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VIEW::BALLThread Class Reference

Baseclass for threads in BALL. More...

#include <threads.h>

Inheritance diagram for VIEW::BALLThread:

VIEW::DockingThread VIEW::FetchHTMLThread VIEW::SimulationThread VIEW::EnergyMinimizerThread VIEW::MDSimulationThread List of all members.

Public Member Functions

void setMainControl (MainControl *mf) throw ()
void setComposite (Composite *composite) throw ()
Composite * getComposite () throw ()
virtual void run ()
 Overloaded from QThread::run(), overload again in derived classes!

Protected Member Functions

void sendMessage_ (Message *msg)
 Send a VIEW Message to the main thread.
void updateStructure_ ()
 Provokes an update of the Representation's and the Scene with rebuild of the display-lists.
void output_ (const String &string, bool important=false)
 Sends the string as outout to Log.info.
void waitForUpdateOfRepresentations_ ()
 Wait until all Representation's are rebuild, by using RepresentationManager::updatePending() and \ RepresentationManager::getUpdateWaitCondition().wait() .

Protected Attributes

MainControl * main_control_
Composite * composite_

Detailed Description

Baseclass for threads in BALL.

To use multithreading in BALL, there are several problems arising from the fact, that Qt itself is not threadsafe: 1. Prevent any output to Log, stdout or sterr. If a simulation has to print some informations, use the method output_, which will send an Event to the GUI-thread. 2. Dont call any Qt-methods directly. If you need some interaction with the GUI, send a QEvent to the MainControl. 3. Especially dont call the refresh methods for the Scene or GL-methods. Use updateStructure_() instead. 4. Overload the run method to insert the multithreaded code. 5. Call setMainControl() before running the thread 6. Before running a thread, lock the composites with ModularWidget::lockComposites(). 7. After running a thread, unlock them with ModularWidget::unlockComposites(). If you dont pay attention to these rules, dont wonder if BALLView should freeze or crash!

Member Function Documentation

void VIEW::BALLThread::sendMessage_ (  Message *  msg  )  [protected]
 

Send a VIEW Message to the main thread.

Create the message on the heap!

void VIEW::BALLThread::updateStructure_ (   )  [protected]
 

Provokes an update of the Representation's and the Scene with rebuild of the display-lists.

This method sends a CompositeMessage with a pointer to the Composite and type CHANGED_COMPOSITE. As a result, the method MainControl::updateRepresentationsOf(..) will be called.

void VIEW::BALLThread::waitForUpdateOfRepresentations_ (   )  [protected]
 

Wait until all Representation's are rebuild, by using RepresentationManager::updatePending() and \ RepresentationManager::getUpdateWaitCondition().wait() .