I'm trying to build a generic worker thread in Delphi, one that I can pass a function/procedure (doesn't matter) as an argument and let it execute.
My guess is to add a field in the TThread class and call it from TThread.Execute.
So the code outside the thread is gonna be:
MyThread := TWorkerThread.Create(True);
Mythread.CallBackF := #Foo;
try
MyThread.Resume;
except
MyThread.Free;
end;
How do I keep a reference of #foo in the TWorkerThread and call it from inside Execute?
Also, a good start into using generic threads would be AsyncCalls or Omni Thread Library.
I do not pretend to be an expert on threading, but I think this will do it:
interface
type
TProcRef = reference to procedure;
TWorkerThread = class(TThread)
public
proc: TProcRef;
procedure Execute; override;
class procedure RunInThread(AProc: TProcRef);
end;
implementation
procedure TWorkerThread.Execute;
begin
inherited;
proc;
end;
class procedure TWorkerThread.RunInThread(AProc: TProcRef);
begin
with TWorkerThread.Create(true) do
begin
FreeOnTerminate := true;
proc := AProc;
Resume;
end;
end;
Then, if you got any procedure, like
procedure P;
begin
while true do
begin
sleep(1000);
beep;
end;
end;
you can just do
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
TWorkerThread.RunInThread(P);
end;
You can even do
TWorkerThread.RunInThread(procedure begin while true do begin sleep(1000); beep; end; end);
Take a look at QueueUserWorkItem function.
It executes arbitrary function in a thread, without requiring you to create one.
Just don't forget to switch IsMultithreaded global variable to True.
Related
I have a Delphi DLL, which needs to be called from my main UI application or worker threads.
I do not want to call LoadLibrary/FreeLibrary each time I call the DLL. But, I also don't want to load it in my application initialization section. because I might not use the DLL at all during the lifetime of the application.
So what I need is the first caller (thread or main UI) to initialize and load the DLL.
the DLL will be unloaded in the finalization section. I realize I need some synchronization. so I have used a critical section BUT I can't seem to make it work.
Only one thread should attempt and load the DLL. if it fails other threads should not attempt to load the DLL again and again.
The synchronization is not working as expected!
Can someone suggest why?
MCVE:
program Project1;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
Windows,
SysUtils,
Classes;
const
MyDLL = 'MyDLL.dll';
type
TDLLProcessProc = function(A: Integer): Integer; stdcall;
var
DLLProc: TDLLProcessProc = nil;
DLLModule: HMODULE = 0;
DLLInitialized: Boolean = False;
DLLInitialized_OK: Boolean = False;
CS: TRTLCriticalSection;
procedure InitDLLByFirstCall;
begin
if DLLModule = 0 then
begin
if DLLInitialized then Exit;
EnterCriticalSection(CS);
try
if DLLInitialized then Exit;
DLLInitialized := True;
DLLModule := LoadLibrary(MyDLL);
if DLLModule = 0 then RaiseLastWin32Error;
DLLProc := GetProcAddress(DLLModule, 'Process');
if #DLLProc = nil then RaiseLastWin32Error;
DLLInitialized_OK := True;
finally
LeaveCriticalSection(CS);
end;
end;
end;
function DLLProcess(A: Integer): Integer;
begin
InitDLLByFirstCall;
if not DLLInitialized_OK then
raise Exception.Create('DLL was not initialized OK');
Result := DLLProc(A);
end;
type
TDLLThread = class(TThread)
private
FNum: Integer;
public
constructor Create(CreateSuspended: Boolean; ANum: Integer);
procedure Execute; override;
end;
constructor TDLLThread.Create(CreateSuspended: Boolean; ANum: Integer);
begin
FreeOnTerminate := True;
FNum := ANum;
inherited Create(CreateSuspended);
end;
procedure TDLLThread.Execute;
var
RetValue: Integer;
begin
try
RetValue := DLLProcess(FNum);
Sleep(0);
Writeln('TDLLThread Result=> ' + IntToStr(RetValue));
except
on E: Exception do
begin
Writeln('TDLLThread Error: ' + E.Message);
end;
end;
end;
var
I: Integer;
begin
InitializeCriticalSection(CS);
try
// First 10 thread always fail!
for I := 1 to 10 do
TDLLThread.Create(False, I);
Readln;
for I := 1 to 10 do
TDLLThread.Create(False, I);
Readln;
finally
DeleteCriticalSection(CS);
end;
end.
DLL:
library MyDLL;
uses
Windows;
{$R *.res}
function Process(A: Integer): Integer; stdcall;
begin
Result := A;
end;
exports
Process;
begin
IsMultiThread := True;
end.
You need to modify your code in a way that the condition variable that is checked at the start of InitDLLByFirstCall is set only after all initialization has been completed. The DLL handle is therefore a bad choice.
Second you need to use the same condition variable outside and inside of the critical section - if you use DLLInitialized for that, then there is not really a use for either DLLInitialized_OK nor DLLModule.
And to make things easier to reason about you should try to get away with the minimum number of variables. Something like the following should work:
var
DLLProc: TDLLProcessProc = nil;
DLLInitialized: Boolean = False;
CS: TRTLCriticalSection;
procedure InitDLLByFirstCall;
var
DLLModule: HMODULE;
begin
if DLLInitialized then
Exit;
EnterCriticalSection(CS);
try
if not DLLInitialized then
try
DLLModule := LoadLibrary(MyDLL);
Win32Check(DLLModule <> 0);
DLLProc := GetProcAddress(DLLModule, 'Process');
Win32Check(Assigned(DLLProc));
finally
DLLInitialized := True;
end;
finally
LeaveCriticalSection(CS);
end;
end;
function DLLProcess(A: Integer): Integer;
begin
InitDLLByFirstCall;
if #DLLProc = nil then
raise Exception.Create('DLL was not initialized OK');
Result := DLLProc(A);
end;
If you don't want to check for the function address inside of DLLProcess then you could also use an integer or enumeration for the DLLInitialized variable, with different values for not initialized, failed and success.
You've got your double checked locking implemented incorrectly. You assign to DLLModule before assigning to DLLProc. So DLLModule can be non-zero whilst DLLProc is still null.
The variable that you test outside the lock must be modified after all the initialization is complete.
The pattern is like this:
if not Initialised then begin
Lock.Enter;
if not Initialised then begin
// Do initialisation
Initialised := True; // after initialisation complete
end;
Lock.Leave;
end;
Remember that double checked locking, as implemented here, only works because of the strong x86 memory model. If you ever move this code onto hardware with a weak memory model, it won't work as implemented. You'd need to implement barriers. Possible to do, but not entirely trivial.
Double checked locking is pointless here though. Remove it and protect everything with a single critical section. You are spinning up a thread, a very expensive task. The potential contention on a critical section is negligible.
I have a frame, inside it I have a thread, the creation of this front and at runtime, each click that give the button it creates a new frame and may have innumerable within the form. the problem is that ... I create the first, the thread starts normal when I create the second, the first thread to, and the second begins, if I click again, the first and second stand still and the third begins, if I close the third, the second back to work, because this happens?
thank you
constructor TMy_Thread.Create(fraConnect : TfraConnect);
begin
inherited Create(True);
Priority := tpTimeCritical;
FreeOnTerminate := true;
fraConnectT := fraConnect;
end;
procedure TMy_Thread.Execute;
begin
Synchronize(Teste);
end;
procedure TMy_Thread.TEste;
var
iSize : Int64;
iCnt : Integer;
Msg : TMsg ;
begin
inherited;
with fraConnectT do begin
While not Terminated do begin
Log(fraConnectT.Name,'');
Application.ProcessMessages;
end;
end;
end;
////////////////
procedure TfraConnect.Click(Sender: TObject);
var
Sc : TMy_Thread;
begin
Sc := TMy_Thread.Create(Self);
try
iTela := 0;
Sc.Execute;
finally
Sc.Terminate;
end;
end;
You are not using TThread correctly. You are not starting the thread (so it does not free itself when terminated), you are calling Execute() directly, you are Synchronizeing the entire body of Execute(). So Execute() runs in the main thread, calling ProcessMessages() to allow a new button click, which calls Execute() blocking the previous Execute() until the new Execute() exits, and so on. That is why you are experiencing the symptoms you are seeing.
To fix this, you need to do the following:
In the thread constructor, call inherited Create(False) instead. This allows the thread to start running automatically. Otherwise, you have to call the thread's Resume() or Start() method after the constructor exits.
remove Execute() from Click(). Let the running thread call Execute().
remove ProcessMessages() from Teste(). There is never a need to call ProcessMessages() in a thread (unless it is being called inside of Synchronized or Queued code running in the main thread, but even then it should be avoided when possible).
only Synchronize() small code blocks that actually need to run in the main thread - code that does not work in a secondary thread, code that needs to access the UI, code that needs to access a resource shared by multiple threads, etc. The bulk of your thread code should NOT be Synchronized, that defeats the purpose of using a thread in the first place.
Try something more like this:
type
fraConnect = class;
TMy_Thread = class(TThread)
private
fraConnectT : TfraConnect;
procedure DoLog;
protected
procedure Execute; override;
public
constructor Create(fraConnect : TfraConnect);
property Terminated;
end;
...
constructor TMy_Thread.Create(fraConnect : TfraConnect);
begin
inherited Create(True);
Priority := tpTimeCritical;
FreeOnTerminate := true;
fraConnectT := fraConnect;
end;
procedure TMy_Thread.Execute;
begin
with fraConnectT do begin
While not Terminated do begin
// assuming Log() is not thread-safe...
Synchronize(DoLog);
Sleep(100);
end;
end;
end;
procedure TMy_Thread.DoLog;
begin
Log(fraConnectT.Name,'');
end;
type
TMy_Thread = class;
TfraConnect = class(TFrame)
Start: TButton;
Stop: TButton;
StartClick(Sender: TObject);
StopClick(Sender: TObject);
private
Sc: TMy_Thread;
procedure ThreadTerminated(Sender: TObject);
end;
...
procedure TfraConnect.StartClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
if (not Assigned(Sc)) or Sc.Terminated then
begin
Sc := TMy_Thread.Create(Self);
Sc.OnTerminate := ThreadTerminated;
Sc.Resume; // or Sc.Start;
end;
end;
procedure TfraConnect.StopClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
if Assigned(Sc) then
Sc.Terminate;
end;
procedure TfraConnect.ThreadTerminated(Sender: TObject);
begin
if Sc = Sender then
Sc := nil;
end;
In my Application when I write text files (logs, traces, etc), I use TFileStream class.
There are cases that I write the data in multithreaded environment, those are the steps:
1- Write Cache Data
2- For each 1000 lines I save to File.
3- Clear Data.
This process is repeated during all processing.
Problem Description:
With 16 threads, the system throws the following exception:
Access Violation - file already in use by another application.
I guess this is happening because that the handle used by one thread is not closed yet, when another thread needs to open.
I changed the architecture to the following: (bellow is the NEW implementation)
In the previous way, the TFileStream was created with FileName and Mode parameters, and destroyed closing the handle (I wasn't using TMyFileStream)
TMyFileStream = class(TFileStream)
public
destructor Destroy; override;
end;
TLog = class(TStringList)
private
FFileHandle: Integer;
FirstTime: Boolean;
FName: String;
protected
procedure Flush;
constructor Create;
destructor Destroy;
end;
destructor TMyFileStream.Destroy;
begin
//Do Not Close the Handle, yet!
FHandle := -1;
inherited Destroy;
end;
procedure TLog.Flush;
var
StrBuf: PChar; LogFile: string;
F: TFileStream;
InternalHandle: Cardinal;
begin
if (Text <> '') then
begin
LogFile:= GetDir() + FName + '.txt';
ForceDirectories(ExtractFilePath(LogFile));
if FFileHandle < 0 then
begin
if FirstTime then
FirstTime := False;
if FileExists(LogFile) then
if not SysUtils.DeleteFile(LogFile) then
RaiseLastOSError;
InternalHandle := CreateFile(PChar(LogFile), GENERIC_READ or GENERIC_WRITE, FILE_SHARE_READ, nil, CREATE_NEW, 0,0);
if InternalHandle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE then
RaiseLastOSError
else if GetLastError = ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS then
begin
InternalHandle := CreateFile(PChar(LogFile), GENERIC_READ or GENERIC_WRITE, FILE_SHARE_READ, nil, OPEN_EXISTING, 0,0);
if InternalHandle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE then
RaiseLastOSError
else
FFileHandle := InternalHandle;
end
else
FFileHandle := InternalHandle;
end;
F := TMyFileStream.Create(FFileHandle);
try
StrBuf := PChar(Text);
F.Position := F.Size;
F.Write(StrBuf^, StrLen(StrBuf));
finally
F.Free();
end;
Clear;
end;
end;
destructor TLog.Destroy;
begin
FUserList:= nil;
Flush;
if FFileHandle >= 0 then
CloseHandle(FFileHandle);
inherited;
end;
constructor TLog.Create;
begin
inherited;
FirstTime := True;
FFileHandle := -1;
end;
There is another better way?
Is this implementation correct?
May I improve this?
My guess about the Handle was right?
All theads use the same Log object.
There is no reentrance, i checked! there is something wrong with the TFileStream.
The Access to the Add is synchronized, I mean, I used critical session, and when it reaches 1000 lines, Flush procedure is called.
P.S: I do not want third-party component, i want to create my own.
Well, for a start, there's no point in TMyFileStream. What you are looking for is THandleStream. That class allows you to supply a file handle whose lifetime you control. And if you use THandleStream you'll be able to avoid the rather nasty hacks of your variant. That said, why are you even bothering with a stream? Replace the code that creates and uses the stream with a call to SetFilePointer to seek to the end of the file, and a call to WriteFile to write content.
However, even using that, your proposed solution requires further synchronization. A single windows file handle cannot be used concurrently from multiple threads without synchronisation. You hint in a comment (should be in the question) that you are serializing file writes. If so then you are just fine.
The threaded solution provided by Marko Paunovic quite nice, however while reviewing the code I noticed a small mistake, perhaps just an oversight in the example but I thought I'd mention it just the same in case someone actually tries to use it as-is.
There is a missing call to Flush in TLogger.Destroy, as a result any unflushed (buffered) data is disgarded when the TLogger object is destroyed.
destructor TLogger.Destroy;
begin
if FStrings.Count > 0 then
Flush;
FStrings.Free;
DeleteCriticalSection(FLock);
inherited;
end;
How about:
In each thread, add log lines to a TStringList instance until lines.count=1000. Then push the TStringList onto a blocking producer-consumer queue, immediately create a new TStringList and carry on logging to the new list.
Use one Logging thread that dequeues the TStringList instances, writes them to the file and then frees them.
This isolates the log writes from disk/network delays, removes any reliance on dodgy file-locking and will actually work reliably.
I figured MY MISTAKE.
In first place, I want to apologize for posting this stupid question without a proper way to reproduce the exception. In other words, without a SSCCE.
The problem was a control flag that my TLog class used internally.
This flag was created, when we started to evolve our product a parallel architecture.
As we needed to keep the previous form working (at least until everything was in the new architecture).
We created some flags to identify if the object was either the new or old version.
One of that flags was named CheckMaxSize.
If CheckMaxSize was enabled, at a certain moment, every data inside the instance of this object in each thread, would be thrown to the main instance, which was in the "main" thread (not the GUI one, because it was a background work). Furthermore, when CheckMaxSize is enabled, TLog should never ever call "flush".
Finally, as you can see, in TLog.Destroy there is no check to CheckMaxSize. Therefore, the problem would happen because the name of the file created by this class was always the same, since it was processing the same task, and when One object created the file and another one tried to create another file with the same name, inside the same folder, the OS (Windows) rose an Exception.
Solution:
Rewrite the destructor to:
destructor TLog.Destroy;
begin
if CheckMaxSize then
Flush;
if FFileHandle >= 0 then
CloseHandle(FFileHandle);
inherited;
end;
If you have multithreaded code that needs to write to single file, it's best to have as much control as you can in your hands. And that means, avoid classes which you are not 100% sure how they work.
I suggest that you use multiple threads > single logger architecture, where each thread will have reference to logger object, and add strings to it. Once 1000 lines are reached, logger would flush the collected data in file.
There is no need to use TFileStream to write data to file, you can
go with CreateFile()/SetFilePointer()/WriteFile(), as David already suggested
TStringList is not thread-safe, so you have to use locks on it
main.dpr:
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
uLogger,
uWorker;
const
WORKER_COUNT = 16;
var
worker: array[0..WORKER_COUNT - 1] of TWorker;
logger: TLogger;
C1 : Integer;
begin
Write('Creating logger...');
logger := TLogger.Create('test.txt');
try
WriteLn(' OK');
Write('Creating threads...');
for C1 := Low(worker) to High(worker) do
begin
worker[C1] := TWorker.Create(logger);
worker[C1].Start;
end;
WriteLn(' OK');
Write('Press ENTER to terminate...');
ReadLn;
Write('Destroying threads...');
for C1 := Low(worker) to High(worker) do
begin
worker[C1].Terminate;
worker[C1].WaitFor;
worker[C1].Free;
end;
WriteLn(' OK');
finally
Write('Destroying logger...');
logger.Free;
WriteLn(' OK');
end;
end.
uWorker.pas:
unit uWorker;
interface
uses
System.Classes, uLogger;
type
TWorker = class(TThread)
private
FLogger: TLogger;
protected
procedure Execute; override;
public
constructor Create(const ALogger: TLogger);
destructor Destroy; override;
end;
implementation
function RandomStr: String;
var
C1: Integer;
begin
result := '';
for C1 := 10 to 20 + Random(50) do
result := result + Chr(Random(91) + 32);
end;
constructor TWorker.Create(const ALogger: TLogger);
begin
inherited Create(TRUE);
FLogger := ALogger;
end;
destructor TWorker.Destroy;
begin
inherited;
end;
procedure TWorker.Execute;
begin
while not Terminated do
FLogger.Add(RandomStr);
end;
end.
uLogger.pas:
unit uLogger;
interface
uses
Winapi.Windows, System.Classes;
type
TLogger = class
private
FStrings : TStringList;
FFileName : String;
FFlushThreshhold: Integer;
FLock : TRTLCriticalSection;
procedure LockList;
procedure UnlockList;
procedure Flush;
public
constructor Create(const AFile: String; const AFlushThreshhold: Integer = 1000);
destructor Destroy; override;
procedure Add(const AString: String);
property FlushThreshhold: Integer read FFlushThreshhold write FFlushThreshhold;
end;
implementation
uses
System.SysUtils;
constructor TLogger.Create(const AFile: String; const AFlushThreshhold: Integer = 1000);
begin
FFileName := AFile;
FFlushThreshhold := AFlushThreshhold;
FStrings := TStringList.Create;
InitializeCriticalSection(FLock);
end;
destructor TLogger.Destroy;
begin
FStrings.Free;
DeleteCriticalSection(FLock);
inherited;
end;
procedure TLogger.LockList;
begin
EnterCriticalSection(FLock);
end;
procedure TLogger.UnlockList;
begin
LeaveCriticalSection(FLock);
end;
procedure TLogger.Add(const AString: String);
begin
LockList;
try
FStrings.Add(AString);
if FStrings.Count >= FFlushThreshhold then
Flush;
finally
UnlockList;
end;
end;
procedure TLogger.Flush;
var
strbuf : PChar;
hFile : THandle;
bWritten: DWORD;
begin
hFile := CreateFile(PChar(FFileName), GENERIC_WRITE, FILE_SHARE_READ, nil, OPEN_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, 0);
try
strbuf := PChar(FStrings.Text);
SetFilePointer(hFile, 0, nil, FILE_END);
WriteFile(hFile, strbuf^, StrLen(strbuf), bWritten, nil);
FStrings.Clear;
finally
CloseHandle(hFile);
end;
end;
end.
I have external application that is multithreaded and this app is using my custom dll to do some things from that threads.
In this dll I have 2 functions that read from and write some data to TList.
I need that list to be freely read by those threads but only one can write at a time, the rest must wait for their time to write.
My question:
- is there in BDS 2006 a TList component that have TMREWSync capability or
- maybe You know any free third-party component that I can use in my app or
- maybe You have some customized TList code that can do things like this mentioned above.
Edit:
I need something like TThreadList.LockList but only for writing to that list.
Thanks for any help.
It's simple enough to put together a TMultiReadExclusiveWriteSynchronizer and TList in the same manner as TThreadList. If you already know how these classes work, then you'll be able to follow the code below.
type
TReadOnlyList = class
private
FList: TList;
function GetCount: Integer;
function GetItem(Index: Integer): Pointer;
public
constructor Create(List: TList);
property Count: Integer read GetCount;
property Items[Index: Integer]: Pointer read GetItem;
end;
TMREWList = class
private
FList: TList;
FReadOnlyList: TReadOnlyList;
FLock: TMultiReadExclusiveWriteSynchronizer;
public
constructor Create;
destructor Destroy; override;
function LockListWrite: TList;
procedure UnlockListWrite;
function LockListRead: TReadOnlyList;
procedure UnlockListRead;
end;
{ TReadOnlyList }
constructor TReadOnlyList.Create(List: TList);
begin
inherited Create;
FList := List;
end;
function TReadOnlyList.GetCount: Integer;
begin
Result := FList.Count;
end;
function TReadOnlyList.GetItem(Index: Integer): Pointer;
begin
Result := FList[Index];
end;
{ TMREWList }
constructor TMREWList.Create;
begin
inherited;
FList := TList.Create;
FReadOnlyList := TReadOnlyList.Create(FList);
FLock := TMultiReadExclusiveWriteSynchronizer.Create;
end;
destructor TMREWList.Destroy;
begin
FLock.Free;
FReadOnlyList.Free;
FList.Free;
inherited;
end;
function TMREWList.LockListWrite: TList;
begin
FLock.BeginWrite;
Result := FList;
end;
procedure TMREWList.UnlockListWrite;
begin
FLock.EndWrite;
end;
function TMREWList.LockListRead: TReadOnlyList;
begin
FLock.BeginRead;
Result := FReadOnlyList;
end;
procedure TMREWList.UnlockListRead;
begin
FLock.EndRead;
end;
This is the most basic implementation possible. If you wish you could add some more bells and whistles in the manner of TThreadList.
I have a Delphi application which spawns 6 anonymous threads upon some TTimer.OnTimer event.
If I close the application from the X button in titlebar Access Violation at address $C0000005 is raised and FastMM reports leaked TAnonymousThread objects.
Which is the best way to free anonymous threads in Delphi created within OnTimer event with TThread.CreateAnonymousThread() method?
SOLUTION which worked for me:
Created a wrapper of the anonymous threads which terminates them upon being Free-ed.
type
TAnonumousThreadPool = class sealed(TObject)
strict private
FThreadList: TThreadList;
procedure TerminateRunningThreads;
procedure AnonumousThreadTerminate(Sender: TObject);
public
destructor Destroy; override; final;
procedure Start(const Procs: array of TProc);
end;
{ TAnonumousThreadPool }
procedure TAnonumousThreadPool.Start(const Procs: array of TProc);
var
T: TThread;
n: Integer;
begin
TerminateRunningThreads;
FThreadList := TThreadList.Create;
FThreadList.Duplicates := TDuplicates.dupError;
for n := Low(Procs) to High(Procs) do
begin
T := TThread.CreateAnonymousThread(Procs[n]);
TThread.NameThreadForDebugging(AnsiString('Test thread N:' + IntToStr(n) + ' TID:'), T.ThreadID);
T.OnTerminate := AnonumousThreadTerminate;
T.FreeOnTerminate := true;
FThreadList.LockList;
try
FThreadList.Add(T);
finally
FThreadList.UnlockList;
end;
T.Start;
end;
end;
procedure TAnonumousThreadPool.AnonumousThreadTerminate(Sender: TObject);
begin
FThreadList.LockList;
try
FThreadList.Remove((Sender as TThread));
finally
FThreadList.UnlockList;
end;
end;
procedure TAnonumousThreadPool.TerminateRunningThreads;
var
L: TList;
T: TThread;
begin
if not Assigned(FThreadList) then
Exit;
L := FThreadList.LockList;
try
while L.Count > 0 do
begin
T := TThread(L[0]);
T.OnTerminate := nil;
L.Remove(L[0]);
T.FreeOnTerminate := False;
T.Terminate;
T.Free;
end;
finally
FThreadList.UnlockList;
end;
FThreadList.Free;
end;
destructor TAnonumousThreadPool.Destroy;
begin
TerminateRunningThreads;
inherited;
end;
End here is how you can call it:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
FAnonymousThreadPool.Start([ // array of procedures to execute
procedure{anonymous1}()
var
Http: THttpClient;
begin
Http := THttpClient.Create;
try
Http.CancelledCallback := function: Boolean
begin
Result := TThread.CurrentThread.CheckTerminated;
end;
Http.GetFile('http://mtgstudio.com/Screenshots/shot1.png', 'c:\1.jpg');
finally
Http.Free;
end;
end,
procedure{anonymous2}()
var
Http: THttpClient;
begin
Http := THttpClient.Create;
try
Http.CancelledCallback := function: Boolean
begin
Result := TThread.CurrentThread.CheckTerminated;
end;
Http.GetFile('http://mtgstudio.com/Screenshots/shot2.png', 'c:\2.jpg');
finally
Http.Free;
end;
end
]);
end;
No memory leaks, proper shutdown and easy to use.
If you want to maintain and exert control over a thread's lifetimes then it must have FreeOnTerminate set to False. Otherwise it is an error to refer to the thread after it has started executing. That's because once it starts executing, you've no ready way to know whether or not it has been freed.
The call to CreateAnonymousThread creates a thread with FreeOnTerminate set to True.
The thread is also marked as FreeOnTerminate, so you should not touch the returned instance after calling Start.
And so, but default, you are in no position to exert control over the thread's lifetime. However, you could set FreeOnTerminate to False immediately before calling Start. Like this:
MyThread := TThread.CreateAnonymousThread(MyProc);
MyThread.FreeOnTerminate := False;
MyThread.Start;
However, I'm not sure I would do that. The design of CreateAnonymousThread is that the thread is automatically freed upon termination. I think I personally would either follow the intended design, or derive my own TThread descendent.
To avoid errors using CreateAnonymousThread just set FreeOnTerminate to False before starting it.
This way you can work with the thread as you usually do without any workaround.
You can read the documentation that says that CreateAnonymousThread automatically sets FreeOnTerminate to True and this is what is causing the errors when you reference the thread.
Make your threads watch for some kind of notification from the outside. This could be an event that gets signaled, a message sent to a window owned by the thread, a command sent over a socket that your thread listens to, or whatever other form of communication you find.
If you determine that this problem is because your threads are so-called "anonymous" threads, then a simple workaround is for you to make them be non-anonymous threads. Put the body of the anonymous function into the Execute method, and pass any captured variables to the thread class via its constructor.