Accessing file handles across multiple threads in TCL - multithreading

I am using tcl version 8.5.
I have created a Itcl class itcl::class C_LOG inside which I have defined few private methods and one of them is public method openLog {filename} {} inside which I am performing a file open/append operation,
if { [catch {open $filename a} logFileId ] } {
error $logFileId
}
Outside the class I have created a multithread program public method userInfo which will print the userinfo env value into the file already created above.
puts $logFileId $userinfo.
But I am experiencing a error can not find channel named fileXXXX
It seems that the issue is because I have created a file handle outside the thread and I am trying to access the same inside a thread, I'm not sure if this actually works, if yes,
kindly let me know how to carry the file handles/channels to inside a thread.

It's actually not that hard, you have to transfer the file descriptor to an other thread:
::thread::transfer $otherThread $logFileId
Once you did that, you can only access it from this other thread.
If you want to log from different threads, I suggest using an own thread and sending the data that it should log to it:
set logThread [::thread::create]
thread::transfer $logThread $logFileId
# And to log something:
thread::send -async $logThread [list puts $logFileId $userinfo]

Related

How to set pthread name at the time of creation?

I am using pthread in my program. For creation using pthread_create(). Right after creation I am using pthread_setname_np() to set the created thread's name.
I am observing that the name I set takes a small time to reflect, initially the thread inherits the program name.
Any suggestions how I can set the thread name at the time I create the thread using pthread_create()? I researched a bit in the available pthread_attr() but did not find a function that helps.
A quick way to reproduce what I am observing, is as follows:
void * thread_loop_func(void *arg) {
// some code goes here
pthread_getname_np(pthread_self(), thread_name, sizeof(thread_name));
// Output to console the thread_name here
// some more code
}
int main() {
// some code
pthread_t test_thread;
pthread_create(&test_thread, &attr, thread_loop_func, &arg);
pthread_setname_np(test_thread, "THREAD-FOO");
// some more code, rest of pthread_join etc follows.
return 0;
}
Output:
<program_name>
<program_name>
THREAD-FOO
THREAD-FOO
....
I am looking for the first console output to reflect THREAD-FOO.
how I can set the thread name at the time I create the thread using pthread_create()?
That is not possible. Instead you can use a barrier or mutex to synchronize the child thread until it's ready to be run. Or you can set the thread name from inside the thread (if any other threads are not using it's name).
Do not to use pthread_setname_np. This is a nonstandard GNU extension. The _np suffix literally means "non-portable". Write portable code and instead use your own place where you store your thread names.
Instead of pthread_setname_np(3) you can use prctl(2) with PR_SET_NAME. The only limitation with this function is that you can only set the name of the calling process/thread. But since your example is doing exactly that, there should be no problem with this solution AND it's a portable standard API.

QSerialPort in QThread run bytesAvailable is zero

Have a simple Qt app. Gui thread, creates Dev thread it creates (in its run()) Read thread. Dev and Read threads are my classes inherited from QThread. The Read thread should read data from COM port continuously. An approximate view of Read run is following.
read::run()
{
sp2->clear();
while (DO_EXEC)
{
if (DO_WRITE)
{
// write data to port
}
usleep(500);
ba = sp2->bytesAvailable();
if (ba > 0)
{
int a = sp2->read(&BUF[BUF_END], ba);
// process data
emit sgnl(sendeddata);
}
}
}
To start it I emit signal in GUI that is passed to Dev at it is passed to the following read slot:
read::slot_readStart()
{
// some stuff
if (doStart && !isRunning())
{
sp2 = new QSerialPort(this);
sp2->setPortName("COM3");
sp2->setBaudRate(256000);
sp2->setDataBits(QSerialPort::Data8);
sp2->setStopBits(QSerialPort::OneStop);
sp2->setParity(QSerialPort::NoParity);
sp2->setFlowControl(QSerialPort::NoFlowControl);
sp2->setReadBufferSize(5000);
bool isOpen = sp2->open(QIODevice::ReadWrite);
DO_EXEC = true;
start();
}
}
This works. But, if I place creating and setup and opening serial port to run method, then the port is open, but the bytesAvailable() are always zero? Why it is possible?
Thank you in adcance.
I agree with Orest Hera, in that you are using a "non recommended" way of implementing threads.
You are using inheritance for your thread object.
It is important to understand how QThreads work. The general procedure to using the QThreads is:
Make Object to go into thread, assign no parent
Make thread
Move object into thead using obj->moveToThread(thread)
Connect a signal to a slot in the object that will instatiate the object members (if required)
Start the thread: thread->start()
For example:
MyObj *myObj = new MyObj(0); // 0 = no parent if your object inherits QObject
QThread* thread = new QThread;
myObj->moveToThread(thread);
QObject::connect(thread, SIGNAL(started()), myObj, SLOT(run()));
thread->start();
So your object can still have its "run()" function, but it won't be overloading anything.
Also your run() function does not need to be a "forever" loop, it is simply an initialization function (create the serial port or whatever). Then you add other slots for other events, e.g. you can connect the QSerialPort::readyRead() to your "incoming data slot" handler to handle any data received from the serial port.... and so on.
I think this will solve your issues. It is difficult to tell exactly why your serial port does not work in your overloaded "Run()" function because I can't see how you are calling /creating the thread (i.e. the rest of your code) or where DO_EXEC is initialized etc... There is probably some ordering of events or thread ownership issue here.
Note: I am not saying you can't inherit thread class, but if you do that it is so that you create your own custom thread class (to do thread stuff), but not some other class to create a hybrid of thread utility and other stuff. There is a fair amount of information relating to this here (on SO) and on the qt forum if you are interested in the why/how etc... :)

Is there a lock statement in PowerShell

When using threads in PowerShell, are we able to use the lock statement like in C#?
Or do we need to use the code that lock gets pre compiled to, ie. use the Monitor class?
There is no native lock statement in PowerShell as such, but you can acquire\release an exclusive lock on a specified object using Monitor Class. It can be used to pass data between threads when working with Runspaces, which is demonstrated in David Wyatt's blog post Thread Synchronization (in PowerShell?).
Quote:
MSDN page for ICollection.IsSynchronized Property mentions that you must explicitly lock the SyncRoot property of an Collection to perform a thread-safe enumeration of its contents, even if you're dealing with a Synchronized collection.
Basic example:
# Create synchronized hashtable for thread communication
$SyncHash = [hashtable]::Synchronized(#{Test='Test'})
try
{
# Lock it
[System.Threading.Monitor]::Enter($SyncHash)
$LockTaken = $true
foreach ($keyValuePair in $SyncHash.GetEnumerator())
{
# Hashtable is locked, do something
$keyValuePair
}
}
catch
{
# Catch exception
throw 'Lock failed!'
}
finally
{
if ($LockTaken)
{
# Release lock
[System.Threading.Monitor]::Exit($SyncHash)
}
}
David has also written fully functional Lock-Object module, which implements this approach.

switching FileAppenders on the fly

I've got a legacy logging class. Its got a static Logger reference (named logger) and a bunch of static methods.
Each method takes a String input and writes it to System.out.println and to logger if logger is not null.
Its got a constructor that initializes logger. But this constructor only has package scope and I'm pretty sure its not being called anywhere. Therefore logger is always null and the class essentially only ever executes System.out.println
I want to change this so it can be used in a multi threaded application where each thread writes to its own unique FileAppender.
And that's where I'm stuck.
Basically, what I want to do is have this static class associated with a bunch of different log4j FileAppenders. Each FileAppender can be created by the Thread, and the file name can be derived from unique information known to the Thread.
What I can't figure out how to do is magically use Log4j to communicate that Thread's unique FileAppender to this legacy logging class.
Ideas? Hints? Suggestions?
Mark
It is possible to change the target log file name dynamically using a RoutingAppender and the ThreadContext map.
This can all be done with configuration (no need for custom code where threads create FileAppenders). In the RoutingAppender configuration you can specify a ThreadContext key you want to use to switch the target FileAppender. For example, you can use the string "ROUTINGKEY". Each thread puts a unique value in the ThreadContext map for key "ROUTINGKEY", and this value is used to select the Appender that the log event is routed to. You can even set it up to dynamically create log files that have the ROUTINGKEY value in the file name, so not all target log files need to be known in advance.
The FAQ page has a good example: http://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/faq.html#separate_log_files

QObject::moveToThread and executing a member function inside that thread

If an object of type QObject is moved to a thread with QObject::moveToThread, all signals that the object receives are handled inside that thread. However, if a slot is called directly (object->theSlot()) that call will still block. What would be the normal way of executing that call inside the thread and returning control to the calling thread immediately? Hacks with QTimer don't count. Setting up a single purpose connection and deleting it again might count as a solution if all else fails.
You could use QMetaObject::invokeMethod with Qt::ConnectionType set to Qt::QueuedConnection
You can use QFuture<T> QtConcurrent::run ( Function function, ... ) to launch some execution inside a separate thread and then use QFutureWatcher to get the result. You will not need to call movetoThread.
Basically something like :
QFutureWatcher<T>* watch = new QFuture(0);
connect(watch, SIGNAL(finished()), this, SLOT(handleResult()));
QFuture<T> future = QtConcurrent::run( myObj, &QMyObject::theSlot(), args...);
watch.setFuture(future);
....
//slot
private void handleResult(){
if(future->isCancelled())
return;
T mydata = watch->future()->result();
// use your data as you want
}
QtConcurrent::run will schedule the method of this object to be ran in some thread. It is non-blocking. On the other hand, QFuture::result() blocks until there is a result, if the computation is still ongoing. That's why you need the other object to notify when the computation is over using finished(). I cannot think of a better design for your problem in Qt.

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