exec of dialog not return in multithreading environment

tmp15711

do work (in the worker thread) -> need data (from the worker thread to the UI) -> get data (in the UI thread) -> data obtained (from the UI to the worker thread) -> continue work with the data (in the worker thread).

I think my approach indeed obeys the idea. The worker thread does some work first, then emits a signal requesting user input, and continues. The only difference is the worker thread doesn't have slots and event loops. If it had, then the GUI thread have to emit a signal for each request, and the threads will tightly coupled which I'd like to avoid.

void requestShowDialog()

This approach has a drawback, namely job cannot be called by the GUI thread. But I will admit that it is a good approach.

This means very little as there are differences in how the UI is integrated with the system event loop and windowing system for each platform.

Obviously, different system has different features. That is why I choose QT. Without declarations, it is resonable to assume the same appearances.

So, is it a bug of QT?

kshegunov

@tmp15711 said in exec of dialog not return in multithreading environment:

The only difference is the worker thread doesn't have slots and event loops.

Thus it's not event driven and hence you need to resort to tricks to tie imperative code to event driven GUI code. The moment you need to block in the middle of your code to wait for something in the GUI to happen, is the moment you should realize you're doing something very odd or wrong.

This approach has a drawback, namely job cannot be called by the GUI thread.

The job can't be called from the GUI thread anyway, because of the Qt::BlockingQueuedConnection. If you call something with that flag from the GUI thread and the receiver is in the GUI thread (which it is) you'd get very simply a deadlock.

Without declarations, it is resonable to assume the same appearances.

Not when it comes to the internals. Something working on one platform and not on the other, doesn't mean it works in principle and there's a problem with the specific platform, quite the contrary it means it doesn't work in principle and by some chance it works on specific platforms.

So, is it a bug of QT?

No!

tmp15711

@kshegunov

Not when it comes to the internals. Something working on one platform and not on the other, doesn't mean it works in principle and there's a problem with the specific platform, quite the contrary it means it doesn't work in principle and by some chance it works on specific platforms.

I cannot agree. Maybe my approach is odd (and if it is, I'd like to admit), but if it is not forbidden anywhere in Qt's documents, it should work.
In fact, the program is not really blocked. If you add a periodic timer, it works all the time. Why the timeout is responsed while exec does not return? Surprisingly.

SGaist

Because exec spins a local event loop which will process events in the context of the dialog.

tmp15711

@kshegunov

Thus it's not event driven

In my opinion, event driven means one direction dependences, i.e. the slots know the signal. If the GUI thread has to response with signals, then it really knows the worker thread. And it should not.

tmp15711

@SGaist Yes, I know that. So? exec should not return when I closing the dialog?

kshegunov

@tmp15711 said in exec of dialog not return in multithreading environment:

I cannot agree.

Let me put it in another way then. I'm a physicist, so I'll give you an example with a simple process:

Suppose you claim that water boils at exactly 100 degrees centigrade, and you measure it 5 times and you confirm that supposition. Now suppose I decide to replicate your experiment but the atmospheric pressure in my lab is lower than in yours. I measure and find out that water boils at 95 degrees, instead of the 100 you claim. It's enough for me to show a measurement (assuming we all agree the measurements are correct) that contradicts your theory to disprove it. It's needed, formally speaking, for you to show an infinite amounts of measurements that support the theory to prove it.

It's by this peculiarity of the scientific method that we learn and "prove" new things. So back to business, your code (which is user code) can't be claimed to work if it doesn't work at all times on all platforms, on the other hand it clearly does not work if it doesn't run even on one platform. And since we can say Qt's signal-slot mechanism and threading is mostly proven (in the sense of the countless test and programs that run it without issue), then the problem must be in the way you wrote the user code.

Maybe my approach is odd (and if it is, I'd like to admit), but if it is not forbidden anywhere in Qt's documents, it should work.

Assuming you implement it correctly, which you had not.

In fact, the program is not really blocked. If you add a periodic timer, it works all the time. Why the timeout is responsed while exec does not return?

See @SGaist's post.

If the GUI thread has to response with signals, then it really knows the worker thread. And it should not.

This is what event driven means. The GUI "notifies the interested parties" that something "interesting" has happened. Whether or not it knows about the workers is another matter that is connected to coupling, but lets not dig into it here. The "event driven" part is that the GUI does that notification at an unspecified time (from the viewpoint of the subscribers). It can be immediately, it can be an hour late, it may even not happen at all.

J.Hilk

@kshegunov thumbs up for a fellow physicist ;-)

@tmp15711 I think you're approaching this from the wrong direction. QtConcurrent is meant more as an fire and forget type of thread:
Something along the line of:

Yo QtConcurrent, calculate Pi to 400 decimals while I watch this video

I would recommend moving your whole stuff in its own class, and move that in a QThread object, that way you can easly react to and request Userinput, if you define suitable signals and slots.

QThread & worker, general usage

tmp15711

@kshegunov Ok. Really, your words are powerful. Then, if my code is wrong, I want to know the key error, a formally logical analysis. For example, if we have a deadlock, we would say: oh, you try to lock a mutex that has been locked by some other thread which in turn tries to lock the mutex you have taken.

JonB

@kshegunov said in exec of dialog not return in multithreading environment:

I'm a physicist,

[ Ah! OT, sorry, but where can I post on this forum to ask you about my (layman's) theories on quantum mechanics? ;-) ]

kshegunov

@tmp15711 said in exec of dialog not return in multithreading environment:

Then, if my code is wrong, I want to know the key error, a formally logical analysis

Okay, I'll bite. Since @SGaist duly noted that QDialog::exec spins the event loop of the GUI thread, which it most certainly does, if you use only:

QMetaObject::invokeMethod(this, "showDialog", Qt::BlockingQueuedConnection);

That means that while you're waiting for input in the dialog in the background signals and slots are still fired. This implies also that your second thread calling the above function will cause the GUI to open a second dialog. Now to prevent this I've added a serialization primitive (the mutex) which ensures that only one of the worker threads can post the showDialog call to the UI event loop. When one of the workers finally continues, only then another worker can request a dialog to be shown.

where can I post on this forum to ask you about my (layman's) theories on quantum mechanics?

That'd be The Lounge, but don't hold your breath, no one really understands it (it's a math theory anyway).

tmp15711

@J.Hilk Then what if QtConcurrent encounters a problem or meets an error? Shouldn't QtConcurrent ask for help and wait for a moment? If I can use Qt::BlockingQueuedConnection, why use slots? I don't need an event loop and slots are really cumbersome in this case.

kshegunov

You can use the returned from QtConcurrent::run future (QFuture) to signal errors or return data that's been accumulated during the execution of the operation.

tmp15711

@kshegunov You are correct. I have tested. The mutex approach certaintly works. But why not mine, the event loop approach? I mean why exec doesn't return after the dialog is closed.

@kshegunov Error doesn't mean the threads have to exit. Or, maybe just a warning.

kshegunov

@tmp15711 said in exec of dialog not return in multithreading environment:

But why not mine, the event loop approach? I mean why exec doesn't return after the dialog is closed.

Because both of the slots are executed and you have interleaved execution, due to the fact that exec() will spin the even loop. Think of it like this:

Thread 1 calls QDialog::exec this causes the even loop to continue receiving events
Thread 2 calls QMetaObject::invokeMethod(this, "showDialog", Qt::BlockingQueuedConnection); which posts an event to the event loop. Due to 1) that slot starts to execute and a second dialog and a nested QDialog::exec is called.

That's why the mutex works, it ensures that only one QDialog::exec is called at any one point by serializing the calls to QMetaObject::invokeMethod.

Error doesn't mean the threads have to exit. Or, maybe just a warning.

Then consider using class deriving from QRunnable and QObject to represent your job, and to so you can have signals in it to tell the GUI some error/warning has occurred. Alternatively, I'd suggest following @J-Hilk's advice and just switching to plain old QThread classes with worker objects.

tmp15711

@kshegunov Thanks. I can reproduce the same behavior with a single thread.

#include <QtCore>

struct Object: QObject{
	Q_OBJECT
public slots:
	void foo(){
		qDebug() << __LINE__;
		while(entered) qApp->processEvents();

		qDebug() << __LINE__;
		QEventLoop loop;
		QTimer::singleShot(1000, &loop, SLOT(quit()));
		entered = true;
		loop.exec();
		entered = false;
		qDebug() << __LINE__;
	}

private:
	bool entered = false;
};

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
	QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
	Object w;

	QTimer::singleShot(0, &w, SLOT(foo()));
	QTimer::singleShot(0, &w, SLOT(foo()));
	QTimer::singleShot(3000, &a, SLOT(quit()));

	a.exec();
	qDebug() << __LINE__;
}

#include "main.moc"

In fact, it has nothing to do with multi-threads. I have never studied Qt source code. It seems exec will not return before all slots finish. So, the code actually creates a dead lock.

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exec of dialog not return in multithreading environment