1 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
3 // Purpose: interface of all thread-related wxWidgets classes
4 // Author: wxWidgets team
6 // Licence: wxWindows license
7 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
10 /** See wxCondition. */
15 wxCOND_TIMEOUT
, //!< WaitTimeout() has timed out
23 wxCondition variables correspond to pthread conditions or to Win32 event objects.
24 They may be used in a multithreaded application to wait until the given condition
25 becomes @true which happens when the condition becomes signaled.
27 For example, if a worker thread is doing some long task and another thread has
28 to wait until it is finished, the latter thread will wait on the condition
29 object and the worker thread will signal it on exit (this example is not
30 perfect because in this particular case it would be much better to just
31 wxThread::Wait for the worker thread, but if there are several worker threads
32 it already makes much more sense).
34 Note that a call to wxCondition::Signal may happen before the other thread calls
35 wxCondition::Wait and, just as with the pthread conditions, the signal is then
36 lost and so if you want to be sure that you don't miss it you must keep the
37 mutex associated with the condition initially locked and lock it again before calling
38 wxCondition::Signal. Of course, this means that this call is going to block
39 until wxCondition::Wait is called by another thread.
41 @section condition_example Example
43 This example shows how a main thread may launch a worker thread which starts
44 running and then waits until the main thread signals it to continue:
47 class MySignallingThread : public wxThread
50 MySignallingThread(wxMutex *mutex, wxCondition *condition)
53 m_condition = condition;
58 virtual ExitCode Entry()
62 // tell the other(s) thread(s) that we're about to terminate: we must
63 // lock the mutex first or we might signal the condition before the
64 // waiting threads start waiting on it!
65 wxMutexLocker lock(*m_mutex);
66 m_condition->Broadcast(); // same as Signal() here -- one waiter only
72 wxCondition *m_condition;
79 wxCondition condition(mutex);
81 // the mutex should be initially locked
84 // create and run the thread but notice that it won't be able to
85 // exit (and signal its exit) before we unlock the mutex below
86 MySignallingThread *thread = new MySignallingThread(&mutex, &condition);
90 // wait for the thread termination: Wait() atomically unlocks the mutex
91 // which allows the thread to continue and starts waiting
99 Of course, here it would be much better to simply use a joinable thread and
100 call wxThread::Wait on it, but this example does illustrate the importance of
101 properly locking the mutex when using wxCondition.
106 @see wxThread, wxMutex
112 Default and only constructor.
113 The @a mutex must be locked by the caller before calling Wait() function.
114 Use IsOk() to check if the object was successfully initialized.
116 wxCondition(wxMutex
& mutex
);
119 Destroys the wxCondition object.
121 The destructor is not virtual so this class should not be used polymorphically.
126 Broadcasts to all waiting threads, waking all of them up.
128 Note that this method may be called whether the mutex associated with
129 this condition is locked or not.
133 wxCondError
Broadcast();
136 Returns @true if the object had been initialized successfully, @false
137 if an error occurred.
142 Signals the object waking up at most one thread.
144 If several threads are waiting on the same condition, the exact thread
145 which is woken up is undefined. If no threads are waiting, the signal is
146 lost and the condition would have to be signalled again to wake up any
147 thread which may start waiting on it later.
149 Note that this method may be called whether the mutex associated with this
150 condition is locked or not.
154 wxCondError
Signal();
157 Waits until the condition is signalled.
159 This method atomically releases the lock on the mutex associated with this
160 condition (this is why it must be locked prior to calling Wait()) and puts the
161 thread to sleep until Signal() or Broadcast() is called.
162 It then locks the mutex again and returns.
164 Note that even if Signal() had been called before Wait() without waking
165 up any thread, the thread would still wait for another one and so it is
166 important to ensure that the condition will be signalled after
167 Wait() or the thread may sleep forever.
169 @return Returns wxCOND_NO_ERROR on success, another value if an error occurred.
176 Waits until the condition is signalled or the timeout has elapsed.
178 This method is identical to Wait() except that it returns, with the
179 return code of @c wxCOND_TIMEOUT as soon as the given timeout expires.
182 Timeout in milliseconds
184 @return Returns wxCOND_NO_ERROR if the condition was signalled,
185 wxCOND_TIMEOUT if the timeout elapsed before this happened or
186 another error code from wxCondError enum.
188 wxCondError
WaitTimeout(unsigned long milliseconds
);
193 @class wxCriticalSectionLocker
195 This is a small helper class to be used with wxCriticalSection objects.
197 A wxCriticalSectionLocker enters the critical section in the constructor and
198 leaves it in the destructor making it much more difficult to forget to leave
199 a critical section (which, in general, will lead to serious and difficult
207 // gs_critSect is some (global) critical section guarding access to the
209 wxCriticalSectionLocker locker(gs_critSect);
226 Without wxCriticalSectionLocker, you would need to remember to manually leave
227 the critical section before each @c return.
232 @see wxCriticalSection, wxMutexLocker
234 class wxCriticalSectionLocker
238 Constructs a wxCriticalSectionLocker object associated with given
239 @a criticalsection and enters it.
241 wxCriticalSectionLocker(wxCriticalSection
& criticalsection
);
244 Destructor leaves the critical section.
246 ~wxCriticalSectionLocker();
252 @class wxThreadHelper
254 The wxThreadHelper class is a mix-in class that manages a single background
255 thread, either detached or joinable (see wxThread for the differences).
256 By deriving from wxThreadHelper, a class can implement the thread
257 code in its own wxThreadHelper::Entry() method and easily share data and
258 synchronization objects between the main thread and the worker thread.
260 Doing this prevents the awkward passing of pointers that is needed when the
261 original object in the main thread needs to synchronize with its worker thread
262 in its own wxThread derived object.
264 For example, wxFrame may need to make some calculations in a background thread
265 and then display the results of those calculations in the main window.
267 Ordinarily, a wxThread derived object would be created with the calculation
268 code implemented in wxThread::Entry. To access the inputs to the calculation,
269 the frame object would often need to pass a pointer to itself to the thread object.
270 Similarly, the frame object would hold a pointer to the thread object.
272 Shared data and synchronization objects could be stored in either object
273 though the object without the data would have to access the data through
275 However with wxThreadHelper the frame object and the thread object are
276 treated as the same object. Shared data and synchronization variables are
277 stored in the single object, eliminating a layer of indirection and the
282 wxDECLARE_EVENT(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_UPDATE, wxThreadEvent);
284 class MyFrame : public wxFrame, public wxThreadHelper
290 // it's better to do any thread cleanup in the OnClose()
291 // event handler, rather than in the destructor.
292 // This is because the event loop for a top-level window is not
293 // active anymore when its destructor is called and if the thread
294 // sends events when ending, they won't be processed unless
295 // you ended the thread from OnClose.
296 // See @ref overview_windowdeletion for more info.
300 void DoStartALongTask();
301 void OnThreadUpdate(wxThreadEvent& evt);
302 void OnClose(wxCloseEvent& evt);
306 virtual wxThread::ExitCode Entry();
308 // the output data of the Entry() routine:
310 wxCriticalSection m_dataCS; // protects field above
312 DECLARE_EVENT_TABLE()
315 wxDEFINE_EVENT(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_UPDATE, wxThreadEvent)
316 BEGIN_EVENT_TABLE(MyFrame, wxFrame)
317 EVT_COMMAND(wxID_ANY, wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_UPDATE, MyFrame::OnThreadUpdate)
318 EVT_CLOSE(MyFrame::OnClose)
321 void MyFrame::DoStartALongTask()
323 // we want to start a long task, but we don't want our GUI to block
324 // while it's executed, so we use a thread to do it.
325 if (CreateThread(wxTHREAD_JOINABLE) != wxTHREAD_NO_ERROR)
327 wxLogError("Could not create the worker thread!");
332 if (GetThread()->Run() != wxTHREAD_NO_ERROR)
334 wxLogError("Could not run the worker thread!");
339 wxThread::ExitCode MyFrame::Entry()
342 // this function gets executed in the secondary thread context!
346 // here we do our long task, periodically calling TestDestroy():
347 while (!GetThread()->TestDestroy())
349 // since this Entry() is implemented in MyFrame context we don't
350 // need any pointer to access the m_data, m_processedData, m_dataCS
351 // variables... very nice!
353 // this is an example of the generic structure of a download thread:
355 download_chunk(buffer, 1024); // this takes time...
358 // ensure noone reads m_data while we write it
359 wxCriticalSectionLocker lock(m_dataCS);
360 memcpy(m_data+offset, buffer, 1024);
365 // VERY IMPORTANT: do not call any GUI function inside this
366 // function; rather use wxQueueEvent():
367 wxQueueEvent(this, new wxThreadEvent(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_UPDATE));
368 // we used pointer 'this' assuming it's safe; see OnClose()
371 // TestDestroy() returned true (which means the main thread asked us
372 // to terminate as soon as possible) or we ended the long task...
373 return (wxThread::ExitCode)0;
376 void MyFrame::OnClose(wxCloseEvent&)
378 // important: before terminating, we _must_ wait for our joinable
379 // thread to end, if it's running; in fact it uses variables of this
380 // instance and posts events to *this event handler
382 if (GetThread() && // DoStartALongTask() may have not been called
383 GetThread()->IsRunning())
389 void MyFrame::OnThreadUpdate(wxThreadEvent& evt)
391 // ...do something... e.g. m_pGauge->Pulse();
393 // read some parts of m_data just for fun:
394 wxCriticalSectionLocker lock(m_dataCS);
395 wxPrintf("%c", m_data[100]);
402 @see wxThread, wxThreadEvent
408 This constructor simply initializes internal member variables and tells
409 wxThreadHelper which type the thread internally managed should be.
411 wxThreadHelper(wxThreadKind kind
= wxTHREAD_JOINABLE
);
414 The destructor frees the resources associated with the thread, forcing
415 it to terminate (it uses wxThread::Kill function).
417 Because of the wxThread::Kill unsafety, you should always wait
418 (with wxThread::Wait) for joinable threads to end or call wxThread::Delete
419 on detached threads, instead of relying on this destructor for stopping
422 virtual ~wxThreadHelper();
425 This is the entry point of the thread.
427 This function is pure virtual and must be implemented by any derived class.
428 The thread execution will start here.
430 You'll typically want your Entry() to look like:
432 wxThread::ExitCode Entry()
434 while (!GetThread()->TestDestroy())
436 // ... do some work ...
441 if (HappenedStoppingError)
442 return (wxThread::ExitCode)1; // failure
445 return (wxThread::ExitCode)0; // success
449 The returned value is the thread exit code which is only useful for
450 joinable threads and is the value returned by @c "GetThread()->Wait()".
452 This function is called by wxWidgets itself and should never be called
455 virtual ExitCode
Entry() = 0;
459 Use CreateThread() instead.
461 wxThreadError
Create(unsigned int stackSize
= 0);
464 Creates a new thread of the given @a kind.
466 The thread object is created in the suspended state, and you
467 should call @ref wxThread::Run "GetThread()->Run()" to start running it.
469 You may optionally specify the stack size to be allocated to it (ignored
470 on platforms that don't support setting it explicitly, e.g. Unix).
472 @return One of the ::wxThreadError enum values.
474 wxThreadError
CreateThread(wxThreadKind kind
= wxTHREAD_JOINABLE
,
475 unsigned int stackSize
= 0);
478 This is a public function that returns the wxThread object associated with
481 wxThread
* GetThread() const;
484 Returns the last type of thread given to the CreateThread() function
485 or to the constructor.
487 wxThreadKind
GetThreadKind() const;
491 Possible critical section types
494 enum wxCriticalSectionType
497 /** Recursive critical section under both Windows and Unix */
499 wxCRITSEC_NON_RECURSIVE
500 /** Non-recursive critical section under Unix, recursive under Windows */
504 @class wxCriticalSection
506 A critical section object is used for exactly the same purpose as a wxMutex.
507 The only difference is that under Windows platform critical sections are only
508 visible inside one process, while mutexes may be shared among processes,
509 so using critical sections is slightly more efficient.
511 The terminology is also slightly different: mutex may be locked (or acquired)
512 and unlocked (or released) while critical section is entered and left by the program.
514 Finally, you should try to use wxCriticalSectionLocker class whenever
515 possible instead of directly using wxCriticalSection for the same reasons
516 wxMutexLocker is preferrable to wxMutex - please see wxMutex for an example.
521 @see wxThread, wxCondition, wxCriticalSectionLocker
523 class wxCriticalSection
527 Default constructor initializes critical section object.
528 By default critical sections are recursive under Unix and Windows.
530 wxCriticalSection( wxCriticalSectionType critSecType
= wxCRITSEC_DEFAULT
);
533 Destructor frees the resources.
535 ~wxCriticalSection();
538 Enter the critical section (same as locking a mutex): if another thread
539 has already entered it, this call will block until the other thread
541 There is no error return for this function.
543 After entering the critical section protecting a data variable,
544 the thread running inside the critical section may safely use/modify it.
546 Note that entering the same critical section twice or more from the same
547 thread doesn't result in a deadlock; in this case in fact this function will
553 Leave the critical section allowing other threads use the global data
554 protected by it. There is no error return for this function.
560 The possible thread kinds.
564 /** Detached thread */
567 /** Joinable thread */
572 The possible thread errors.
577 wxTHREAD_NO_ERROR
= 0,
579 /** No resource left to create a new thread. */
580 wxTHREAD_NO_RESOURCE
,
582 /** The thread is already running. */
585 /** The thread isn't running. */
586 wxTHREAD_NOT_RUNNING
,
588 /** Thread we waited for had to be killed. */
591 /** Some other error */
596 Defines the interval of priority
600 WXTHREAD_MIN_PRIORITY
= 0u,
601 WXTHREAD_DEFAULT_PRIORITY
= 50u,
602 WXTHREAD_MAX_PRIORITY
= 100u
609 A thread is basically a path of execution through a program.
610 Threads are sometimes called @e light-weight processes, but the fundamental difference
611 between threads and processes is that memory spaces of different processes are
612 separated while all threads share the same address space.
614 While it makes it much easier to share common data between several threads, it
615 also makes it much easier to shoot oneself in the foot, so careful use of
616 synchronization objects such as mutexes (see wxMutex) or critical sections
617 (see wxCriticalSection) is recommended.
618 In addition, don't create global thread objects because they allocate memory
619 in their constructor, which will cause problems for the memory checking system.
622 @section thread_types Types of wxThreads
624 There are two types of threads in wxWidgets: @e detached and @e joinable,
625 modeled after the the POSIX thread API. This is different from the Win32 API
626 where all threads are joinable.
628 By default wxThreads in wxWidgets use the @b detached behavior.
629 Detached threads delete themselves once they have completed, either by themselves
630 when they complete processing or through a call to Delete(), and thus
631 @b must be created on the heap (through the new operator, for example).
633 Typically you'll want to store the instances of the detached wxThreads you
634 allocate, so that you can call functions on them.
635 Because of their nature however you'll need to always use a critical section
639 // declare a new type of event, to be used by our MyThread class:
640 wxDECLARE_EVENT(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_COMPLETED, wxThreadEvent);
641 wxDECLARE_EVENT(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_UPDATE, wxThreadEvent);
644 class MyThread : public wxThread
647 MyThread(MyFrame *handler)
648 : wxThread(wxTHREAD_DETACHED)
649 { m_pHandler = handler }
653 virtual ExitCode Entry();
657 class MyFrame : public wxFrame
663 // it's better to do any thread cleanup in the OnClose()
664 // event handler, rather than in the destructor.
665 // This is because the event loop for a top-level window is not
666 // active anymore when its destructor is called and if the thread
667 // sends events when ending, they won't be processed unless
668 // you ended the thread from OnClose.
669 // See @ref overview_windowdeletion for more info.
672 void DoStartThread();
673 void DoPauseThread();
675 // a resume routine would be nearly identic to DoPauseThread()
676 void DoResumeThread() { ... }
678 void OnThreadUpdate(wxThreadEvent&);
679 void OnThreadCompletion(wxThreadEvent&);
680 void OnClose(wxCloseEvent&);
684 wxCriticalSection m_pThreadCS; // protects the m_pThread pointer
686 DECLARE_EVENT_TABLE()
689 BEGIN_EVENT_TABLE(MyFrame, wxFrame)
690 EVT_CLOSE(MyFrame::OnClose)
691 EVT_MENU(Minimal_Start, MyFrame::DoStartThread)
692 EVT_COMMAND(wxID_ANY, wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_UPDATE, MyFrame::OnThreadUpdate)
693 EVT_COMMAND(wxID_ANY, wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_COMPLETED, MyFrame::OnThreadCompletion)
696 wxDEFINE_EVENT(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_COMPLETED, wxThreadEvent)
697 wxDEFINE_EVENT(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_UPDATE, wxThreadEvent)
699 void MyFrame::DoStartThread()
701 m_pThread = new MyThread(this);
703 if ( m_pThread->Create() != wxTHREAD_NO_ERROR )
705 wxLogError("Can't create the thread!");
711 if (m_pThread->Run() != wxTHREAD_NO_ERROR )
713 wxLogError("Can't create the thread!");
718 // after the call to wxThread::Run(), the m_pThread pointer is "unsafe":
719 // at any moment the thread may cease to exist (because it completes its work).
720 // To avoid dangling pointers OnThreadExit() will set m_pThread
721 // to NULL when the thread dies.
725 wxThread::ExitCode MyThread::Entry()
727 while (!TestDestroy())
729 // ... do a bit of work...
731 wxQueueEvent(m_pHandler, new wxThreadEvent(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_UPDATE));
734 // signal the event handler that this thread is going to be destroyed
735 // NOTE: here we assume that using the m_pHandler pointer is safe,
736 // (in this case this is assured by the MyFrame destructor)
737 wxQueueEvent(m_pHandler, new wxThreadEvent(wxEVT_COMMAND_MYTHREAD_COMPLETED));
739 return (wxThread::ExitCode)0; // success
742 MyThread::~MyThread()
744 wxCriticalSectionLocker enter(m_pHandler->m_pThreadCS);
746 // the thread is being destroyed; make sure not to leave dangling pointers around
747 m_pHandler->m_pThread = NULL;
750 void MyFrame::OnThreadCompletion(wxThreadEvent&)
752 wxMessageOutputDebug().Printf("MYFRAME: MyThread exited!\n");
755 void MyFrame::OnThreadUpdate(wxThreadEvent&)
757 wxMessageOutputDebug().Printf("MYFRAME: MyThread update...\n");
760 void MyFrame::DoPauseThread()
762 // anytime we access the m_pThread pointer we must ensure that it won't
763 // be modified in the meanwhile; since only a single thread may be
764 // inside a given critical section at a given time, the following code
766 wxCriticalSectionLocker enter(m_pThreadCS);
768 if (m_pThread) // does the thread still exist?
770 // without a critical section, once reached this point it may happen
771 // that the OS scheduler gives control to the MyThread::Entry() function,
772 // which in turn may return (because it completes its work) making
773 // invalid the m_pThread pointer
775 if (m_pThread->Pause() != wxTHREAD_NO_ERROR )
776 wxLogError("Can't pause the thread!");
780 void MyFrame::OnClose(wxCloseEvent&)
783 wxCriticalSectionLocker enter(m_pThreadCS);
785 if (m_pThread) // does the thread still exist?
787 m_out.Printf("MYFRAME: deleting thread");
789 if (m_pThread->Delete() != wxTHREAD_NO_ERROR )
790 wxLogError("Can't delete the thread!");
792 } // exit from the critical section to give the thread
793 // the possibility to enter its destructor
794 // (which is guarded with m_pThreadCS critical section!)
798 { // was the ~MyThread() function executed?
799 wxCriticalSectionLocker enter(m_pThreadCS);
800 if (!m_pThread) break;
803 // wait for thread completion
804 wxThread::This()->Sleep(1);
811 For a more detailed and comprehensive example, see @sample{thread}.
812 For a simpler way to share data and synchronization objects between
813 the main and the secondary thread see wxThreadHelper.
815 Conversely, @b joinable threads do not delete themselves when they are done
816 processing and as such are safe to create on the stack. Joinable threads
817 also provide the ability for one to get value it returned from Entry()
819 You shouldn't hurry to create all the threads joinable, however, because this
820 has a disadvantage as well: you @b must Wait() for a joinable thread or the
821 system resources used by it will never be freed, and you also must delete the
822 corresponding wxThread object yourself if you did not create it on the stack.
823 In contrast, detached threads are of the "fire-and-forget" kind: you only have
824 to start a detached thread and it will terminate and destroy itself.
827 @section thread_deletion wxThread Deletion
829 Regardless of whether it has terminated or not, you should call Wait() on a
830 @b joinable thread to release its memory, as outlined in @ref thread_types.
831 If you created a joinable thread on the heap, remember to delete it manually
832 with the @c delete operator or similar means as only detached threads handle
833 this type of memory management.
835 Since @b detached threads delete themselves when they are finished processing,
836 you should take care when calling a routine on one. If you are certain the
837 thread is still running and would like to end it, you may call Delete()
838 to gracefully end it (which implies that the thread will be deleted after
839 that call to Delete()). It should be implied that you should @b never attempt
840 to delete a detached thread with the @c delete operator or similar means.
842 As mentioned, Wait() or Delete() functions attempt to gracefully terminate a
843 joinable and a detached thread, respectively. They do this by waiting until
844 the thread in question calls TestDestroy() or ends processing (i.e. returns
845 from wxThread::Entry).
847 Obviously, if the thread does call TestDestroy() and does not end, the
848 thread which called Wait() or Delete() will come to halt.
849 This is why it's important to call TestDestroy() in the Entry() routine of
850 your threads as often as possible and immediately exit when it returns @true.
852 As a last resort you can end the thread immediately through Kill(). It is
853 strongly recommended that you do not do this, however, as it does not free
854 the resources associated with the object (although the wxThread object of
855 detached threads will still be deleted) and could leave the C runtime
856 library in an undefined state.
859 @section thread_secondary wxWidgets Calls in Secondary Threads
861 All threads other than the "main application thread" (the one running
862 wxApp::OnInit() or the one your main function runs in, for example) are
863 considered "secondary threads". These include all threads created by Create()
864 or the corresponding constructors.
866 GUI calls, such as those to a wxWindow or wxBitmap are explicitly not safe
867 at all in secondary threads and could end your application prematurely.
868 This is due to several reasons, including the underlying native API and
869 the fact that wxThread does not run a GUI event loop similar to other APIs
872 A workaround for some wxWidgets ports is calling wxMutexGUIEnter()
873 before any GUI calls and then calling wxMutexGUILeave() afterwords.
874 However, the recommended way is to simply process the GUI calls in the main
875 thread through an event that is posted by wxQueueEvent().
876 This does not imply that calls to these classes are thread-safe, however,
877 as most wxWidgets classes are not thread-safe, including wxString.
880 @section thread_poll Don't Poll a wxThread
882 A common problem users experience with wxThread is that in their main thread
883 they will check the thread every now and then to see if it has ended through
884 IsRunning(), only to find that their application has run into problems
885 because the thread is using the default behavior (i.e. it's @b detached) and
886 has already deleted itself.
887 Naturally, they instead attempt to use joinable threads in place of the previous
888 behavior. However, polling a wxThread for when it has ended is in general a
889 bad idea - in fact calling a routine on any running wxThread should be avoided
890 if possible. Instead, find a way to notify yourself when the thread has ended.
892 Usually you only need to notify the main thread, in which case you can
893 post an event to it via wxQueueEvent().
894 In the case of secondary threads you can call a routine of another class
895 when the thread is about to complete processing and/or set the value of
896 a variable, possibly using mutexes (see wxMutex) and/or other synchronization
902 @see wxThreadHelper, wxMutex, wxCondition, wxCriticalSection,
909 The return type for the thread functions.
911 typedef void* ExitCode
;
914 This constructor creates a new detached (default) or joinable C++
915 thread object. It does not create or start execution of the real thread -
916 for this you should use the Create() and Run() methods.
918 The possible values for @a kind parameters are:
919 - @b wxTHREAD_DETACHED - Creates a detached thread.
920 - @b wxTHREAD_JOINABLE - Creates a joinable thread.
922 wxThread(wxThreadKind kind
= wxTHREAD_DETACHED
);
925 The destructor frees the resources associated with the thread.
926 Notice that you should never delete a detached thread -- you may only call
927 Delete() on it or wait until it terminates (and auto destructs) itself.
929 Because the detached threads delete themselves, they can only be allocated on the heap.
930 Joinable threads should be deleted explicitly. The Delete() and Kill() functions
931 will not delete the C++ thread object. It is also safe to allocate them on stack.
936 Creates a new thread.
938 The thread object is created in the suspended state, and you should call Run()
939 to start running it. You may optionally specify the stack size to be allocated
940 to it (Ignored on platforms that don't support setting it explicitly,
941 eg. Unix system without @c pthread_attr_setstacksize).
943 If you do not specify the stack size,the system's default value is used.
946 It is a good idea to explicitly specify a value as systems'
947 default values vary from just a couple of KB on some systems (BSD and
948 OS/2 systems) to one or several MB (Windows, Solaris, Linux).
949 So, if you have a thread that requires more than just a few KB of memory, you
950 will have mysterious problems on some platforms but not on the common ones.
951 On the other hand, just indicating a large stack size by default will give you
952 performance issues on those systems with small default stack since those
953 typically use fully committed memory for the stack.
954 On the contrary, if you use a lot of threads (say several hundred),
955 virtual adress space can get tight unless you explicitly specify a
956 smaller amount of thread stack space for each thread.
959 - @b wxTHREAD_NO_ERROR - No error.
960 - @b wxTHREAD_NO_RESOURCE - There were insufficient resources to create the thread.
961 - @b wxTHREAD_NO_RUNNING - The thread is already running
963 wxThreadError
Create(unsigned int stackSize
= 0);
966 Calling Delete() gracefully terminates a @b detached thread, either when
967 the thread calls TestDestroy() or when it finishes processing.
970 This function works on a joinable thread but in that case makes
971 the TestDestroy() function of the thread return @true and then
972 waits for its completion (i.e. it differs from Wait() because
973 it asks the thread to terminate before waiting).
975 See @ref thread_deletion for a broader explanation of this routine.
977 wxThreadError
Delete(void** rc
= NULL
);
980 Returns the number of system CPUs or -1 if the value is unknown.
982 For multi-core systems the returned value is typically the total number
983 of @e cores, since the OS usually abstract a single N-core CPU
984 as N different cores.
986 @see SetConcurrency()
988 static int GetCPUCount();
991 Returns the platform specific thread ID of the current thread as a long.
993 This can be used to uniquely identify threads, even if they are not wxThreads.
997 static wxThreadIdType
GetCurrentId();
1000 Gets the thread identifier: this is a platform dependent number that uniquely
1001 identifies the thread throughout the system during its existence
1002 (i.e. the thread identifiers may be reused).
1004 wxThreadIdType
GetId() const;
1007 Returns the thread kind as it was given in the ctor.
1011 wxThreadKind
GetKind() const;
1014 Returns the thread ID of the main thread.
1020 static wxThreadIdType
GetMainId();
1023 Gets the priority of the thread, between zero and 100.
1025 The following priorities are defined:
1026 - @b WXTHREAD_MIN_PRIORITY: 0
1027 - @b WXTHREAD_DEFAULT_PRIORITY: 50
1028 - @b WXTHREAD_MAX_PRIORITY: 100
1030 unsigned int GetPriority() const;
1033 Returns @true if the thread is alive (i.e. started and not terminating).
1035 Note that this function can only safely be used with joinable threads, not
1036 detached ones as the latter delete themselves and so when the real thread is
1037 no longer alive, it is not possible to call this function because
1038 the wxThread object no longer exists.
1040 bool IsAlive() const;
1043 Returns @true if the thread is of the detached kind, @false if it is a
1046 bool IsDetached() const;
1049 Returns @true if the calling thread is the main application thread.
1051 Main thread in the context of wxWidgets is the one which initialized
1054 @see GetMainId(), GetCurrentId()
1056 static bool IsMain();
1059 Returns @true if the thread is paused.
1061 bool IsPaused() const;
1064 Returns @true if the thread is running.
1066 This method may only be safely used for joinable threads, see the remark in
1069 bool IsRunning() const;
1072 Immediately terminates the target thread.
1074 @b "This function is dangerous and should be used with extreme care"
1075 (and not used at all whenever possible)! The resources allocated to the
1076 thread will not be freed and the state of the C runtime library may become
1077 inconsistent. Use Delete() for detached threads or Wait() for joinable
1080 For detached threads Kill() will also delete the associated C++ object.
1081 However this will not happen for joinable threads and this means that you will
1082 still have to delete the wxThread object yourself to avoid memory leaks.
1084 In neither case OnExit() of the dying thread will be called, so no
1085 thread-specific cleanup will be performed.
1086 This function can only be called from another thread context, i.e. a thread
1089 It is also an error to call this function for a thread which is not running or
1090 paused (in the latter case, the thread will be resumed first) -- if you do it,
1091 a @b wxTHREAD_NOT_RUNNING error will be returned.
1093 wxThreadError
Kill();
1096 Suspends the thread.
1098 Under some implementations (Win32), the thread is suspended immediately,
1099 under others it will only be suspended when it calls TestDestroy() for
1100 the next time (hence, if the thread doesn't call it at all, it won't be
1103 This function can only be called from another thread context.
1105 wxThreadError
Pause();
1108 Resumes a thread suspended by the call to Pause().
1110 This function can only be called from another thread context.
1112 wxThreadError
Resume();
1115 Starts the thread execution. Should be called after Create().
1117 Note that once you Run() a @b detached thread, @e any function call you do
1118 on the thread pointer (you must allocate it on the heap) is @e "unsafe";
1119 i.e. the thread may have terminated at any moment after Run() and your pointer
1120 may be dangling. See @ref thread_types for an example of safe manipulation
1121 of detached threads.
1123 This function can only be called from another thread context.
1125 wxThreadError
Run();
1128 Sets the thread concurrency level for this process.
1130 This is, roughly, the number of threads that the system tries to schedule
1132 The value of 0 for @a level may be used to set the default one.
1134 @return @true on success or @false otherwise (for example, if this function is
1135 not implemented for this platform -- currently everything except Solaris).
1137 static bool SetConcurrency(size_t level
);
1140 Sets the priority of the thread, between 0 and 100.
1141 It can only be set after calling Create() but before calling Run().
1143 The following priorities are defined:
1144 - @b WXTHREAD_MIN_PRIORITY: 0
1145 - @b WXTHREAD_DEFAULT_PRIORITY: 50
1146 - @b WXTHREAD_MAX_PRIORITY: 100
1148 void SetPriority(unsigned int priority
);
1151 Pauses the thread execution for the given amount of time.
1153 This is the same as wxMilliSleep().
1155 static void Sleep(unsigned long milliseconds
);
1158 This function should be called periodically by the thread to ensure that
1159 calls to Pause() and Delete() will work.
1161 If it returns @true, the thread should exit as soon as possible.
1162 Notice that under some platforms (POSIX), implementation of Pause() also
1163 relies on this function being called, so not calling it would prevent
1164 both stopping and suspending thread from working.
1166 virtual bool TestDestroy();
1169 Return the thread object for the calling thread.
1171 @NULL is returned if the calling thread is the main (GUI) thread, but
1172 IsMain() should be used to test whether the thread is really the main one
1173 because @NULL may also be returned for the thread not created with wxThread
1174 class. Generally speaking, the return value for such a thread is undefined.
1176 static wxThread
* This();
1179 Waits for a @b joinable thread to terminate and returns the value the thread
1180 returned from Entry() or @c "(ExitCode)-1" on error. Notice that, unlike
1181 Delete(), this function doesn't cancel the thread in any way so the caller
1182 waits for as long as it takes to the thread to exit.
1184 You can only Wait() for @b joinable (not detached) threads.
1186 This function can only be called from another thread context.
1188 See @ref thread_deletion for a broader explanation of this routine.
1193 Give the rest of the thread's time-slice to the system allowing the other
1196 Note that using this function is @b strongly discouraged, since in
1197 many cases it indicates a design weakness of your threading model
1198 (as does using Sleep() functions).
1200 Threads should use the CPU in an efficient manner, i.e. they should
1201 do their current work efficiently, then as soon as the work is done block
1202 on a wakeup event (wxCondition, wxMutex, select(), poll(), ...) which will
1203 get signalled e.g. by other threads or a user device once further thread
1205 Using Yield() or Sleep() indicates polling-type behaviour, since we're
1206 fuzzily giving up our timeslice and wait until sometime later we'll get
1207 reactivated, at which time we realize that there isn't really much to do
1208 and Yield() again...
1210 The most critical characteristic of Yield() is that it's operating system
1211 specific: there may be scheduler changes which cause your thread to not
1212 wake up relatively soon again, but instead many seconds later,
1213 causing huge performance issues for your application.
1216 With a well-behaving, CPU-efficient thread the operating system is likely
1217 to properly care for its reactivation the moment it needs it, whereas with
1218 non-deterministic, Yield-using threads all bets are off and the system
1219 scheduler is free to penalize them drastically</strong>, and this effect
1220 gets worse with increasing system load due to less free CPU resources available.
1221 You may refer to various Linux kernel @c sched_yield discussions for more
1226 static void Yield();
1231 This is the entry point of the thread.
1233 This function is pure virtual and must be implemented by any derived class.
1234 The thread execution will start here.
1236 The returned value is the thread exit code which is only useful for
1237 joinable threads and is the value returned by Wait().
1238 This function is called by wxWidgets itself and should never be called
1241 virtual ExitCode
Entry() = 0;
1244 This is a protected function of the wxThread class and thus can only be called
1245 from a derived class. It also can only be called in the context of this
1246 thread, i.e. a thread can only exit from itself, not from another thread.
1248 This function will terminate the OS thread (i.e. stop the associated path of
1249 execution) and also delete the associated C++ object for detached threads.
1250 OnExit() will be called just before exiting.
1252 void Exit(ExitCode exitcode
= 0);
1257 Called when the thread exits.
1259 This function is called in the context of the thread associated with the
1260 wxThread object, not in the context of the main thread.
1261 This function will not be called if the thread was @ref Kill() killed.
1263 This function should never be called directly.
1265 virtual void OnExit();
1269 /** See wxSemaphore. */
1272 wxSEMA_NO_ERROR
= 0,
1273 wxSEMA_INVALID
, //!< semaphore hasn't been initialized successfully
1274 wxSEMA_BUSY
, //!< returned by TryWait() if Wait() would block
1275 wxSEMA_TIMEOUT
, //!< returned by WaitTimeout()
1276 wxSEMA_OVERFLOW
, //!< Post() would increase counter past the max
1283 wxSemaphore is a counter limiting the number of threads concurrently accessing
1284 a shared resource. This counter is always between 0 and the maximum value
1285 specified during the semaphore creation. When the counter is strictly greater
1286 than 0, a call to wxSemaphore::Wait() returns immediately and decrements the
1287 counter. As soon as it reaches 0, any subsequent calls to wxSemaphore::Wait
1288 block and only return when the semaphore counter becomes strictly positive
1289 again as the result of calling wxSemaphore::Post which increments the counter.
1291 In general, semaphores are useful to restrict access to a shared resource
1292 which can only be accessed by some fixed number of clients at the same time.
1293 For example, when modeling a hotel reservation system a semaphore with the counter
1294 equal to the total number of available rooms could be created. Each time a room
1295 is reserved, the semaphore should be acquired by calling wxSemaphore::Wait
1296 and each time a room is freed it should be released by calling wxSemaphore::Post.
1299 @category{threading}
1305 Specifying a @a maxcount of 0 actually makes wxSemaphore behave as if
1306 there is no upper limit. If @a maxcount is 1, the semaphore behaves almost as a
1307 mutex (but unlike a mutex it can be released by a thread different from the one
1310 @a initialcount is the initial value of the semaphore which must be between
1311 0 and @a maxcount (if it is not set to 0).
1313 wxSemaphore(int initialcount
= 0, int maxcount
= 0);
1316 Destructor is not virtual, don't use this class polymorphically.
1321 Increments the semaphore count and signals one of the waiting
1322 threads in an atomic way. Returns @e wxSEMA_OVERFLOW if the count
1323 would increase the counter past the maximum.
1326 - wxSEMA_NO_ERROR: There was no error.
1327 - wxSEMA_INVALID : Semaphore hasn't been initialized successfully.
1328 - wxSEMA_OVERFLOW: Post() would increase counter past the max.
1329 - wxSEMA_MISC_ERROR: Miscellaneous error.
1334 Same as Wait(), but returns immediately.
1337 - wxSEMA_NO_ERROR: There was no error.
1338 - wxSEMA_INVALID: Semaphore hasn't been initialized successfully.
1339 - wxSEMA_BUSY: Returned by TryWait() if Wait() would block, i.e. the count is zero.
1340 - wxSEMA_MISC_ERROR: Miscellaneous error.
1342 wxSemaError
TryWait();
1345 Wait indefinitely until the semaphore count becomes strictly positive
1346 and then decrement it and return.
1349 - wxSEMA_NO_ERROR: There was no error.
1350 - wxSEMA_INVALID: Semaphore hasn't been initialized successfully.
1351 - wxSEMA_MISC_ERROR: Miscellaneous error.
1356 Same as Wait(), but with a timeout limit.
1359 - wxSEMA_NO_ERROR: There was no error.
1360 - wxSEMA_INVALID: Semaphore hasn't been initialized successfully.
1361 - wxSEMA_TIMEOUT: Timeout occurred without receiving semaphore.
1362 - wxSEMA_MISC_ERROR: Miscellaneous error.
1364 wxSemaError
WaitTimeout(unsigned long timeout_millis
);
1370 @class wxMutexLocker
1372 This is a small helper class to be used with wxMutex objects.
1374 A wxMutexLocker acquires a mutex lock in the constructor and releases
1375 (or unlocks) the mutex in the destructor making it much more difficult to
1376 forget to release a mutex (which, in general, will promptly lead to serious
1377 problems). See wxMutex for an example of wxMutexLocker usage.
1380 @category{threading}
1382 @see wxMutex, wxCriticalSectionLocker
1388 Constructs a wxMutexLocker object associated with mutex and locks it.
1389 Call IsOk() to check if the mutex was successfully locked.
1391 wxMutexLocker(wxMutex
& mutex
);
1394 Destructor releases the mutex if it was successfully acquired in the ctor.
1399 Returns @true if mutex was acquired in the constructor, @false otherwise.
1406 The possible wxMutex kinds.
1410 /** Normal non-recursive mutex: try to always use this one. */
1413 /** Recursive mutex: don't use these ones with wxCondition. */
1419 The possible wxMutex errors.
1423 /** The operation completed successfully. */
1424 wxMUTEX_NO_ERROR
= 0,
1426 /** The mutex hasn't been initialized. */
1429 /** The mutex is already locked by the calling thread. */
1432 /** The mutex is already locked by another thread. */
1435 /** An attempt to unlock a mutex which is not locked. */
1438 /** wxMutex::LockTimeout() has timed out. */
1441 /** Any other error */
1449 A mutex object is a synchronization object whose state is set to signaled when
1450 it is not owned by any thread, and nonsignaled when it is owned. Its name comes
1451 from its usefulness in coordinating mutually-exclusive access to a shared
1452 resource as only one thread at a time can own a mutex object.
1454 Mutexes may be recursive in the sense that a thread can lock a mutex which it
1455 had already locked before (instead of dead locking the entire process in this
1456 situation by starting to wait on a mutex which will never be released while the
1457 thread is waiting) but using them is not recommended under Unix and they are
1458 @b not recursive by default. The reason for this is that recursive
1459 mutexes are not supported by all Unix flavours and, worse, they cannot be used
1462 For example, when several threads use the data stored in the linked list,
1463 modifications to the list should only be allowed to one thread at a time
1464 because during a new node addition the list integrity is temporarily broken
1465 (this is also called @e program @e invariant).
1468 // this variable has an "s_" prefix because it is static: seeing an "s_" in
1469 // a multithreaded program is in general a good sign that you should use a
1470 // mutex (or a critical section)
1471 static wxMutex *s_mutexProtectingTheGlobalData;
1473 // we store some numbers in this global array which is presumably used by
1474 // several threads simultaneously
1477 void MyThread::AddNewNode(int num)
1479 // ensure that no other thread accesses the list
1480 s_mutexProtectingTheGlobalList->Lock();
1484 s_mutexProtectingTheGlobalList->Unlock();
1487 // return true if the given number is greater than all array elements
1488 bool MyThread::IsGreater(int num)
1490 // before using the list we must acquire the mutex
1491 wxMutexLocker lock(s_mutexProtectingTheGlobalData);
1493 size_t count = s_data.Count();
1494 for ( size_t n = 0; n < count; n++ )
1496 if ( s_data[n] > num )
1504 Notice how wxMutexLocker was used in the second function to ensure that the
1505 mutex is unlocked in any case: whether the function returns true or false
1506 (because the destructor of the local object @e lock is always called).
1507 Using this class instead of directly using wxMutex is, in general, safer
1508 and is even more so if your program uses C++ exceptions.
1511 @category{threading}
1513 @see wxThread, wxCondition, wxMutexLocker, wxCriticalSection
1519 Default constructor.
1521 wxMutex(wxMutexType type
= wxMUTEX_DEFAULT
);
1524 Destroys the wxMutex object.
1529 Locks the mutex object.
1530 This is equivalent to LockTimeout() with infinite timeout.
1532 Note that if this mutex is already locked by the caller thread,
1533 this function doesn't block but rather immediately returns.
1535 @return One of: @c wxMUTEX_NO_ERROR, @c wxMUTEX_DEAD_LOCK.
1537 wxMutexError
Lock();
1540 Try to lock the mutex object during the specified time interval.
1542 @return One of: @c wxMUTEX_NO_ERROR, @c wxMUTEX_DEAD_LOCK, @c wxMUTEX_TIMEOUT.
1544 wxMutexError
LockTimeout(unsigned long msec
);
1547 Tries to lock the mutex object. If it can't, returns immediately with an error.
1549 @return One of: @c wxMUTEX_NO_ERROR, @c wxMUTEX_BUSY.
1551 wxMutexError
TryLock();
1554 Unlocks the mutex object.
1556 @return One of: @c wxMUTEX_NO_ERROR, @c wxMUTEX_UNLOCKED.
1558 wxMutexError
Unlock();
1563 // ============================================================================
1564 // Global functions/macros
1565 // ============================================================================
1567 /** @addtogroup group_funcmacro_thread */
1571 This macro declares a (static) critical section object named @a cs if
1572 @c wxUSE_THREADS is 1 and does nothing if it is 0.
1574 @header{wx/thread.h}
1576 #define wxCRIT_SECT_DECLARE(cs)
1579 This macro declares a critical section object named @a cs if
1580 @c wxUSE_THREADS is 1 and does nothing if it is 0. As it doesn't include
1581 the @c static keyword (unlike wxCRIT_SECT_DECLARE()), it can be used to
1582 declare a class or struct member which explains its name.
1584 @header{wx/thread.h}
1586 #define wxCRIT_SECT_DECLARE_MEMBER(cs)
1589 This macro creates a wxCriticalSectionLocker named @a name and associated
1590 with the critical section @a cs if @c wxUSE_THREADS is 1 and does nothing
1593 @header{wx/thread.h}
1595 #define wxCRIT_SECT_LOCKER(name, cs)
1598 This macro combines wxCRIT_SECT_DECLARE() and wxCRIT_SECT_LOCKER(): it
1599 creates a static critical section object and also the lock object
1600 associated with it. Because of this, it can be only used inside a function,
1601 not at global scope. For example:
1606 static int s_counter = 0;
1608 wxCRITICAL_SECTION(counter);
1614 Note that this example assumes that the function is called the first time
1615 from the main thread so that the critical section object is initialized
1616 correctly by the time other threads start calling it, if this is not the
1617 case this approach can @b not be used and the critical section must be made
1620 @header{wx/thread.h}
1622 #define wxCRITICAL_SECTION(name)
1625 This macro is equivalent to
1626 @ref wxCriticalSection::Leave "critical_section.Leave()" if
1627 @c wxUSE_THREADS is 1 and does nothing if it is 0.
1629 @header{wx/thread.h}
1631 #define wxLEAVE_CRIT_SECT(critical_section)
1634 This macro is equivalent to
1635 @ref wxCriticalSection::Enter "critical_section.Enter()" if
1636 @c wxUSE_THREADS is 1 and does nothing if it is 0.
1638 @header{wx/thread.h}
1640 #define wxENTER_CRIT_SECT(critical_section)
1643 Returns @true if this thread is the main one. Always returns @true if
1644 @c wxUSE_THREADS is 0.
1646 @header{wx/thread.h}
1648 bool wxIsMainThread();
1653 This function must be called when any thread other than the main GUI thread
1654 wants to get access to the GUI library. This function will block the
1655 execution of the calling thread until the main thread (or any other thread
1656 holding the main GUI lock) leaves the GUI library and no other thread will
1657 enter the GUI library until the calling thread calls wxMutexGuiLeave().
1659 Typically, these functions are used like this:
1662 void MyThread::Foo(void)
1664 // before doing any GUI calls we must ensure that
1665 // this thread is the only one doing it!
1670 my_window->DrawSomething();
1676 This function is only defined on platforms which support preemptive
1677 threads and only works under some ports (wxMSW currently).
1679 @note Under GTK, no creation of top-level windows is allowed in any thread
1682 @header{wx/thread.h}
1684 void wxMutexGuiEnter();
1687 This function is only defined on platforms which support preemptive
1690 @see wxMutexGuiEnter()
1692 @header{wx/thread.h}
1694 void wxMutexGuiLeave();