Note that a call to \helpref{Signal()}{wxconditionsignal} may happen before the
other thread calls \helpref{Wait()}{wxconditionwait} and, just as with the
-pthread conditions, the signal is then lost and so if you want to be sure to
-get it you must use a mutex together with the condition variable.
+pthread conditions, the signal is then lost and so if you want to be sure that
+you don't miss it you must keep the mutex associated with the condition
+initially locked and lock it again before calling
+\helpref{Signal()}{wxconditionsignal}. Of course, this means that this call is
+going to block until \helpref{Wait()}{wxconditionwait} is called by another
+thread.
\wxheading{Example}
running and then waits until the main thread signals it to continue:
\begin{verbatim}
-class MyWaitingThread : public wxThread
+class MySignallingThread : public wxThread
{
public:
- MyWaitingThread(wxMutex *mutex, wxCondition *condition)
+ MySignallingThread(wxMutex *mutex, wxCondition *condition)
{
m_mutex = mutex;
m_condition = condition;
virtual ExitCode Entry()
{
- // wait for the signal from the main thread: it is absolutely necessary
- // to look the mutex before doing it!
- m_mutex->Lock();
- m_condition->Signal();
- m_mutex->Unlock();
-
... do our job ...
+ // tell the other(s) thread(s) that we're about to terminate: we must
+ // lock the mutex first or we might signal the condition before the
+ // waiting threads start waiting on it!
+ wxMutexLocker lock(m_mutex);
+ m_condition.Broadcast(); // same as Signal() here -- one waiter only
+
return 0;
}
private:
wxCondition *m_condition;
+ wxMutex *m_mutex;
};
int main()
wxMutex mutex;
wxCondition condition(mutex);
- for ( int i = 0; i < 10; i++ )
- {
- MyWaitingThread *thread = new MyWaitingThread(&mutex, &condition);
-
- thread->Run();
- }
+ // the mutex should be initially locked
+ mutex.Lock();
- // wake up one of the threads
- condition.Signal();
+ // create and run the thread but notice that it won't be able to
+ // exit (and signal its exit) before we unlock the mutex below
+ MySignallingThread *thread = new MySignallingThread(&mutex, &condition);
- // wake up all the other ones
- condition.Broadcast();
+ thread->Run();
- ... wait until they terminate or do something else ...
+ // wait for the thread termination: Wait() atomically unlocks the mutex
+ // which allows the thread to continue and starts waiting
+ condition.Wait();
+ // now we can exit
return 0;
}
\end{verbatim}
+Of course, here it would be much better to simply use a joinable thread and
+call \helpref{wxThread::Wait}{wxthreadwait} on it, but this example does
+illustrate the importance of properly locking the mutex when using
+wxCondition.
+
+\wxheading{Constants}
+
+The following return codes are returned by wxCondition member functions:
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+enum wxCondError
+{
+ wxCOND_NO_ERROR = 0, // successful completion
+ wxCOND_INVALID, // object hasn't been initialized successfully
+ wxCOND_TIMEOUT, // WaitTimeout() has timed out
+ wxCOND_MISC_ERROR // some other error
+};
+\end{verbatim}
+
\wxheading{Derived from}
None.
\latexignore{\rtfignore{\wxheading{Members}}}
-\membersection{wxCondition::wxCondition}\label{wxconditionconstr}
+\membersection{wxCondition::wxCondition}\label{wxconditionctor}
\func{}{wxCondition}{\param{wxMutex\& }{mutex}}
Default and only constructor. The {\it mutex} must be locked by the caller
before calling \helpref{Wait}{wxconditionwait} function.
-\membersection{wxCondition::\destruct{wxCondition}}
+Use \helpref{IsOk}{wxconditionisok} to check if the object was successfully
+initialized.
+
+\membersection{wxCondition::\destruct{wxCondition}}\label{wxconditiondtor}
\func{}{\destruct{wxCondition}}{\void}
\helpref{wxCondition::Signal}{wxconditionsignal}
+\membersection{wxCondition::IsOk}\label{wxconditionisok}
+
+\constfunc{bool}{IsOk}{\void}
+
+Returns {\tt true} if the object had been initialized successfully, {\tt false}
+if an error occured.
+
\membersection{wxCondition::Signal}\label{wxconditionsignal}
\func{void}{Signal}{\void}
\membersection{wxCondition::Wait}\label{wxconditionwait}
-\func{void}{Wait}{\void}
+\func{wxCondError}{Wait}{\void}
Waits until the condition is signalled.
-\func{bool}{Wait}{\param{unsigned long}{ sec}, \param{unsigned long}{ nsec}}
+This method atomically releases the lock on the mutex associated with this
+condition (this is why it must be locked prior to calling Wait) and puts the
+thread to sleep until \helpref{Signal}{wxconditionsignal} or
+\helpref{Broadcast}{wxconditionbroadcast} is called.
+
+Note that even if \helpref{Signal}{wxconditionsignal} had been called before
+Wait without waking up any thread, the thread would still wait for another one
+and so it is important to ensure that the condition will be signalled after
+Wait or the thread may sleep forever.
+
+\wxheading{Return value}
+
+Returns {\tt wxCOND\_NO\_ERROR} on success, another value if an error occured.
+
+\wxheading{See also}
+
+\helpref{WaitTimeout}{wxconditionwaittimeout}
+
+
+\membersection{wxCondition::WaitTimeout}\label{wxconditionwaittimeout}
+
+\func{wxCondError}{Wait}{\param{unsigned long}{ milliseconds}}
Waits until the condition is signalled or the timeout has elapsed.
-Note that the mutex associated with this condition {\bf must} be acquired by
-the thread before calling this method.
+This method is identical to \helpref{Wait}{wxconditionwait} except that it
+returns, with the return code of {\tt wxCOND\_TIMEOUT} as soon as the given
+timeout expires.
\wxheading{Parameters}
-\docparam{sec}{Timeout in seconds}
-
-\docparam{nsec}{Timeout nanoseconds component (added to {\it sec}).}
+\docparam{milliseconds}{Timeout in milliseconds}
\wxheading{Return value}
-The second form returns {\tt TRUE} if the condition has been signalled, or
-{\tt FALSE} if it returned because the timeout has elapsed.
-
+Returns {\tt wxCOND\_NO\_ERROR} if the condition was signalled,
+{\tt wxCOND\_TIMEOUT} if the timeout elapsed before this happened or another
+error code from wxCondError enum.