Accelerating graphics updates

[Surfy]

Hi all,

I've developing a Map component at present and I'm experiencing problems when updating the Map and it's contents to reflect the user's interaction.

At present I have a Map (JPanel) that contains Nodes (JLabel) and Edges (JComponent). The Edge component is basically a line between 2 Nodes.

When the Map is lightly populated with 5-10 Nodes and a several Edges the updates (painting), triggered from a user dragging a Node to a new location, are within the perceived scope of real-time. But as the number of Nodes increases 50+ the dragging operation really suffers; the Node stutters around the screen behind the cursor.

I wondered if I was doing anything obviously wrong, or there is a natural point at which Java can't handle the repainting. I need to use Swing for the components to acknowledge the mouse events, tooltips and other UI details.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks,
Peter

[Harley Rana]

Hi that sounds like an iteresting problem.
When you say a Map component, im not sure what you mean.  Nodes and edges, sounds like your making a Tree.  

So as a node is being moved its kids position is also being updated, and this is whats sucking time?

Its hard to say what the problem is with out some more details of your programs stucture.

The only thing i could think is to update the kids only at the end of the dragging, if your not doing it already.  Mabye setDoubleBuffered(false) might help.

Share some of the code or design and we might be able to help more.
Harley.