Unable to figureout why repaint(); is not doing its job

[Gajendra Kangokar]

hi
i have a code which takes values from xml file and repaint() is called for each new value

public class LimbMovement extends Applet implements ActionListener {
	public static String SwitchValue;
	public void init(){
		setSize(400,900);
		setBackground(Color.white);
		SwitchValue="1";
		JButton jb =new JButton("click");
		jb.setVisible(true);
		add(jb);
		jb.addActionListener(this);
			
	}

	
	public void paint(Graphics g){		
		System.out.println("entered paint");
		switch(SwitchValue)
		{
	       case "1":	    	   
	    	            g.setColor(Color.black);
	   	  	    g.drawOval(50, 50, 100, 100);		
	   		    g.drawLine(100, 150, 100, 300);
		            g.drawLine(100, 150, 50, 225);//left hand
                            g.drawLine(100, 150, 150, 225);//right hand	    
                            g.drawLine(100, 300, 95, 375);//right leg
 		            g.drawLine(100, 300, 105, 375);//right leg
		       break;
		       
	       case "2":	    	   
	    	            g.setColor(Color.black);
	   		    g.drawOval(50, 50, 100, 100);		
	   		    g.drawLine(100, 150, 100, 300);
		            g.drawLine(100, 150, 50, 225);//left hand
                            g.drawLine(100, 150, 150, 225);//right hand	    
                            g.drawLine(100, 300, 75, 375);//right leg
  		            g.drawLine(100, 300, 105, 375);//right leg                
		       break;
		       
	       case "3":	    	   
	    	            g.setColor(Color.black);
	   		    g.drawOval(50, 50, 100, 100);		
	   		    g.drawLine(100, 150, 100, 300);
		            g.drawLine(100, 150, 50, 225);//left hand
                            g.drawLine(100, 150, 150, 225);//right hand	    
                            g.drawLine(100, 300, 85, 375);//right leg
  		            g.drawLine(100, 300, 125, 375);//right leg
               
		       break;			   
	    	   default:
	    		   g.drawString("just checking",50,100);
	    		   break;	       	 
		}        		
	}
	
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {	 
		
			try{
				
				File fXmlFile = new File("movements.xml");
				DocumentBuilderFactory dbFactory =DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
				DocumentBuilder dBuilder =dbFactory.newDocumentBuilder();
				Document doc = dBuilder.parse(fXmlFile);
				
				
				doc.getDocumentElement().normalize();
				System.out.println("root element :" +doc.getDocumentElement().getNodeName());
			        NodeList nList =doc.getElementsByTagName("limb");
			        System.out.println("-------------------------");
			        System.out.println("nlist length is "+nList.getLength());
			        for(int temp =0;temp<nList.getLength();temp++)
			     {
			    	Node nNode =nList.item(temp);
			    	System.out.println("\nCurrent Element :"+nNode.getNodeName());
			    	if(nNode.getNodeType()==Node.ELEMENT_NODE)
			    	{
			    		
			    		Element eElement =(Element) nNode;
			    		System.out.println("limb id : "+eElement.getAttribute("id"));
			    		
			    		
			    		SwitchValue = eElement.getElementsByTagName("value1").item(0).getTextContent();
			    		repaint(); //line 1
				        Thread.sleep(2000);
			   //------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
					SwitchValue = eElement.getElementsByTagName("value2").item(0).getTextContent();
					repaint();	//line 2		  
			    	        Thread.sleep(2000);
		      //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

			    		SwitchValue = eElement.getElementsByTagName("value3").item(0).getTextContent();
			    	        repaint();//line 3			    		  
			    		Thread.sleep(2000);
	         //---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------		    		
					}
				 }
			    } 
			     catch (Exception e1) 
			    {
				   e1.printStackTrace();
			    }
		}
		
}

but after the control reaches line 1 to call repaint(); ,the control is not entering paint method
same thing is happening in line 2.
but at the end of loop when control reaches repaint(); at line 3 the paint method is called and correct output is got in the applet.
my question is why reapint(); is not working in line 1 and 2.
how to solve this.

Thank you

[Ulf Dittmer]

Code running on the event thread (like event handlers) need to return quickly - calling Thread.sleep is a particularly bad idea. You should start a separate thread in which you perform all these actions.

[Gajendra Kangokar]

yes, i used threads now and am getting the desired output.
thanks a lot