a string that is updated to be the latest tweet that is stored within a hashmap. The hashmap is updated when I run a search using Twitter4J for a particular keyword and the string is then displayed to the screen. This gives me a brief look at various tweets that are being stored in the hashmap but ultimately it displays the last one stored after about 3 seconds which is all much too fast for my user experience. So I was wondering if there was a way to slow down the Twitter4J query so that the string displays the located tweet for say 5 seconds before querying again and changing the content of the string that is displayed? I've tried adjusting the thread's wait integer but to no avail.

Here is my program:

import processing.core.*;
import processing.xml.*;
 
//import javax.media.opengl.*;
//import processing.opengl.*;
 
import controlP5.*;
import peasy.org.apache.commons.math.*;
import peasy.*;
import peasy.org.apache.commons.math.geometry.*;
 
 
import twitter4j.conf.*;
import twitter4j.internal.async.*;
import twitter4j.internal.org.json.*;
import twitter4j.internal.logging.*;
import twitter4j.http.*;
import twitter4j.api.*;
import twitter4j.util.*;
import twitter4j.internal.http.*;
import twitter4j.*;
 
import toxi.geom.*;
import toxi.processing.*;
 
import peasy.*;
 
 
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Frame;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.FocusEvent;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.zip.*;
import java.util.regex.*;
 
import twitter4j.internal.util.*;
import twitter4j.api.*;
import toxi.geom.mesh.*;
import peasy.org.apache.commons.math.geometry.*;
import twitter4j.util.*;
import peasy.org.apache.commons.math.*;
import twitter4j.*;
import toxi.geom.mesh2d.*;
import peasy.*;
import twitter4j.internal.org.json.*;
import twitter4j.internal.logging.*;
import toxi.util.datatypes.*;
import toxi.math.waves.*;
import toxi.geom.mesh.subdiv.*;
import toxi.geom.*;
import toxi.util.events.*;
import processing.xml.*;
import processing.core.*;
import twitter4j.conf.*;
import twitter4j.internal.async.*;
import peasy.test.*;
import toxi.math.conversion.*;
import twitter4j.internal.http.*;
import toxi.math.noise.*;
import toxi.processing.*;
import toxi.util.*;
import twitter4j.http.*;
import controlP5.*;
//import processing.opengl.*;
import toxi.math.*;
 
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Frame;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.FocusEvent;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.zip.*;
import java.util.regex.*;
 
public class CityCTRLa extends PApplet {
 
boolean a = true;
boolean button = false;
boolean buttona = false;

 
int x = 750;
int y = 106;
int w = 20;
int h = 20;
 
int xa = 750;
int ya = 50;
int wa = 20;
int ha = 20;
 
PImage bg, texmap;
PFont font;
 
int sDetail = 55;  //Sphere detail
float[] cx, cz, sphereX, sphereY, sphereZ;
float sinLUT[], cosLUT[], sincos_precision = 0.5f;
int sincos_length = PApplet.parseInt(360.0f / sincos_precision);
 
float r = 600;
 
// r = earth radius in px. 6371 is earth radius in km.
float pxToKm = 6371.0f / r;
int inRange;
 
 
 
String searchString;
String searchState = "";
 
String consumerKey = "5cO4mwCxSzh2IDixU6rKEg";
String consumerSecret = "vL3YbYclatCdFNcDzBds8BMX87mCxSqSdn0YFh8XA";
String accessToken = "319951547-kPyfRlb9MHt2LwjEtIsR2uaqAvH49dQvj5nR4gyQ";
String accessTokenSecret = "V7juyEfTgWGbeMAaVJRbiZdwJB3bCDHHPmClKN5l0";
PeasyCam cam;
PeasyDragHandler PanDragHandler;
PFont imhelix;
ControlP5 controlP5;
PMatrix3D currCameraMatrix;
//final String SEARCH_QUERY="hello";
final int TIME_STEP = 1;
final int NUM_SEARCHES = 25;
 
final long DAY_DURATION = 1000*60*60*24;
Twitter twitter = new TwitterFactory().getInstance();
HashMap<Long,Tweet> tweets=new HashMap<Long,Tweet>();
Iterator i = tweets.entrySet().iterator();  // Get an iterator
ToxiclibsSupport gfx;
SimpleThread thread1;
 
public void setup(){
 
searchString = "";
imageMode(CENTER);
 
controlP5 = new ControlP5(this);
 
cam = new PeasyCam(this, 1500);
cam.setMinimumDistance(750);
cam.setMaximumDistance(2000);
cam.rotateZ(-HALF_PI);
cam.rotateZ(-HALF_PI);
cam.rotateY(HALF_PI);
cam.rotateY(HALF_PI);
cam.rotateX(QUARTER_PI);
cam.setResetOnDoubleClick(false);
cam.setCenterDragHandler(null);
 
bezierDetail(30);
 
font = createFont("ArialNarrow", 20);
textFont(font);
 
twitter = new TwitterFactory().getOAuthAuthorizedInstance(consumerKey,consumerSecret, new AccessToken(accessToken,accessTokenSecret));
size(864,400,P3D);
 //hint(DISABLE_OPENGL_ERROR_REPORT);
 
frameRate(30);
  rectMode(CENTER);
  texmap = loadImage("world32kb.jpg");
  initializeSphere(sDetail);
 
gfx=new ToxiclibsSupport(this);
//searchTwitter(SEARCH_QUERY);
 
thread1 = new SimpleThread(1000,"a");
thread1.start();
 
controlP5 = new ControlP5(this);
 
}
 
 
public void hud(PeasyCam cam)
{
  cam.beginHUD();
  pushMatrix();
  translate(100, height-120, 0);
  fill(255, 200);
  noStroke();
  textSize(16);
  fill(242,242,242); 
 
  float tw = textWidth(searchString);
  fill(210,210,210);
  noStroke();
 // rect(-90,107,tw+10,20);
  fill (175);
  rect (x, y, w, h);
 
 
  fill(242,242,242);
  text(searchString, -90, 107);
   textSize(16);
 text(tweets.toString(), 28, -168,240,200);
 
 
  
 

 
  stroke(242,242,242);
  if(second()%2 == 0)
    line(tw+-82, 107, tw+-87, 107);
   
  if(searchState.equals("nomatches")){   
    stroke(0);
    noFill();
    rect(1,30, 65, 30);
    fill(0, 200);
    text("No matches!", 8, 50);
  }
  if(searchState.equals("fail")){
    stroke(0);
    noFill();
    rect(1,30, 170, 30);
    fill(0, 200);
    text("Parameterless search is not allowed!", 8, 50);
   
   
  }
  popMatrix();
  cam.endHUD();
 
}
 
public void searchTwitter(String searchQuery) {
      twitter4j.Query query = new twitter4j.Query(searchQuery);
       //twitter4j.Query.setGeoCode(new GeoLocation(52.30, 13.25), 1000.0, twitter4j.Query.KILOMETERS); // if we want to only get tweets from the region berlin
  
      query.rpp(100);
      Date referenceDate=new Date();
       for(int i=0; i<NUM_SEARCHES; i++) {

        String d=new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").format(referenceDate);
        //println("executing search for date: "+d);
        query.until(d);
        // execute search
        try {
          QueryResult result = twitter.search(query);
            for (Tweet tweet : result.getTweets()) {
            // first check if ID is unique?
            if (tweets.get(tweet.getId())==null) {
              // filter out tweets with GPS loc
              GeoLocation loc=tweet.getGeoLocation();
              if (loc!=null) {
                tweets.put(tweet.getId(),tweet);
               
                //println("adding tweet: "+tweet);
              }
            } else {
              //println("skipping: "+tweet.getId());
            }
          }
        }
        catch(TwitterException e) {
          println(e.getMessage());
        }
        referenceDate.setTime(referenceDate.getTime()-TIME_STEP*DAY_DURATION);
      }
    }
   
public void draw() {
 
 
 directionalLight(255, 255, 255, 0, -1, 0);
 //lights();
 ambientLight(255, 255, 255);
translate(80, 50, 0);
float fov = PI/3.0f;
float cameraZ = (height/2.0f) / tan(fov/2.0f);
perspective(fov, PApplet.parseFloat(width)/PApplet.parseFloat(height),
cameraZ/40.0f, cameraZ*40.0f);
 
inRange = 0;
 
background(25,25,25);
 
renderGlobe();
stroke(255);

 
//gfx.origin(300);
      
//searchTwitter(SEARCH_QUERY);
int a = thread1.getCount();
text(a,10,50);
 
// iterate over all collected tweets
      for(Tweet tweet : tweets.values()) {
        GeoLocation loc=tweet.getGeoLocation();
        // convert geo location into cartesian world coordinates
        Vec3D p=new Vec3D(600,radians((float)loc.getLongitude())-HALF_PI,radians((float)loc.getLatitude())).toCartesian();
        // create a box at the computed position
        AABB box=new AABB(p,2);
        noStroke();
        fill(255,120,0);
        // draw box at position
        gfx.box(box);
       
      
       
      // text(tweets,15,15);
    
       
 
  
       fill(255);
       
controlP5.draw(); }
          hud(cam);
                  }
 
class SimpleThread extends Thread {
        boolean running;           // Is the thread running?  Yes or no?
        int wait;                  // How many milliseconds should we wait in between executions?
        String id;                 // Thread name
        int count;                 // counter
        boolean doSearch = false;  // search trigger
 
 public boolean getRunning(){
    return running;
 }
 
 
  // Constructor, create the thread
  // It is not running by default
        SimpleThread (int w, String s) {
          wait = w;
          running = false;
          id = s;
          count = 0;
        }
       
       public void start () {
    // Set running equal to true
    running = true;
    // Print messages
    println("Starting thread (will execute every " + wait + " milliseconds.)");
    // Do whatever start does in Thread, don't forget this!
    super.start();
  }
 
 
   // We must implement run, this gets triggered by start()
 public void run () {
    while (running) {
      if (doSearch) {
      
        searchTwitter(searchString);
       
     
           println("Search for " + searchString + " done");
       
        doSearch = false;
       
    
      }
     // println(id + ": " + count);
      count++;
      // Ok, let's wait for however long we should wait
     
//      try {
//        sleep((long)(wait));
//      } catch (Exception e) {
//      }
    }
    System.out.println(id + ": thread is done!");  // The thread is done when we get to the end of run()
  }
 
  public void search() {
     doSearch = true;
 
  }
 
  public int getCount() {
    return count;
  }
  public void quit() {
    System.out.println("Quitting.");
    running = false;  // Setting running to false ends the loop in run()
    // IUn case the thread is waiting. . .
    interrupt();
  }
      }
     
 
public void keyPressed() {
 
     if(((key>='A')&&(key<='Z')) || ((key>='a')&&(key<='z')) || ((key>='0')&&(key<='9')) || (key==' ')){
          searchString += key;
       
    } 
 
 
//  if(key == DELETE && thread1.getRunning()){
//    println(searchString);
//    thread1.quit();
//
//  }
 
  else if(key == ENTER){thread1.search();
  searching = true;
  }
   
   if(key == BACKSPACE){
    if(searchString.length()>0)
      searchString = searchString.substring(0,searchString.length()-1);
  }

  }
 
 


 
 

 
public void renderGlobe()
{
  pushMatrix();
  translate(0,0,0);
 
 
  fill(255);
  stroke(0);
  //sphere(r);
  noFill();
  pushMatrix();
  rotateY(radians(-90));
  rotateZ(radians(180));
  noStroke();
  textureMode(IMAGE); 
  texturedSphere(r, texmap);
  popMatrix(); 
  popMatrix();
}
 
// Converts 3D cartesian coordinates to polar coordinates
//
// theVector : vector to convert
// returns   : vector containing 'length', 'angleY' and 'angleZ',
//             so that rotating a point (length, 0, 0) first 
//             around the y-axis with angleY and then around the 
//             z-axis with angleZ results again in point (x, y, z)
 
public PVector cartesianToPolar(PVector theVector) {
  PVector res = new PVector();
  res.x = theVector.mag();
  if (res.x > 0) {
    res.y = -atan2(theVector.z, theVector.x);
    res.z = asin(theVector.y / res.x);
  }
  else {
    res.y = 0;
    res.z = 0;
  }
  return res;
}
class Satellite {
  float lat, lng, x, y, z, elevation;
  String[] positions;
  int id;
 
  Satellite(int id, float _lat, float _lng, float _elevation) {
    this.id = id;
    elevation = _elevation;
    lat = radians(_lat);
    lng = radians(90f-_lng);
    positions = new String[0];
  }
 
  public void display() {
    lat += .001f;
    //lng += .008;
 
    pushMatrix();
    translate(x, y, z);
    fill(255);
    stroke(0);
    box(20);
    float[] rotations = cam.getRotations();
    rotateX(rotations[0]);
    rotateY(rotations[1]);
    rotateZ(rotations[2]);
    text("Satellite #" + id + "\n" + lat + "\n" + lng, 20, 0);
    fill(255);
    popMatrix();
 
 
  }
 
}
 
class locationOnGlobe {
  float lat, lng, x, y, z;
 
  locationOnGlobe(float _lat, float _lng) {
    lat = radians(_lat);
    lng = radians(90f-_lng);
  }
 
  public void display() {
    lng += random(0.001f, 0.0005f);
 
    pushMatrix();
    translate(x, y, z);
    fill(255, 0, 0);
    noStroke();
    sphere(10);
    popMatrix();
 
 
 
    update();
  }
 
  public void update() {
    x = r*cos(lat)*cos(lng);
    y = r*cos(lat)*sin(lng);
    z = r*sin(lat);
  }
}
 
public void initializeSphere(int res)
{
  sinLUT = new float[sincos_length];
  cosLUT = new float[sincos_length];
  for (int i = 0; i < sincos_length; i++) {
    sinLUT[i] = (float) Math.sin(i * DEG_TO_RAD * sincos_precision);
    cosLUT[i] = (float) Math.cos(i * DEG_TO_RAD * sincos_precision);
  }
  float delta = (float)sincos_length/res;
  float[] cx = new float[res];
  float[] cz = new float[res];
 
  // Calc unit circle in XZ plane
  for (int i = 0; i < res; i++) {
    cx[i] = -cosLUT[(int) (i*delta) % sincos_length];
    cz[i] = sinLUT[(int) (i*delta) % sincos_length];
  }
 
  // Computing vertexlist vertexlist starts at south pole
  int vertCount = res * (res-1) + 2;
  int currVert = 0;
 
  // Re-init arrays to store vertices
  sphereX = new float[vertCount];
  sphereY = new float[vertCount];
  sphereZ = new float[vertCount];
  float angle_step = (sincos_length*0.5f)/res;
  float angle = angle_step;
 
  // Step along Y axis
  for (int i = 1; i < res; i++) {
    float curradius = sinLUT[(int) angle % sincos_length];
    float currY = -cosLUT[(int) angle % sincos_length];
    for (int j = 0; j < res; j++) {
      sphereX[currVert] = cx[j] * curradius;
      sphereY[currVert] = currY;
      sphereZ[currVert++] = cz[j] * curradius;
    }
    angle += angle_step;
  }
  sDetail = res;
}
 
 
public void texturedSphere(float r, PImage t)
{
  int v1,v11,v2;
  beginShape(TRIANGLE_STRIP);
  texture(t);
  float iu=(float)(t.width-1)/(sDetail);
  float iv=(float)(t.height-1)/(sDetail);
  float u=0,v=iv;
  for (int i = 0; i < sDetail; i++) {
    vertex(0, -r, 0,u,0);
    vertex(sphereX[i]*r, sphereY[i]*r, sphereZ[i]*r, u, v);
    u+=iu;
  }
  vertex(0, -r, 0,u,0);
  vertex(sphereX[0]*r, sphereY[0]*r, sphereZ[0]*r, u, v);
  endShape();  
 
  // Middle rings
  int voff = 0;
  for(int i = 2; i < sDetail; i++) {
    v1=v11=voff;
    voff += sDetail;
    v2=voff;
    u=0;
    beginShape(TRIANGLE_STRIP);
    texture(t);
    for (int j = 0; j < sDetail; j++) {
      vertex(sphereX[v1]*r, sphereY[v1]*r, sphereZ[v1++]*r, u, v);
      vertex(sphereX[v2]*r, sphereY[v2]*r, sphereZ[v2++]*r, u, v+iv);
      u+=iu;
    }
 
    // Close each ring
    v1=v11;
    v2=voff;
    vertex(sphereX[v1]*r, sphereY[v1]*r, sphereZ[v1]*r, u, v);
    vertex(sphereX[v2]*r, sphereY[v2]*r, sphereZ[v2]*r, u, v+iv);
    endShape();
    v+=iv;
  }
  u=0;
 
  // Add the northern cap
  beginShape(TRIANGLE_STRIP);
  texture(t);
  for (int i = 0; i < sDetail; i++) {
    v2 = voff + i;
    vertex(sphereX[v2]*r, sphereY[v2]*r, sphereZ[v2]*r, u, v);
    vertex(0, r, 0,u,v+iv);   
    u+=iu;
  }
  //vertex(0, r, 0,u, v+iv);
  vertex(sphereX[voff]*r, sphereY[voff]*r, sphereZ[voff]*r, u, v);
  endShape();
}
 
 
 
  static public void main(String args[]) {
    PApplet.main(new String[] { "--bgcolor=#c0c0c0", "CityCTRLa" });
  }
}

Many thanks for your assistance.