Get Current Thread Handle - multithreading

I have problem in Delphi application with determining current application (current Thread) handle. I know that I can get Current Thread ID with Windows API function GetCurrentThreadID, but I need current Thread handle to use as param for another Windows API function that is SuspendThread.
Actually what I am trying to do is to make one of my old dll's made for hooking API functions located in kernel32.dll like OpenProcess or TerminateProcessto also do hook for SuspendProcess. Hook is located in dll file and using SetWindowsHookEx to be injected in running processes then finding base address of target functions.
I had no problem with hooking functions like TerminateProcess because it needs process ID as param that is easy to obtain in main application using GetCurrentProcessID. To make similar hook for SuspendThread function i need to pass thread handle as param.
Only place where I found thread handle is PROCESS_INFORMATION structure that contains
typedef struct _PROCESS_INFORMATION { // pi
HANDLE hProcess;
HANDLE hThread;
DWORD dwProcessId;
DWORD dwThreadId;
} PROCESS_INFORMATION;
but problem is that this structure is available only after creating process with CreateProcess API function. Main goal is to prevent program users to use different tools available online like ProcessExplorer etc to terminate process. I acheived that with success hooking TerminateProcess API calls and preventing that way closing my app but Suspend option in those process exploring tools can Suspend my process. It is internet kiosk application and it is vital that users can't close that application. Applications is currently running in Windows XP and it has to be run on administrator account because other apps that users are using after logging in my application requires administrator account to operate, so I can't simply run my application under restricted user.
Is there any way that I can get my main application main thread handle in Delphi ?
Thanks in advance

The only safe way to call SuspendThread is with a handle to the current thread. Suspending any other thread is a bad idea. To get a handle to the current thread, just call GetCurrentThread. You can use it pretty much anywhere a thread handle is required. But don't give that handle to another thread — it's a special "pseudo-handle" that always means "current thread," no matter which thread has it.
You can use OpenThread or DuplicateHandle to get a "real" thread handle, but that probably won't get you where you want to go. You won't be able to recognize attempts to suspend your thread or process because the handle another program uses to suspend your thread won't necessarily be the same value that you got when you called OpenThread. Handles are only meaningful within the process that opened them, and it's possible to acquire multiple handles to the same thing, and that may or may not yield the same value each time.
Instead, call GetThreadId to get the ID of the thread being suspended, and then see whether it matches any of your program's thread IDs. Thread IDs uniquely identify threads; handles don't. Likewise for process IDs and handles.

If you have the thread ID, you can get a handle for it using OpenThread:
HANDLE WINAPI OpenThread(
__in DWORD dwDesiredAccess,
__in BOOL bInheritHandle,
__in DWORD dwThreadId
);

Related

Delphi/Indy multithreading Server

I am trying to turn my app multithreading. What I want to achieve is:
- Receive command via TidHTTPServer
- Execute local action (might involve using tidHTTP to send/receive data to other services)
- return execution result to the original caller
since I am pretty new to multi-threading I would like to know if my design-idea is correct
TMsgHandler=Class(TThread)
in TidHTTPServer.OnCommandGet I create a new instance of TMsgHandler and pass ARequestInfo and AResponseInfo
TMsgHandler.Excecute interprest the data
Can TMsgHandler.Execeute use Objects (descendants of TidHTTP) in my Main to communicate with other services?
TMsgHandler sends answer through AResponseInfo and terminates.
will this work?
This is not the correct design.
THTTPServer is a multi-threaded component. Its OnCommand... events are fired in the context of worker threads that Indy creates for you.
As such, you do not need to derive your TMsgHandler from TThread. Do your TIdHTTP directly in the context of the OnCommand... thread instead. A response will not be sent back to the client until your event handler exits (unless you send one manually). However, you should not share a single TIdHTTP from the main thread (unless you absolute need to, in which case you would need to synchronize access to it). You should create a new TIdHTTP dynamically directly in your OnCommand.../TMsgHandler code as needed.

Qt 4 GUI application GUI thread slows with QNetworkRequests

I'm developing an application to track online Xbox Live, PSN, and Steam friends. The application performs a series of QNetworkRequests using a QNetworkAccessManager. The Xbox Live and PSN code use a QWebView to simulate a browser environment. The requests are performed correctly, but it slows down the main GUI thread until each request is finished.
Here's some example code:
void Steam::fetchFriends(QString username)
{
QNetworkRequest userXml("http://steamcommunity.com/id/" + username + "/friends/?xml=1");
m_nam->get(userXml);
}
I've created a signal to tell the GUI that friends have been downloaded and processed. Then the friends list is updated in the GUI. Some of my other code is more complex and it's possible that I need to move the processing code to another thread.
Can someone confirm that QNetworkAccessManager and QNetworkRequest are multithreaded or if they should be moved into separate threads?
QNetworkAccessManager is not threaded in its implementation. It is asynchronous and uses the event loop.
Those who claim they have needed to use it in a threaded state for performance reasons have noted that they need to create the instance specifically in the thread, and not try and move it to a thread. Here is a link to someone posting an example of such.
Before creating it in a separate thread, be sure first that you aren't doing any blocking operations that might cause the main thread to slow down.

NPAPI threading model: should access to global variables be protected by a lock?

From https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Gecko_Plugin_API_Reference:Scripting_plugins :
This API is not designed to be thread safe. The threading model for this API is such that all calls through this API are synchronous and calls from a plugin to methods in this API must come from the thread on which the plugin was initiated, and likewise all calls to methods in this API by the browser are guaranteed to come from the same thread. Future revisions to this API might provide a mechanism for proxying calls from one thread to another to aid in using this API from other threads.
If I want to access a global variable in my plugin (shared between all instances, even on different pages), do I need to lock it or does the browser use only one thread to communicate with the plugin for all instances?
The browser always uses exactly one thread to communicate with the plugin for all instances; you should do the same in return and never call any NPN_ functions from other than the main thread.
Keep in mind that if you're doing anything that may block the main thread at all you'll want to create your own threads and in that case you may need locking; however, just for the browser? no, you don't need them.

General question about parallel threading in C++

I haven't used threading in my program before. But there is a problem I am having with this 3rd party application.
It is an offsite backup solution and it has a server and many clients. We have an admin console to manage all the clients and that is where there is a problem.
If one of the client side application gets stuck, or is running in a broken condition, the admin console waits forever to get a response and does not display anything.
$for(client= client1; client < last_client; client++){
if (getOServConnection(client, &socHandler)!=NULL) { .. }
}
I want two solutions to this. I want to know if there is anyway, I can set a timeout for the function getOServConnection, so that I get a response within X seconds.
And, I want to know how to call this function in parallel for all clients, so that I get the response from all clients within X seconds.
the getOServConnection contains a WSAConnect call, and I don't want to use any options on the socket, since it is used by other modules and it will affect the application severely.
First.. If you move the call that hangs into a separate thread you can use the main thread for starting a timer an waiting for the timeout. If you are using Visual C++ and if you are in Win32 you can use the (rather old) MFC based timer. Once this timer expires it will launch a function call OnTimer. This timer does not affect your application's main thread as it works in a different system based thread.
Second.. If you need to start any number of threads with that connection you should start thinking of a design pattern to use for that. You could use a fixed number of threads, and in that case you may want to use a object pool. Or if the number of threads is (relatively) limitless you may want to use a factory method

How do you handle update refresh rate?

How do you handle update refresh rate from your worker function to your UI ?
Sending everything to the UI or maybe using a timer (from which side ? worker or UI ?)
In Windows apps, you generally want to use a Timer object in your GUI thread to poll for worker status -- it's easier, unless you have a really good reason to do something else...
You can't just make a function call to a UI routine from a worker thread in Windows. Undefined behavior will result, so watch out!
If your platform and development environment supports it some sort of asynchronis messaging system works well. Under Win32 I just use normal windows messages which I "post" (so they don't block the thread) and the standard main message thread of the UI picks up the messages and processes them. I usually define custom messages as well.
Using Timers is suboptimal, there should be no need to "poll" this sort of information.

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