Remove Top-Level Container on Runtime

Question

Unfortunately, it looks like this recently closed question was not well understood. Here is the typical output:

run:
    Trying to Remove JDialog
    Remove          


        

Answer 1

I have completely reworked your example:

• I have simplified what was not needed (setLocation(), unused constructor...)
• I have removed the code that triggers a WINDOW_CLOSING event (useless)
• I have removed code that resets all windows to visible again (which would prevent GC on them)
• I have used a javax.swing.Timer instead of a Thread for disposing of the dialog
• I have used a Thread for forcing GC (not a good idea in the EDT)
• I have modified the final success criterion to check that Window.getWindows() is 2 (not 1), because in Swing, if you open a dialog with no parent, then a special invisible frame will be created to use it as parent (for all ownerless dialogs actually), once created, that frame cannot be removed.

The resulting snippet follows:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;

public class RemoveDialogOnRuntime extends JFrame {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    private boolean runProcess;
    private int maxLoop = 0;
    private Timer timer;

    public RemoveDialogOnRuntime() {
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 300));
        setTitle("Remove Dialog On Runtime");
        setLocation(150, 150);
        pack();
        setVisible(true);
        addNewDialog();
    }

    private void addNewDialog() {
        DialogRemove firstDialog = new DialogRemove();
        remWins();
    }

    private void remWins() {
        runProcess = true;
        timer = new Timer(1000, new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                if (runProcess) {
                    for (Window win: Window.getWindows()) {
                        if (win instanceof JDialog) {
                            System.out.println("    Trying to Remove JDialog");
                            win.dispose();
                        }
                    }
                    System.out.println("    Remove Cycle Done :-)");
                    runProcess = false;
                    new Thread() {
                        @Override
                        public void run() {
                            try {
                                Thread.sleep(100);
                            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                                e.printStackTrace();
                            }
                            Runtime.getRuntime().gc();
                        }
                    }.start();
                } else {
                    pastRemWins();
                    runProcess = true;
                }
            }
        });
        timer.setRepeats(true);
        timer.start();
    }

    private void pastRemWins() {
        System.out.println("    Checking if still exists any of TopLayoutContainers");
        Window[] wins = Window.getWindows();
        for (int i = 0; i < wins.length; i++) {
            if (wins[i] instanceof JFrame) {
                System.out.println("JFrame");
            } else if (wins[i] instanceof JDialog) {
                System.out.println("JDialog");
            } else {
                System.out.println(wins[i].getClass().getSimpleName());
            }
        }
        // We must expect 2 windows here: this (RemoveDialogOnRuntime) and the parent of all parentless dialogs
        if (wins.length > 2) {
            wins = null;
            maxLoop++;
            if (maxLoop <= 3) {
                System.out.println("    Will Try Remove Dialog again, CycleNo. " + maxLoop);
                System.out.println(" -----------------------------------------------------------");
                remWins();
            } else {
                System.out.println(" -----------------------------------------------------------");
                System.out.println("*** End of Cycle Without Success, Exit App ***");
                closeMe();
            }
        } else {
            timer.stop();
        }
    }

    private void closeMe() {
        System.exit(0);
    }

    private class DialogRemove extends JDialog {

        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

        private DialogRemove() {
            setTitle("SecondDialog");
            setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 200));
            setDefaultCloseOperation(JDialog.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
            setModalityType(Dialog.ModalityType.MODELESS);
            pack();
            setVisible(true);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                RemoveDialogOnRuntime superConstructor = new RemoveDialogOnRuntime();
            }
        });
    }
}

The important conclusions are:

• You can't remove the invisible frame created by Swing as parent of all ownerless dialogs
• You have to force a GC for the disposed dialog to be removed from Window.getWindows() (that one looks like a bug to me but I think the reason is that Swing keeps a WeakReference to all windows, and this WeakReference is not released until a GC has occurred.

Hope this gives a clear and complete answer to your problem.