QT GUI Real Time Update Via QThread (MoveToThread) & STD::Async - multithreading

I tried to draw 10 rectangle from each one of 10 threads. Using the QT MoveToThread style it worked fine (using Signal & Slot).
But instead MoveToThread when i tried to use the std::async, the competed rectangle shown (displayed) only after the program ends its execution. Till that time the GUI got hanged. I have mentioned the code logic of the program below. (posting the actual code takes too lenght). How to use the Signal & Slot concept when using std::async()?
Code Logic
1) class Process : Public QObject {
Q_Object
Process_slot {
emit Update_ui_signal //connected to Update_ui_slot of below class
}
Process_method {
emit Update_ui_signal //connected to Update_ui_slot of below class
}
};
2) class UpdateUI : Public QObject {
Q_Object
Update_ui_slot {
update ui
}
};
QT MoveToThread Code:
//here its working as expected
//Real time update happen
Process_object[10];thread_object[10];
Process_object[].movetothread(thread_object[])
connect(call process_slot when thread_object start)
thread_object[].start()
STD::Async Code:
//here the GUI got hanged and got the expected result after the execution finished
//Real time update not happening
std::future objF[10];
objF[] = std::async(std::launch::async, Process_method)
objF[].get();
STD::Thread Code:
//Behaved as same as the std::async
Please let me know if the "actual code"/"more information" needed.

Related

Access the main OMNET++ simulation thread from a working/child thread

I wrote a simple multi-threaded application in OMNET++ that does not call any OMNET++ API in the working thread and is working as expected. I know that OMNET++ does not support multi-thread applications by design, but I was wondering if there is any mechanism that I can use to make a bridge between my worker thread and my code in the main simulation thread.
More specifically, I am saving some data in a vector in the working thread and I want to signal the code in the simulation thread to consume it (producer/consumer scenario). Is there any way to achieve this?
Do I need to design my own event scheduler?
METHOD 1
The simplest way to achieve your goal is to use a selfmessage in simulation thread and a small modification of worker thread. The worker thread should modify a common variable (visible by both threads). And the selfmessage should periodically check the state of this variable.
The sample code of this idea:
// common variable
bool vectorReady;
// worker thread
if (someCondition) {
vectorReady = true;
}
// simulation thread
void someclass::handleMessage(cMessage * msg) {
if (msg->isSelfMessage()) {
if (vectorReady) {
vectorReady = false;
// reads vector data
}
scheduleAt(simTime() + somePeriod, msg);
}
The place of declaration of common variable depends how you create and start the worker thread.
METHOD 2
The other way is to create own scheduler and adding a condition just before every event. By default OMNeT++ uses cSequentialScheduler scheduler. It has the method takeNextEvent() which is called to obtain next event. You can create a derived class and overwrite this method, for example:
// cThreadScheduler.h
#include <omnetpp.h>
using namespace omnetpp;
class cThreadScheduler : public cSequentialScheduler {
public:
virtual cEvent *takeNextEvent() override;
};
// cThreadScheduler.cc
#include "cThreadScheduler.h"
Register_Class(cThreadScheduler);
cEvent* cThreadScheduler::takeNextEvent() {
if (vectorReady) {
vectorReady = false;
// reads vector data
}
return cSequentialScheduler::takeNextEvent();
}
In omnetpp.ini add a line:
scheduler-class = "cThreadScheduler"

Display Opencv image send by event to Qt GUI

I am trying for days now to find a proper solution to the following problem(stated below), and I have no more ideas now. Therefore, I need help from more experienced devs:
I have a class independant from QT (and I want it to stay like this) that generate openCV images in a secundary thread. Then it raise an event which pass the images.
while (1)
{
if (timerActived & this->_camReady)
{
vector<Mat>* images = new vector<Mat>;
images = this->AcquireImg();
__raise this->frameAcquired(images);
}
this_thread::sleep_for(chrono::milliseconds(_frameTimeLaps));
}
This event is hooked by my MainWindow and a method is supposed to display my images on my GUI.
void MainWindow::displayFrame(vector<Mat>* frames) {
vector<Mat>* frames2 = new vector<Mat>();
frames2 = frames;
for (int i = 0; i < frames2->size(); ++i) {
this->camFrames->at(i)->showImage(frames2->at(i));
}
}
During the runTime, when the Main Thread access the images I get the following error :
ASSERT failure in QCoreApplication::sendEvent: "Cannot send events to objects owned by a different thread.
I understand that I am not using threads properly, but I have no idea how to create an asynchronous event now.
Thank you for help,
Valentin
EDIT 1 :
It seems to me that the real question is : can I use normal std::thread and native event to communicate with the main Qthread ?
Here is my solution to solve the problem, after all.
The idea is to give the main thread access to the Mat coming from the second thread. So I modified my function displayFrame like this :
void MainWindow::displayFrame(vector<Mat>* frames) {
//QThread::
QThread* this_thread = QThread::currentThread();
FrameWrapper* worker = new FrameWrapper();
worker->moveToThread(this_thread);
QObject::connect(worker, SIGNAL(frameSent(vector<Mat>*)), this, SLOT(showImg(vector<Mat>*)));
emit worker->frameSent(frames);
//this->camFrames->at(0)->showImage(frame);
}
The new function showImg is doing the job of the old displayFrame. The signal/slot process permit to access image from the GUI Thread as wanted.

How to wait for WebEngine/Browser initialization in JavaFx application?

I would like to create a custom FunctionPlotter component that is based on the JavaFx WebEngine. My plots will be shown in a browser. Before I execute my plot commands I have to wait until the browser has been initialized (it loads d3.js). Currently I do so by putting my plot expressions in a Runnable and pass that runnable to the FunctionPlotter. (The FunctionPlotter passes the runnable to the loading finished hook of the browser):
private FunctionPlotter plotter;
...
Runnable plotRunnable = ()->{
plotter.plot("x^2");
}
plotter = new FunctionPlotter(plotRunnable);
However I would prefer following (blocking) work flow for the usage of my FunctionPlotter component:
Functionplotter plotter = new FunctionPlotter();
plotter.plot("x^2")
=> The FunctionPlotter should automatically wait until the wrapped browser has been initialized.
How should I do this in an JavaFx Application?
Inside the FunctionPlotter I could do something like
private Boolean isInitialized = false
...
ReadOnlyObjectProperty<State> state = webEngine.getLoadWorker().stateProperty();
state.addListener((obs, oldState, newState) -> {
boolean isSucceeded = (newState == Worker.State.SUCCEEDED);
if (isSucceeded) {
isInitialized = true;
}
});
webEngine.loadContent(initialBrowserContent);
waitUntilInitialLoadingIsFinished();
My actual question is how the method on the last line could be implemented. If I use following code, the application will wait for ever:
private void waitUntilBrowserIsInitialized() {
while(!isInitialized){
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
}
}
I know that there is stuff like JavaFx Tasks, Platform.runLater(), Service, CountdownLatch (JavaFX working with threads and GUI) but those did not help me (= I did not get it working). How can I wait in the main Thread until a Runnable is finished?
Here someone says that the JavaFx Application thread should never be blocked:
Make JavaFX application thread wait for another Thread to finish
Any other suggestions?
Edit
Related question: JavaFX/SWT WebView synchronous loadcontent()
I decided to wrap the plot functionality in an internal queue of plot instructions. The command
plotter.plot("x^2");
will not actually execute the plot but add a plot instruction to the queue. After the browser has been initialized, that queue will be worked through and the plot commands will be executed with a delay. While the browser is initializing I will show some kind of progress bar.
If you know a solution that does not need this delayed execution work around please let me know.

Private variable disappears after thread starts

Problem:
I have a private variable that is available during the startup of a threaded object, but is out of scope when it is used later (via a signal and slot call).
Details:
I have an application that I'm developing in Qt5 for both linux and windows.
Currently it works as expected under linux (where development began), but now
that I'm trying to stand it up on windows 7 (I didn't have a copy of windows initially) I have run into this problem where (on windows only) my private variables go out of scope after the thread initializes.
Question:
What is wrong with my object/thread structure such that the variable scope is fine under Linux, but not in windows? I thought that was the kind of "behind the scenes" stuff Qt took care of? (clearly not)
More Detail:
The order of operation goes like this
Instantiate an object
Move the object into a thread
Get the thread's start signal and call an init function in the object
Later, get data and emit a signal to the threaded object
Threaded object processes data
The code outlining the steps above is summarized below.
void MyWorkerClass::init()
{
// ... bunchOCode
procThread = new QThread; // <-- procThread - private to MyWorkerClass
procObj = new Processor(startupData); // <-- procObj - private to MyWorkerClass
procObj->moveToThread(procThread);
connect(procThread, SIGNAL(started()), procObj, SLOT(doStart()));
connect(this, SIGNAL(dataIsReady(void *)), procObj, SLOT(processMsgs(void *)));
procThread->start();
ok = waitforProcSetup();
// ... Life is good, do more stuff
}
class Processor : public QObject
{
// ... Other
// ... stuff
private slots:
void doStart();
void processMsgs(void * buffer);
private:
QHash<QString, bool> process;
}
void Processor::doStart() // <-- private slot
{
// ... take care of init stuff that couldn't be done in constructor
// Variable is valid here and I can work with it.
foreach(site, locations.uniqueKeys()) {
process[site] = true; // <-- works like a champ
qDebug() << QString("%1 => %2").arg(site).arg(process[site]);
}
}
void Processor::processMsgs(void * buffer) // <-- buffer is malloc'd memory and works fine
{
// ... When MyWorkerClass gets some data it emits a signal that is connected
// to this private slot.
// Simply trying to examine the variable causes a segfault (because it's uninitialized here)
qDebug() << "... processMsgs:" << process.isEmpty(); // <-- wets the bed
}
.
In trying to improve my question, by following the suggestions from the people who commented, I found out what was going on. I was working on creating a small working version of the example I posted (thanks Kuba Ober). The "error" I was encountering was a segmentation fault that could consistently be recreated with the debug line:
qDebug() << "... processMsgs:" << process.isEmpty(); // <-- wets the bed
Specifically, the private QHash variable "process" was useable when I called it the first time (after the thread was up and running)
connect(procThread, SIGNAL(started()), procObj, SLOT(doStart()));
but that same variable acted like it had gone out of scope when I tried to call it the second time
connect(this, SIGNAL(dataIsReady(void *)), procObj, SLOT(processMsgs(void *)));
The signal (dataIsReady(void *)) for this second call is an explicit "emit" that the worker class does when it's collected some data that can be processed. I tried to make that clear in the comments of the example pseudocode, but I didn't take into account that the comment code I included wouldn't stand out that well since it's all grey.
What was really going on was right after I filled "process[site]" with data I also looped over a quint64 array filling it with data too. The loop went 1 element too far and wrote into the "process" variable, making it look to me like it had gone out of scope. In linux it was purely coincidental that it didn't segfault (likely there was padding between the array and the QHash), but the windows runtime exposed the error for the first time.

JavaFX Multi Threading

I'm writing a small programm where JavaFx acts as a viewer and controler and let Java do the other hard work. I can start multiple threads from Javafx however, I'm not able to stop them. If I try to use .stop(), the threads are still running.
Here is one of them:
public var sleepTask_connect;
function LogOutAction(): Void {
sleepTask_connect.stop();
}
function LogInAction(): Void {
var listener = FXListener_interface_connection {
override function callback(errorCode, errorMessage): Void {
//do something
if(errorCode != 200){
setIcn(errorMessage);
}
}
}
sleepTask_connect = FXListener_connection {
listener: listener
};
sleepTask_connect.start();
}
Use JavaTaskBase to implement you Java thread. There is a stop method to kill the thread. Here is an example of how you use it.
I've had better luck with the JFXtras XWorker component for threading. See http://jfxtras.googlecode.com/svn/site/javadoc/release-0.6/org.jfxtras.async/org.jfxtras.async.XWorker.html.
However in general in order for your thread to respond to cancel/stop requests, you have to check the canceled or stopped flag in your code during your "do something" section. This works if your thread is in an infinite loop for example, or if you just have a series of long running processes you can check for canceled/stopped in between them. Alternatively, if your code calls some blocking method (like sockets or a blocking queue), then most of these will throw an InterruptedException when the thread is canceled.

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