Wait doesn't allow the JFrame to update

Question

In my program, I need to wait for the user to input from a JFrame. When the user is done with the first input they press a JButton. This calls a constructor for a Class I made: HumanTrainer. In the constructor I need the user to have more inputs. I made two functions to wait and notify. But when the code gets to wait, everything freezes, and the JFrame doesn't update to what it should.

This is the action the first button preforms

startingButton.addActionListener((e)->{
        Trainer[]t=new Trainer[2];//HumanTrainer extends Trainer
        String[]names=new String[2];
        for(int a=0;a<2;a++)
            names[a]=((JTextField)(startingInputs[2][1+a])).getText();
        grid.removeAll();//The JPanel that the Frame has
        Frame.repaint();//The JFrame
        Frame.validate();
        if(isHuman[0])
            t[0]=new HumanTrainer(names[0],grid,Frame);//The constructor
        if(isHuman[1])
            t[1]=new HumanTrainer(names[1],grid,Frame);

    });

And the constructor for HumanTrainer

HumanTrainer(String name,JPanel grid,JFrame Frame){
    super(name);

    GridBagConstraints manager=new GridBagConstraints();
    manager.gridx=0;
    manager.gridy=0;
    manager.gridheight=1;
    manager.gridwidth=1;
    manager.fill=GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
    Font Format=new Font("Courier New",Font.PLAIN,14);

    JButton cont=new JButton("Continue");//This is the button that when clicked should run the function that notifies

    grid.add(cont,manager);

    grid.repaint();//One of these four things SHOULD change the view of the frame
    grid.validate();
    Frame.repaint();
    Frame.validate();

    System.out.print("TEST");//This prints
    cont.addActionListener((e)->{
        made();//This is a function contained in HumanTrainer that only calls notify();
    });
    make();//This is a function contained in HumanTrainer that only calls wait(); With the proper try and catch
}

But when starterButton is pressed the screen freezes and doesn't update so that cont can be pressed.

Answer 1

Start by taking a look at Concurrency in Swing. Swing uses a single thread to dispatch it's events from, if you perform any long running or blocking operation from within the EDT (like calling wait), then it freeze your program and the user will have to terminate it.

You have two basic choices. You can either use a modal dialog to gather information from the user, see How to Make Dialogs, which will block the execution of the code at the point they are displayed, without blocking the entire EDT OR use a observer pattern, which can generate notifications that the user has provided what ever information you are expecting.

To be honest, a modal dialog is generally easier and can help prevent unexpected side effects

This...

make();//This is a function contained in HumanTrainer that only calls wait(); With the proper try and catch

would seem to be the core of your problem, but without more information and context of what you are trying to do, it's impossible to really suggest what you should do, however I'd recommend having a look at model-view-controller and seperare your code into more appropriate layers