Java provides a neat way to carry out long lasting jobs without have to worry about threads and hanging the application. It's called SwingWorker. It's not the latest thing on Earth (released with Java 1.6) and you may have already read about it. What I never came across was a practical example of the swing worker.
This document is a guide to help troubleshoot problems that might arise with applications that are developed using the Sun Microsystems Inc. release of Java Platform, Standard Edition 6 (JDK 6 release or Java SE 6 release). In particular, this guide addresses possible problems between the applications and the Java HotSpot virtual machine. The document provides a description of the tools, command line options, and other help in analyzing a problem. The document also provides guidance on how to approach some general issues such as a crash, hang, or memory resource issues. Finally, the document provides direction for data collection and bug report preparation.