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avoiding multiple instances

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  • J Joaquin M Lopez Munoz

    thanks. I read the MSDN on CreateMutex, but I can't make heads or tails of what the difference is. The difference is that when bInitialOwner is set to TRUE, the system gives ownership to the first process that creates the mutex, as if it has subsequently called WaitForSingleObject on the mutex handle. As ownership is not needed for your purposes (you are only resorting to mutexes as a convenient way to share global identifier across proceses), bInitialOwner is best left as FALSE (moreover, you'd have to expliciy call RelaseMutex later, which is not the same as closing the handle). Pff, what a messy explanation, hope you've understand something of it :) To get the beige background enclose your code between <pre> and </pre> tags. Regards Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo

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    Nish Nishant
    wrote on last edited by
    #10

    If his program exits, he need not call ReleaseMutex as the mutex object itself gets destroyed [or am I highly erroneous here?] Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut

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    • N Nish Nishant

      If his program exits, he need not call ReleaseMutex as the mutex object itself gets destroyed [or am I highly erroneous here?] Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut

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      Jon Hulatt
      wrote on last edited by
      #11

      "highly erroneous"? that sounds painful! Sorry to dissapoint you all with my lack of a witty or poignant signature.

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      • J Joaquin M Lopez Munoz

        thanks. I read the MSDN on CreateMutex, but I can't make heads or tails of what the difference is. The difference is that when bInitialOwner is set to TRUE, the system gives ownership to the first process that creates the mutex, as if it has subsequently called WaitForSingleObject on the mutex handle. As ownership is not needed for your purposes (you are only resorting to mutexes as a convenient way to share global identifier across proceses), bInitialOwner is best left as FALSE (moreover, you'd have to expliciy call RelaseMutex later, which is not the same as closing the handle). Pff, what a messy explanation, hope you've understand something of it :) To get the beige background enclose your code between <pre> and </pre> tags. Regards Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo

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        Mark Donkers
        wrote on last edited by
        #12

        Joaquín... You have shed some light in this dark world of mine. X| It made as much sense as it could for a beginner C++ programmer.

        where can I find the docs on how to use other tags (or are there any other)

        thanks again. Marcus Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir your blood to action. Make big plans, aim high in work and hope -- Daniel Burnham

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        • N Nish Nishant

          If his program exits, he need not call ReleaseMutex as the mutex object itself gets destroyed [or am I highly erroneous here?] Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut

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          Joaquin M Lopez Munoz
          wrote on last edited by
          #13

          Hi Nish, Well, the thing is a little tricky, because the documentation is not conclusive on this. I haven't found nowehere that closing a mutex handle implies also releasing it, so to the best of my knowledge not calling ReleaseMutex is undefined behavior (though it is perfectly possible that everything works nevertheless). All in all, as the guy didn't need ownership at all, I think it is better to remain on the safe side and simply setting bInitialOwner to FALSE Regards, Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo

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          • M Mark Donkers

            Joaquín... You have shed some light in this dark world of mine. X| It made as much sense as it could for a beginner C++ programmer.

            where can I find the docs on how to use other tags (or are there any other)

            thanks again. Marcus Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir your blood to action. Make big plans, aim high in work and hope -- Daniel Burnham

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            Joaquin M Lopez Munoz
            wrote on last edited by
            #14

            Apart from <pre> you can use <code> to get an effect like this. If you're including code of yours that may have the character '<', replace those with the escape sequence < Also, you can use regular HTML tags as well. Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo

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            • J Jon Hulatt

              "highly erroneous"? that sounds painful! Sorry to dissapoint you all with my lack of a witty or poignant signature.

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              N Offline
              Nish Nishant
              wrote on last edited by
              #15

              LOL Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut

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              • J Joaquin M Lopez Munoz

                Hi Nish, Well, the thing is a little tricky, because the documentation is not conclusive on this. I haven't found nowehere that closing a mutex handle implies also releasing it, so to the best of my knowledge not calling ReleaseMutex is undefined behavior (though it is perfectly possible that everything works nevertheless). All in all, as the guy didn't need ownership at all, I think it is better to remain on the safe side and simply setting bInitialOwner to FALSE Regards, Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo

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                Nish Nishant
                wrote on last edited by
                #16

                Thanks for your thoughts and time Joaquín! I guess you were correct in your advice to him :-) Regards Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut

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                • J Joaquin M Lopez Munoz

                  Hi Nish, Well, the thing is a little tricky, because the documentation is not conclusive on this. I haven't found nowehere that closing a mutex handle implies also releasing it, so to the best of my knowledge not calling ReleaseMutex is undefined behavior (though it is perfectly possible that everything works nevertheless). All in all, as the guy didn't need ownership at all, I think it is better to remain on the safe side and simply setting bInitialOwner to FALSE Regards, Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo

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                  Tim Smith
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #17

                  Mutexes are automatically released. Here is a quote from Helen Custler's Inside Windows NT book which talks about this history of mutants and mutexes in NT. "The name /mutant/ has a colorful [sic] history. Early in Windows NT's development, Dave Cutler created a kernel mutex object that implemented low-level mutual exclusion. Later he discovered that OS/2 required a version of the mutual-exclusion semaphore with additional semantics, which Dave considered "brain-damaged" and which was incompatible with the original object. (Specifically, a thread could abandon the object and leave it inaccessible.) So he created an OS/2 version of the mutex and gave it the name /mutant/. Later Dave modified the mutant object to remove the OS/2 semantics, allowing the Win32 subsystem to use the object. The Win32 API calls the modified object /mutex/, but the native services retain the name /mutant/." Tim Smith Descartes Systems Sciences, Inc.

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                  • T Tim Smith

                    Mutexes are automatically released. Here is a quote from Helen Custler's Inside Windows NT book which talks about this history of mutants and mutexes in NT. "The name /mutant/ has a colorful [sic] history. Early in Windows NT's development, Dave Cutler created a kernel mutex object that implemented low-level mutual exclusion. Later he discovered that OS/2 required a version of the mutual-exclusion semaphore with additional semantics, which Dave considered "brain-damaged" and which was incompatible with the original object. (Specifically, a thread could abandon the object and leave it inaccessible.) So he created an OS/2 version of the mutex and gave it the name /mutant/. Later Dave modified the mutant object to remove the OS/2 semantics, allowing the Win32 subsystem to use the object. The Win32 API calls the modified object /mutex/, but the native services retain the name /mutant/." Tim Smith Descartes Systems Sciences, Inc.

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                    Joaquin M Lopez Munoz
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #18

                    Beautiful piece of wisdom :) Anyway, I wouldn't rely on only this paragraph to merrily abandon mutexes unreleased, withouth stronger confirmation from the documentation. Regards, Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo

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                    • M Mark Donkers

                      Joaquín... You have shed some light in this dark world of mine. X| It made as much sense as it could for a beginner C++ programmer.

                      where can I find the docs on how to use other tags (or are there any other)

                      thanks again. Marcus Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir your blood to action. Make big plans, aim high in work and hope -- Daniel Burnham

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                      M Offline
                      Michael Dunn
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #19

                      Marcus2001 wrote: where can I find the docs on how to use other tags In the VC forum FAQ :) --Mike-- My really out-of-date homepage "Hey, you wanna go to the Espresso Pump and get sugared up on mochas?"  -- Willow Rosenberg Sonork - 100.10414 AcidHelm Big fan of Alyson Hannigan.

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