NAME

Thread - using wxPerl with threads

SYNOPSIS

# the order of these use()s is important
use threads;
use threads::shared;
use Wx;

my $DONE_EVENT : shared = Wx::NewEventType;

my $worker = threads->create( \&work );

# create frames, etc
my $frame = Wx::Frame->new( ... );
EVT_COMMAND( $frame, -1, $DONE_EVENT, \&done );
$app->MainLoop;

sub done {
    my( $frame, $event ) = @_;

    print $event->GetData;
}

sub work {
    # ... do stuff, create a shared $result value

    my $threvent = new Wx::PlThreadEvent( -1, $DONE_EVENT, $result );
    Wx::PostEvent( $frame, $threvent );
}

# event handler
sub OnCreateThread {
    # @_ = () is necessary to avoid "Scalars leaked"
    my( $self, $event ) = @_; @_ = ();

    threads->create( ... );
}

DESCRIPTION

Threaded GUI application are somewhat different from non-GUI threaded applications in that the main thread (which runs the GUI) must never block. Also, in wxWidgets, no thread other than the main thread can manipulate GUI objects. This leads to a hybrid model where worker threads must send events to the main thread in order to change the GUI state or signal their termination.

Order of module loading

It's necessary for use Wx to happen after <use threads::shared>.

Sending events from worker threads

Wx::PlThreadEvent can be used to communicate between worker and GUI threads. The event can carry a shared value between threads.

my $DONE_EVENT : shared = Wx::NewEventType;

sub work {
    # ... do some stuff
    my $progress = new Wx::PlThreadEvent( -1, $DONE_EVENT, $progress );
    Wx::PostEvent( $frame, $progress );

    # ... do stuff, create a shared $result value
    my $end = new Wx::PlThreadEvent( -1, $DONE_EVENT, $result );
    Wx::PostEvent( $frame, $end );
}

The target of the event can be any Wx::EvtHandler

Receiving events from worker threads

Wx::PlThreadEvent is a command event and can be handled as such. The ->GetData method can be used to retrieve the shared data contained inside the event.

my $DONE_EVENT : shared = Wx::NewEventType;

EVT_COMMAND( $frame, -1, $DONE_EVENT, \&done );

sub done {
    my( $frame, $event ) = @_;

    print $event->GetData;
}

Creating new threads

Creating new threads from event handlers works without problems except from a little snag. In order not to trigger a bug in the Perl interpreter, all event handler that directly or indirectly cause a thread creation must clean @_ before starting the thread.

For example:

sub OnCreateThread {
    my( $self, $event ) = @_; @_ = ();

    threads->create( ... );
}

failure to do that will cause "scalars leaked" warnings from the Perl interpreter.