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Question on threading

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  • D David Mujica

    So, if all of your work is being done in these worker threads, then your main application just becomes a thread manager. Right? (lets take that as true) 1) The thread manager keeps an array of status; one slot for each thread dispatched. (running/WorkDone) 2) Each thread should throw an event which represents "WorkDone"; the thread manager will listen for this event and update the corresponding array slot. 3) When all threads have been dispatched and begin their work, the thread manager just loops around and sleeps periodically checking if all status array slots have a "WorkDone" status; when that occurs you can continue with you process. Maybe extend you status array to have a start time so that you can determine if a thread is taking too long, you can take corrective action. Just a thought. :) Good luck.

    S Offline
    S Offline
    svanwass
    wrote on last edited by
    #3

    So, if all of your work is being done in these worker threads, then your main application just becomes a thread manager. Right? (lets take that as true)

    Yes

    1. Each thread should throw an event which represents "WorkDone"; the thread manager will
      listen for this event and update the corresponding array slot.

    How can I make the thread throw a custom event? Conversly, how do I make the thread manager listen?

    S 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • S svanwass

      So, if all of your work is being done in these worker threads, then your main application just becomes a thread manager. Right? (lets take that as true)

      Yes

      1. Each thread should throw an event which represents "WorkDone"; the thread manager will
        listen for this event and update the corresponding array slot.

      How can I make the thread throw a custom event? Conversly, how do I make the thread manager listen?

      S Offline
      S Offline
      svanwass
      wrote on last edited by
      #4

      OK so I attempted it and I think I ran into an issue with scope. In the worker thread, I created an event

      Public Event IamDone(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal IP As String)
      

      I call that event in the RunWorkerCompleted sub

      RaiseEvent IamDone(Me, "111")

      And now I am trippng up on how to create the handler in my thread manager. I assumed it would be

      AddHandler myworkerthreadclass.IamDone, Addressof myworkerthreadclass.IamDone

      but that doenst work

      J 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • S svanwass

        I am attempting to write a multithreaded application. The idea is to have a scripted exe run that takes a list of devices, strips out one device and its information into an array, creates a new object of a class. which contains a backgroundworker that contains a telnet object, to telnet to said device and perform simple work (just login at this time). I have 100 device I am doing this for. So far, everything looks like it works. All 100 devices have a new class object and bgw worker created for them. My problem lies in how to determine when those have completed their work. This is a problem because the rest of the exe needs to process the results of my simple work but can only be done after all have completed. How can I tell when the work is done? I was thinking about writing something into the RunWorkerCompleted event that tallys but that seems like not the best idea. :sigh: -Steve

        L Offline
        L Offline
        Luc Pattyn
        wrote on last edited by
        #5

        Hi, 1. Yes, you want the RunWorkerCompleted event handler to do something your main thread can notice. Lots of things are possible, here is one example: have a global variable that is initialized to the number of jobs, and gets decremented (see Interlocked.Decrement) by each RunWorkerCompleted handler, which on top of that, by checking for zero, raises a signal (see e.g. ManualResetEvent) 2. It is a bad idea to launch many BackGroundWorkers, as that would be too expensive. The better approach would be to have: - a small number of BackGroundWorkers (say two times the number of cores your system has, Environment.ProcessorCount); - a queue of jobs, filled by the main thread, and queried by those BackGroundWorkers (use a lock!); - and probably a queue of results, filled by those BackGroundWorkers (use another lock), and emptied by the main thread when it gets its "all done" signal. :)

        Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

        Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

        S 1 Reply Last reply
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        • L Luc Pattyn

          Hi, 1. Yes, you want the RunWorkerCompleted event handler to do something your main thread can notice. Lots of things are possible, here is one example: have a global variable that is initialized to the number of jobs, and gets decremented (see Interlocked.Decrement) by each RunWorkerCompleted handler, which on top of that, by checking for zero, raises a signal (see e.g. ManualResetEvent) 2. It is a bad idea to launch many BackGroundWorkers, as that would be too expensive. The better approach would be to have: - a small number of BackGroundWorkers (say two times the number of cores your system has, Environment.ProcessorCount); - a queue of jobs, filled by the main thread, and queried by those BackGroundWorkers (use a lock!); - and probably a queue of results, filled by those BackGroundWorkers (use another lock), and emptied by the main thread when it gets its "all done" signal. :)

          Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

          Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

          S Offline
          S Offline
          svanwass
          wrote on last edited by
          #6

          OK so I attempted it and I think I ran into an issue with scope. In the worker thread, I created an event

          Public Event IamDone(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal IP As String)

          I call that event in the RunWorkerCompleted sub

          RaiseEvent IamDone(Me, "111")

          And now I am trippng up on how to create the handler in my thread manager. I assumed it would be

          AddHandler myworkerthreadclass.IamDone, Addressof myworkerthreadclass.IamDone

          but that doesn't work

          L 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • S svanwass

            OK so I attempted it and I think I ran into an issue with scope. In the worker thread, I created an event

            Public Event IamDone(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal IP As String)

            I call that event in the RunWorkerCompleted sub

            RaiseEvent IamDone(Me, "111")

            And now I am trippng up on how to create the handler in my thread manager. I assumed it would be

            AddHandler myworkerthreadclass.IamDone, Addressof myworkerthreadclass.IamDone

            but that doesn't work

            L Offline
            L Offline
            Luc Pattyn
            wrote on last edited by
            #7

            svanwass wrote:

            that doesn't work

            :confused:

            Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

            Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

            S 1 Reply Last reply
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            • L Luc Pattyn

              svanwass wrote:

              that doesn't work

              :confused:

              Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

              Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

              S Offline
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              svanwass
              wrote on last edited by
              #8

              I wrote a simple simple version of what I'm attempting. http://www.4shared.com/file/-tIHs2FE/CustomEventsVB.html[^] Does that help explain my issue?

              L 1 Reply Last reply
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              • S svanwass

                I wrote a simple simple version of what I'm attempting. http://www.4shared.com/file/-tIHs2FE/CustomEventsVB.html[^] Does that help explain my issue?

                L Offline
                L Offline
                Luc Pattyn
                wrote on last edited by
                #9

                people here are unlikely to download anything just to maybe understand a question; what you should do is explain the symptoms ("doesn't work" tells us nothing) and tell how it differs from your expectations, then ask a specific question and/or show a relevant code snippet. :)

                Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

                S 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • L Luc Pattyn

                  people here are unlikely to download anything just to maybe understand a question; what you should do is explain the symptoms ("doesn't work" tells us nothing) and tell how it differs from your expectations, then ask a specific question and/or show a relevant code snippet. :)

                  Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                  Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

                  S Offline
                  S Offline
                  svanwass
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #10

                  My apologies. Main Form

                  Public Class Form1

                  Private Sub Button1\_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
                      Dim passing(0, 3) As String
                      passing(0, 0) = "10.1.1.1"
                      passing(0, 1) = "10.1.1.2"
                      passing(0, 2) = "10.1.1.3"
                      passing(0, 3) = "10.1.1.4"
                      Dim myworker As New Foo(passing)
                  End Sub
                  

                  Private Sub IHeardThat() Handles Foo.IamDone
                  'this does NOT work
                  End Sub
                  End Class

                  My Foo class

                  Imports System.ComponentModel
                  Imports System.IO
                  Imports System.Threading
                  Public Class Foo

                  Public WithEvents backgroundWorker1 As System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker
                  Public Event IamDone(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal IP As String)
                  
                  Dim devicelist(,) As String
                  Dim txtFile
                  Public Sub New(ByVal Value As String(,))
                      devicelist = Value
                      backgroundWorker1 = New BackgroundWorker
                  
                      backgroundWorker1.WorkerReportsProgress = True
                      backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync(devicelist)
                  End Sub
                  Private Sub backgroundWorker1\_DoWork(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DoWorkEventArgs) Handles backgroundWorker1.DoWork
                  
                      ' Get the BackgroundWorker object that raised this event.
                      Dim worker As BackgroundWorker = CType(sender, BackgroundWorker)
                      Dim myargs As String(,) = e.Argument
                  
                  End Sub
                  Private Sub backgroundWorker1\_RunWorkerCompleted(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs) Handles backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerCompleted
                  
                          RaiseEvent IamDone(Me, "Done")
                      End If
                  End Sub 
                  

                  End Class

                  So that's basically it. I attempted to write a sub that would handle the custom event but the form class doesnt see the foo class event. Does that make sense?

                  L 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • S svanwass

                    My apologies. Main Form

                    Public Class Form1

                    Private Sub Button1\_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
                        Dim passing(0, 3) As String
                        passing(0, 0) = "10.1.1.1"
                        passing(0, 1) = "10.1.1.2"
                        passing(0, 2) = "10.1.1.3"
                        passing(0, 3) = "10.1.1.4"
                        Dim myworker As New Foo(passing)
                    End Sub
                    

                    Private Sub IHeardThat() Handles Foo.IamDone
                    'this does NOT work
                    End Sub
                    End Class

                    My Foo class

                    Imports System.ComponentModel
                    Imports System.IO
                    Imports System.Threading
                    Public Class Foo

                    Public WithEvents backgroundWorker1 As System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker
                    Public Event IamDone(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal IP As String)
                    
                    Dim devicelist(,) As String
                    Dim txtFile
                    Public Sub New(ByVal Value As String(,))
                        devicelist = Value
                        backgroundWorker1 = New BackgroundWorker
                    
                        backgroundWorker1.WorkerReportsProgress = True
                        backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync(devicelist)
                    End Sub
                    Private Sub backgroundWorker1\_DoWork(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DoWorkEventArgs) Handles backgroundWorker1.DoWork
                    
                        ' Get the BackgroundWorker object that raised this event.
                        Dim worker As BackgroundWorker = CType(sender, BackgroundWorker)
                        Dim myargs As String(,) = e.Argument
                    
                    End Sub
                    Private Sub backgroundWorker1\_RunWorkerCompleted(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs) Handles backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerCompleted
                    
                            RaiseEvent IamDone(Me, "Done")
                        End If
                    End Sub 
                    

                    End Class

                    So that's basically it. I attempted to write a sub that would handle the custom event but the form class doesnt see the foo class event. Does that make sense?

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    Luc Pattyn
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #11

                    does that compile at all?

                    svanwass wrote:

                    Private Sub IHeardThat() Handles Foo.IamDone

                    The IamDone event is not static/shared, how can this work?

                        Dim myworker As New Foo(passing)
                        AddHandler myworker.IamDone, AddressOf IHeardThat
                    

                    does work but is not OK as the handler is added while the BGW is alrady running, so there is a race condition. possible solutions: 1. pass the delegate to the Foo constructor, so it can add the handler on time; 2. don't start the BGW from the Foo constructor, add a method the caller should call after having set the handler. General advice: 1. consider making Foo inherit from BGW. 2. start every VB file with "option strict on" 3. tell Visual not to launch the app as long as there are compile errors 4. tell Visual to treat all warnings as errors (2+3+4 will be a PITA at first, but it will soon teach you to write correct code) :)

                    Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                    Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • S svanwass

                      I am attempting to write a multithreaded application. The idea is to have a scripted exe run that takes a list of devices, strips out one device and its information into an array, creates a new object of a class. which contains a backgroundworker that contains a telnet object, to telnet to said device and perform simple work (just login at this time). I have 100 device I am doing this for. So far, everything looks like it works. All 100 devices have a new class object and bgw worker created for them. My problem lies in how to determine when those have completed their work. This is a problem because the rest of the exe needs to process the results of my simple work but can only be done after all have completed. How can I tell when the work is done? I was thinking about writing something into the RunWorkerCompleted event that tallys but that seems like not the best idea. :sigh: -Steve

                      T Offline
                      T Offline
                      Tieske8
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #12

                      I think the best way would be using a waithandle that signals when done. If you combine the waithandles for all processes, you can use the WaitHandle.WaitAll Method. See this MSDN article for an example

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • S svanwass

                        I am attempting to write a multithreaded application. The idea is to have a scripted exe run that takes a list of devices, strips out one device and its information into an array, creates a new object of a class. which contains a backgroundworker that contains a telnet object, to telnet to said device and perform simple work (just login at this time). I have 100 device I am doing this for. So far, everything looks like it works. All 100 devices have a new class object and bgw worker created for them. My problem lies in how to determine when those have completed their work. This is a problem because the rest of the exe needs to process the results of my simple work but can only be done after all have completed. How can I tell when the work is done? I was thinking about writing something into the RunWorkerCompleted event that tallys but that seems like not the best idea. :sigh: -Steve

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                        S Offline
                        Spectre_001
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #13

                        Save the thread class instances that you create into an array or IList. Once you have started all of your threads, you can loop through the array or list checking either the State or IsAlive property of each thread until all indicate that they are finished. This way, you don't have to block your main thread while waiting for the other threads to finish. Your main thread can continue working and just check periodically to see if all worker threads have finished.

                        Kevin Rucker, Application Programmer QSS Group, Inc. United States Coast Guard OSC Kevin.D.Rucker@uscg.mil "Programming is an art form that fights back." -- Chad Hower

                        S 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • S Spectre_001

                          Save the thread class instances that you create into an array or IList. Once you have started all of your threads, you can loop through the array or list checking either the State or IsAlive property of each thread until all indicate that they are finished. This way, you don't have to block your main thread while waiting for the other threads to finish. Your main thread can continue working and just check periodically to see if all worker threads have finished.

                          Kevin Rucker, Application Programmer QSS Group, Inc. United States Coast Guard OSC Kevin.D.Rucker@uscg.mil "Programming is an art form that fights back." -- Chad Hower

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                          S Offline
                          svanwass
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #14

                          Seems like I have a lot to learn about the proper handeling of threads. Would any of you have a recommendation on the topic but in relations to c#? I dislike VB...

                          S 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • S svanwass

                            Seems like I have a lot to learn about the proper handeling of threads. Would any of you have a recommendation on the topic but in relations to c#? I dislike VB...

                            S Offline
                            S Offline
                            Spectre_001
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #15

                            Free e-book on C# threading: www.albahari.com/threading/threading.pdf

                            Kevin Rucker, Application Programmer QSS Group, Inc. United States Coast Guard OSC Kevin.D.Rucker@uscg.mil "Programming is an art form that fights back." -- Chad Hower

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • S svanwass

                              OK so I attempted it and I think I ran into an issue with scope. In the worker thread, I created an event

                              Public Event IamDone(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal IP As String)
                              

                              I call that event in the RunWorkerCompleted sub

                              RaiseEvent IamDone(Me, "111")

                              And now I am trippng up on how to create the handler in my thread manager. I assumed it would be

                              AddHandler myworkerthreadclass.IamDone, Addressof myworkerthreadclass.IamDone

                              but that doenst work

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              Jason Christian
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #16

                              Why don't use just use the RunWorkerCompleted event, instead of creating a new event to raise? In RunWorkerCompleted you should be able to get the key to the device, and use that to update your status collection. Or if you are on .NET 4.0 you can use one of the parallel collection to handle this much cleaner.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • S svanwass

                                I am attempting to write a multithreaded application. The idea is to have a scripted exe run that takes a list of devices, strips out one device and its information into an array, creates a new object of a class. which contains a backgroundworker that contains a telnet object, to telnet to said device and perform simple work (just login at this time). I have 100 device I am doing this for. So far, everything looks like it works. All 100 devices have a new class object and bgw worker created for them. My problem lies in how to determine when those have completed their work. This is a problem because the rest of the exe needs to process the results of my simple work but can only be done after all have completed. How can I tell when the work is done? I was thinking about writing something into the RunWorkerCompleted event that tallys but that seems like not the best idea. :sigh: -Steve

                                S Offline
                                S Offline
                                SLDWorks
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #17

                                This site has been so helpful in the past for me over 8 years. I am self taught .net, and have used it primarily with SolidWorks API since 2003. Thread for me is simply threads, and delegates. I run threads in order to crunch data. It keep the main form thread alive while crunching the info. Many times the threads have to send stuff back to the main threaded form. In order to do this without cross thread violations, we need to use delegates. My technique for sending info into a thread, and having the thread call back is rather simple. If I need to create lets say 100 threads. I will use a thread in order to do that. The thread that creates the 100 threads will sleep, only to awake and see if all threads have died. When all threads have died, the main thread cruches and then dies. The main form thread never stalls out, and gets tickled from all sides by all threads from a delegates sub. Here is the code I wrote to explain the most on these topics. Things to note are as follows: Each thread can create its node without limitations. The main thread relys on all threads being done creation. Then the assumtion is made that all thread nodes exist. This can only be true because all threads are not alive. So the main thread changes the display name of each treenode, and then dies itself. The threads and delegates take object arrays, so you can pack them full of anything, both in and out of the thread. The form is very much alive through the whole process. If only a form could speak, because this one is far from a deep sleep. Cheers, Sean P (Sldprt[ItsAboutTime])

                                Imports System.Threading

                                Public Class Form1

                                Dim t1 As Thread
                                Dim t2 As Thread()
                                Dim c As Collection
                                
                                Dim treeview As TreeView
                                
                                Private Sub Form1\_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
                                
                                
                                    tMain()
                                
                                
                                End Sub
                                
                                Sub tMain()
                                
                                    c = New Collection
                                
                                    treeview = New TreeView
                                    Me.Controls.Add(treeview)
                                    treeview.Size = New Size(200, 400)
                                    treeview.Location = New Point(10, 6)
                                    treeview.Visible = True
                                
                                    c.Add(100, "StartData")
                                
                                    t1 = New Thread(AddressOf MainThreading)
                                
                                    t1.Start(New Object() {c})
                                
                                End Sub
                                
                                Sub MainThreading(ByVal args As Object)
                                
                                    With CType(args(0), Collection)
                                
                                        ReDim t2(.Item("StartData"))
                                
                                        Dim i As Integer
                                
                                        For i = 0 To UBound(t2)
                                
                                            .Add(i, "ThreadKey" & i)
                                
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