Event Signaling
The most common use of multiple threads of execution is for programs that find they must carry out some lengthy processing. We can call this a "big job," which is anything a program has to do that might violate the 1/10-second rule. Obvious big jobs include a spelling check in a word processing program, a file sort or indexing in a database program, a spreadsheet recalculation, printing, and even complex drawing. Of course, as we know by now, the best solution to following the 1/10-second rule is to farm out big jobs to secondary threads of execution. These secondary threads do not create windows, and hence they are not bound by the 1/10-second rule.
It is often desirable for the secondary threads to inform the primary thread when they have completed, or for the primary thread to abort the job the secondary thread is doing. That's what we'll examine next.
The BIGJOB1 Program
I'll use a series of floating-point calculations, sometimes known as the "savage" benchmark, as a hypothetical big job. This calculation increments an integer in a roundabout manner: it squares a number and takes the square root (which cancels out the square), applies the log and exp functions (which also cancel each other out), applies the atan and tan functions (another canceling out), and finally adds 1 to the result.
The BIGJOB1 program is shown in Figure 20-4.
Figure 20-4. The BIGJOB1 program.
BIGJOB1.C /*---------------------------------------- BIGJOB1.C -- Multithreading Demo (c) Charles Petzold, 1998 ----------------------------------------*/ #include <windows.h> #include <math.h> #include <process.h> #define REP 1000000 #define STATUS_READY 0 #define STATUS_WORKING 1 #define STATUS_DONE 2 #define WM_CALC_DONE (WM_USER + 0) #define WM_CALC_ABORTED (WM_USER + 1) typedef struct { HWND hwnd ; BOOL bContinue ; } PARAMS, *PPARAMS ; LRESULT APIENTRY WndProc (HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM) ; int WINAPI WinMain (HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, PSTR szCmdLine, int iCmdShow) { static TCHAR szAppName[] = TEXT ("BigJob1") ; HWND hwnd ; MSG msg ; WNDCLASS wndclass ; wndclass.style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW ; wndclass.lpfnWndProc = WndProc ; wndclass.cbClsExtra = 0 ; wndclass.cbWndExtra = 0 ; wndclass.hInstance = hInstance ; wndclass.hIcon = LoadIcon (NULL, IDI_APPLICATION) ; wndclass.hCursor = LoadCursor (NULL, IDC_ARROW) ; wndclass.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH) GetStockObject (WHITE_BRUSH) ; wndclass.lpszMenuName = NULL ; wndclass.lpszClassName = szAppName ; if (!RegisterClass (&wndclass)) { MessageBox (NULL, TEXT ("This program requires Windows NT!"), szAppName, MB_ICONERROR) ; return 0 ; } hwnd = CreateWindow (szAppName, TEXT ("Multithreading Demo"), WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL) ; ShowWindow (hwnd, iCmdShow) ; UpdateWindow (hwnd) ; while (GetMessage (&msg, NULL, 0, 0)) { TranslateMessage (&msg) ; DispatchMessage (&msg) ; } return msg.wParam ; } void Thread (PVOID pvoid) { double A = 1.0 ; INT i ; LONG lTime ; volatile PPARAMS pparams ; pparams = (PPARAMS) pvoid ; lTime = GetCurrentTime () ; for (i = 0 ; i < REP && pparams->bContinue ; i++) A = tan (atan (exp (log (sqrt (A * A))))) + 1.0 ; if (i == REP) { lTime = GetCurrentTime () - lTime ; SendMessage (pparams->hwnd, WM_CALC_DONE, 0, lTime) ; } else SendMessage (pparams->hwnd, WM_CALC_ABORTED, 0, 0) ; _endthread () ; } LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc (HWND hwnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) { static INT iStatus ; static LONG lTime ; static PARAMS params ; static TCHAR * szMessage[] = { TEXT ("Ready (left mouse button begins)"), TEXT ("Working (right mouse button ends)"), TEXT ("%d repetitions in %ld msec") } ; HDC hdc ; PAINTSTRUCT ps ; RECT rect ; TCHAR szBuffer[64] ; switch (message) { case WM_LBUTTONDOWN: if (iStatus == STATUS_WORKING) { MessageBeep (0) ; return 0 ; } iStatus = STATUS_WORKING ; params.hwnd = hwnd ; params.bContinue = TRUE ; _beginthread (Thread, 0, ¶ms) ; InvalidateRect (hwnd, NULL, TRUE) ; return 0 ; case WM_RBUTTONDOWN: params.bContinue = FALSE ; return 0 ; case WM_CALC_DONE: lTime = lParam ; iStatus = STATUS_DONE ; InvalidateRect (hwnd, NULL, TRUE) ; return 0 ; case WM_CALC_ABORTED: iStatus = STATUS_READY ; InvalidateRect (hwnd, NULL, TRUE) ; return 0 ; case WM_PAINT: hdc = BeginPaint (hwnd, &ps) ; GetClientRect (hwnd, &rect) ; wsprintf (szBuffer, szMessage[iStatus], REP, lTime) ; DrawText (hdc, szBuffer, -1, &rect, DT_SINGLELINE | DT_CENTER | DT_VCENTER) ; EndPaint (hwnd, &ps) ; return 0 ; case WM_DESTROY: PostQuitMessage (0) ; return 0 ; } return DefWindowProc (hwnd, message, wParam, lParam) ; } |
This is a fairly simple program, but I think you'll see how it illustrates a generalized approach to doing big jobs in a multithreaded program. To use the BIGJOB1 program, click with the left mouse button on the client area of the window. This begins 1,000,000 repetitions of the savage calculation. It'll take about 2 seconds on a 300-MHz Pentium II machine. When the calculation has completed, the elapsed time is displayed in the window. While the calculation is in progress, you can click on the client area with the right mouse button to abort it.
So, let's take a look how this is done:
The window procedure maintains a static variable called iStatus (which can be set to one of three constants defined near the top of the program beginning with the prefix STATUS) indicating whether the program is ready to do a calculation, working on a calculation, or done with a calculation. The program uses the iStatus variable during the WM_PAINT message to display an appropriate character string in the center of the client area.
The window procedure also maintains a static structure (of type PARAMS, also defined near the top of the program) to share data between the window procedure and the secondary thread. The structure has only two fields—hwnd (the handle of the program's window) and bContinue, which is a Boolean variable used to indicate to the thread whether to continue the calculation or not.
When you click on the client area with the left mouse button, the window procedure sets the iStatus variable to STATUS_WORKING, and the two fields of the PARAMS structure. The hwnd field of the structure is set to the window handle, of course, and bContinue is set to TRUE.
The window procedure then calls the _beginthread function. The secondary Thread function, called Thread, begins by calling GetCurrentTime to get the elapsed time in milliseconds that Windows has been running. It then enters a for loop to do 1,000,000 repetitions of the savage calculation. Notice also that the thread will drop out of the loop if bContinue is ever set to FALSE.
After the for loop, the Thread function checks if it's actually completed 1,000,000 calculations. If so, it calls GetCurrentTime again to get the elapsed time and then uses SendMessage to send the window procedure a program-defined WM_USER_DONE message with the elapsed time as lParam. If the calculation was aborted prematurely (that is, if the bContinue field of the PARAMS structure became FALSE during the loop), the thread sends the window procedure a WM_USER_ABORTED message. The thread then gracefully ends by calling _endthread.
Within the window procedure, the bContinue field of the PARAMS structure is set to FALSE when you click on the client area with the right mouse button. This is how the calculation is aborted before completion.
Notice that the pparams variable in Thread is defined as volatile. This type qualifier indicates to the compiler that a variable might be modified in some way other than actual program statements (such as by another thread). Otherwise, an optimizing compiler might assume that since pparams->bContinue couldn't possibly be modified by the code inside the for loop, it's not necessary for the variable to be checked following every iteration of the loop. The volatile keyword prevents such optimizations.
The window procedure processes the WM_USER_DONE message by first saving the elapsed time. Both the processing of the WM_USER_DONE and WM_USER_ABORTED messages continue with a call to InvalidateRect to generate a WM_PAINT message and display a new text string in the client area.
It's usually a good idea to include a provision, such as the bContinue field in the structure, to allow the thread to terminate gracefully. The KillThread function should be used only when graceful termination is awkward. The reason why is that threads can allocate resources, such as memory. If this memory is not freed when the thread terminates, it will still be allocated. Threads are not processes: allocated resources are shared among all threads in a process, so they are not automatically freed when the thread terminates. Good programming structure dictates that a thread should free any resources it allocates.
Note also that a third thread can be created while the second thread is still in progress. This could happen if Windows switches control from the second thread to the first thread between the SendMessage call and the _endthread call, and the window procedure then creates a new thread on response from a mouse click. This is not a problem here, but if it is a problem in one of your own applications, you'll want to use a critical section to avoid thread collisions.
The Event Object
BIGJOB1 creates a thread every time it needs to perform the savage calculation; the thread terminates after doing the calculation.
An alternative is to keep the thread around for the entire duration of the program and only kick it into action when necessary. This is an ideal application for an event object.
An event object is either "signaled" (also known as "set") or "unsignaled" (also known as "reset"). You create the event object by calling
hEvent = CreateEvent (&sa, fManual, fInitial, pszName) ;
The first argument (a pointer to a SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure) and the last argument (an event object name) are meaningful only when event objects are shared among processes. In a single process, these arguments are generally set to NULL. Set the fInitial argument to TRUE if you want the event object to be initially signaled and to FALSE for initially unsignaled. I'll describe the fManual argument shortly.
To signal an existing event object, call
SetEvent (hEvent) ;
To unsignal an event object, call
ResetEvent (hEvent) ;
A program generally calls
WaitForSingleObject (hEvent, dwTimeOut) ;
with the second argument set to INFINITE. The function returns immediately if the event object is currently signaled (or set). Otherwise, the function will suspend the thread until the event object becomes signaled. You can set the second argument to a time-out value in milliseconds so that the function returns before the event object becomes signaled.
If the fManual argument of the original CreateEvent call is set to FALSE, the event object becomes automatically unsignaled when the WaitForSingleObject function returns. This feature usually makes it unnecessary to use the ResetEvent function.
So, now we're equipped to look at BIGJOB2.C, shown in Figure 20-5.
Figure 20-5. The BIGJOB2 program.
BIGJOB2.C /*---------------------------------------- BIGJOB2.C -- Multithreading Demo (c) Charles Petzold, 1998 ----------------------------------------*/ #include <windows.h> #include <math.h> #include <process.h> #define REP 1000000 #define STATUS_READY 0 #define STATUS_WORKING 1 #define STATUS_DONE 2 #define WM_CALC_DONE (WM_USER + 0) #define WM_CALC_ABORTED (WM_USER + 1) typedef struct { HWND hwnd ; HANDLE hEvent ; BOOL bContinue ; } PARAMS, *PPARAMS ; LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc (HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM) ; int WINAPI WinMain (HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, PSTR szCmdLine, int iCmdShow) { static TCHAR szAppName[] = TEXT ("BigJob2") ; HWND hwnd ; MSG msg ; WNDCLASS wndclass ; wndclass.style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW ; wndclass.lpfnWndProc = WndProc ; wndclass.cbClsExtra = 0 ; wndclass.cbWndExtra = 0 ; wndclass.hInstance = hInstance ; wndclass.hIcon = LoadIcon (NULL, IDI_APPLICATION) ; wndclass.hCursor = LoadCursor (NULL, IDC_ARROW) ; wndclass.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH) GetStockObject (WHITE_BRUSH) ; wndclass.lpszMenuName = NULL ; wndclass.lpszClassName = szAppName ; if (!RegisterClass (&wndclass)) { MessageBox (NULL, TEXT ("This program requires Windows NT!"), szAppName, MB_ICONERROR) ; return 0 ; } hwnd = CreateWindow (szAppName, TEXT ("Multithreading Demo"), WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL) ; ShowWindow (hwnd, iCmdShow) ; UpdateWindow (hwnd) ; while (GetMessage (&msg, NULL, 0, 0)) { TranslateMessage (&msg) ; DispatchMessage (&msg) ; } return msg.wParam ; } void Thread (PVOID pvoid) { double A = 1.0 ; INT i ; LONG lTime ; volatile PPARAMS pparams ; pparams = (PPARAMS) pvoid ; while (TRUE) { WaitForSingleObject (pparams->hEvent, INFINITE) ; lTime = GetCurrentTime () ; for (i = 0 ; i < REP && pparams->bContinue ; i++) A = tan (atan (exp (log (sqrt (A * A))))) + 1.0 ; if (i == REP) { lTime = GetCurrentTime () - lTime ; PostMessage (pparams->hwnd, WM_CALC_DONE, 0, lTime) ; } else PostMessage (pparams->hwnd, WM_CALC_ABORTED, 0, 0) ; } } LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc (HWND hwnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) { static HANDLE hEvent ; static INT iStatus ; static LONG lTime ; static PARAMS params ; static TCHAR * szMessage[] = { TEXT ("Ready (left mouse button begins)"), TEXT ("Working (right mouse button ends)"), TEXT ("%d repetitions in %ld msec") } ; HDC hdc ; PAINTSTRUCT ps ; RECT rect ; TCHAR szBuffer[64] ; switch (message) { case WM_CREATE: hEvent = CreateEvent (NULL, FALSE, FALSE, NULL) ; params.hwnd = hwnd ; params.hEvent = hEvent ; params.bContinue = FALSE ; _beginthread (Thread, 0, ¶ms) ; return 0 ; case WM_LBUTTONDOWN: if (iStatus == STATUS_WORKING) { MessageBeep (0) ; return 0 ; } iStatus = STATUS_WORKING ; params.bContinue = TRUE ; SetEvent (hEvent) ; InvalidateRect (hwnd, NULL, TRUE) ; return 0 ; case WM_RBUTTONDOWN: params.bContinue = FALSE ; return 0 ; case WM_CALC_DONE: lTime = lParam ; iStatus = STATUS_DONE ; InvalidateRect (hwnd, NULL, TRUE) ; return 0 ; case WM_CALC_ABORTED: iStatus = STATUS_READY ; InvalidateRect (hwnd, NULL, TRUE) ; return 0 ; case WM_PAINT: hdc = BeginPaint (hwnd, &ps) ; GetClientRect (hwnd, &rect) ; wsprintf (szBuffer, szMessage[iStatus], REP, lTime) ; DrawText (hdc, szBuffer, -1, &rect, DT_SINGLELINE | DT_CENTER | DT_VCENTER) ; EndPaint (hwnd, &ps) ; return 0 ; case WM_DESTROY: PostQuitMessage (0) ; return 0 ; } return DefWindowProc (hwnd, message, wParam, lParam) ; } |
The window procedure processes the WM_CREATE message by first creating a nonmanual event object that is initialized in the unsignaled (or reset) state. It then creates the thread.
The Thread function enters an infinite while loop but calls WaitForSingleObject at the beginning of the loop. (Notice that the PARAMS structure includes a third field containing the handle to the event object.) Because the event is initially unsignaled, the thread is suspended in the function call. A left mouse button click causes the window procedure to call SetEvent. This releases the second thread from the WaitForSingleObject call, and it begins the savage calculation. After finishing, the thread calls WaitForSingleObject again, but the event object has become unsignaled from the first call. Thus, the thread is suspended until the next mouse click.
Otherwise, the program is almost identical to BIGJOB1.
EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 112