/**
\page advanced 10 - Advanced FLTK
This chapter explains advanced programming and design topics
that will help you to get the most out of FLTK.
\section advanced_multithreading Multithreading
FLTK supports multithreaded application using a locking mechanism
based on "pthreads". We do not provide a threading interface as part of
the library. However a simple example how threads can be implemented
for all supported platforms can be found in test/threads.h
and test/threads.cxx.
To use the locking mechanism, FLTK must be compiled with
--enable-threads set during the configure
process. IDE-based versions of FLTK are automatically compiled with
locking enabled if possible.
In main(), call
Fl::lock() before
Fl::run() or
Fl::wait()
to start the runtime
multithreading support for your program. All callbacks and derived
functions like handle() and draw() will now be properly
locked:
}
\code
int main() {
Fl::lock();
/* run thread */
while (Fl::wait() > 0) {
if (Fl::thread_message()) {
/* process your data */
}
}
}
\endcode
You can now start as many threads as you like. From within
a thread (other than the main thread) FLTK calls must be wrapped
with calls to Fl::lock()
and Fl::unlock():
\code
Fl::lock(); // avoid conflicting calls
... // your code here
Fl::unlock(); // allow other threads to access FLTK again
\endcode
You can send messages from child threads to the main thread
using Fl::awake(msg):
\code
void *msg; // "msg" is a pointer to your message
Fl::awake(msg); // send "msg" to main thread
\endcode
You can also tell the main thread to call a function for you
as soon as possible by using
Fl::awake(callback, userdata):
\code
void do_something(void *userdata) {
// running with the main thread
}
// running in another thread
void *data; // "data" is a pointer to your user data
Fl::awake(do_something, data); // call something in main thread
\endcode
FLTK supports multiple platforms, some of them which do not
allow any other but the main thread to handle system events and
open or close windows. The safe thing to do is to adhere to the
following rules for threads on all operating systems:
\li Don't show() or hide()anything that contains
widgets derived from Fl_Window, including dialogs, file
choosers, subwindows or Fl_GL_Windows
\li Don't call Fl::wait(), Fl::flush() or any
related methods that will handle system messages
\li Don't start or cancel timers
\li Don't change window decorations or titles
\li The make_current() method may or may not work well for
regular windows, but should always work for Fl_GL_Windows
to allow for high speed rendering on graphics cards with multiple
pipelines
See also:
void awake(void *message),
void lock(),
void *thread_message(),
void unlock().
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*/