When my program opens, a connection is made to my server via QNetworkAccessManager::connectToHostEncrypted() which is called in the constructor of MainWindow. This freezes the GUI thread and causes a noticeable delay until the connection is finished. (Sometimes over a full second longer)
This problem is worsened by the fact that my program fades in at startup, so while the GUI thread is blocked, the fade in doesn't start until after the connection is done. In a default Qt project, this is noticeable in other ways like widgets not being painted.
To keep the GUI thread going, I moved QNetworkAccessManager into a completely different thread with QThread thinking this would solve the issue, however the GUI thread still freezes. This makes no sense to me.
Here is a minimally compilable example project.
mainwindow.h
#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
#define MAINWINDOW_H
#include <QMainWindow>
#include <QNetworkAccessManager>
#include <QThread>
class Connection : public QNetworkAccessManager
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
Connection(QObject *parent) : QNetworkAccessManager(parent){}
public slots:
void openConnection(){
connectToHostEncrypted("https://www.url.com");
}
signals:
void closeThread(bool);
};
namespace Ui {
class MainWindow;
}
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit MainWindow(QWidget *parent = nullptr);
~MainWindow();
private:
Ui::MainWindow *ui;
QThread *connectionThread;
Connection *connection;
};
#endif // MAINWINDOW_H
mainwindow.cpp
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "ui_mainwindow.h"
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
connection = new Connection(this);
connectionThread = new QThread();
connection->moveToThread(connectionThread);
connect(connectionThread, SIGNAL(started()), connection, SLOT(openConnection()));
connect(connection, SIGNAL(closeThread(bool)), connectionThread, SLOT(quit()));
connect(connectionThread, SIGNAL(finished()), connectionThread, SLOT(deleteLater()));
connectionThread->start();
}
MainWindow::~MainWindow()
{
delete connection;
delete ui;
}
This example project creates an instance of Connection which is a subclass of QNetworkAccessManager that I then move to another thread via moveToThread(). This is how I do all my worker threads.
When the thread's start() signal is emitted, openConnection() calls connectToHostEncrypted() which is where the GUI thread freezes.
I have tried just calling a regular HTTP request instead, however the problem persists since an initial connection still needs to be made.
How come the GUI thread still freezes even though the connection is done in another thread?
The issue was I passed this as a parent to the Connection instance which meant moveToThread() couldn't be completed. I just had to check the output log to see that, but I must have missed it!
By removing that parent, the connection was now in it's own thread.
I further tested this by calling QThread::sleep(3) inside that openConnection() call and there was still no delay.
try to use :
connect(connectionThread, SIGNAL(started()), connection, SLOT(openConnection(),Qt::QueuedConnection);
Related
I created a minimal QT GUI example to update widgets from a worker thread based on the recommended approach in the The QThread 5.12 documentation.
As described in the QThread 5.12 documentation, the Worker class (with a potentially long void doWork(const QString ¶meter) method is:
class Worker : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
public slots:
void doWork(const QString ¶meter) {
QString result;
/* ... here is the expensive or blocking operation ... */
emit resultReady(result);
}
signals:
void resultReady(const QString &result);
};
and the corresponding Controller class is:
class Controller : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
QThread workerThread;
public:
Controller() {
Worker *worker = new Worker;
worker->moveToThread(&workerThread);
connect(&workerThread, &QThread::finished, worker, &QObject::deleteLater);
connect(this, &Controller::operate, worker, &Worker::doWork);
connect(worker, &Worker::resultReady, this, &Controller::handleResults);
workerThread.start();
}
~Controller() {
workerThread.quit();
workerThread.wait();
}
public slots:
void handleResults(const QString &);
signals:
void operate(const QString &);
};
Unlike sub-classing from a QThread, the approach shown in the documentation shows the recommended way that uses a controller and a worker that extends QObject rather than extending QThread and overriding the QThread::run method, however it does not show how these should be used in the context of a real example.
I need to use an QT Worker thread that updates widgets on a GUI using a timer.
I also need to be able to halt and restart/relaunch this thread with different parameters and I am having some trouble with how to do this correctly. indicates the preferred way to do this via a Controller and a Worker but the connect logic is a bit confusing.
The place where I need help is how to properly integrate the timer in my worker thread and also how to stop and restart a replacement worker when the current one has either finished or been interrupted and restarted.
My working code is made up of the following files.
Controller.h
#pragma once
// SYSTEM INCLUDES
#include <QObject>
#include <QThread>
// APPLICATION INCLUDES
#include "Worker.h"
// DEFINES
// EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS
// EXTERNAL VARIABLES
// CONSTANTS
// STRUCTS
// TYPEDEFS
// FORWARD DECLARATIONS
class Controller : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
QThread workerThread;
public:
Controller(/*MainWindow* mainWindow*/) {
auto worker = new Worker;
worker->moveToThread(&workerThread);
connect(&workerThread, &QThread::finished, worker, &QObject::deleteLater);
connect(this, &Controller::operate, worker, &Worker::doWork);
connect(worker, &Worker::resultReady, this, &Controller::handleResults);
workerThread.start();
}
~Controller() {
workerThread.quit();
workerThread.wait();
}
public slots:
void handleResults(const QString &) {
// how do I update the mainWindow from here
}
signals:
void operate(int);
};
Worker.h
#pragma once
// SYSTEM INCLUDES
#include <QTimer>
#include <QObject>
#include <QEventLoop>
// APPLICATION INCLUDES
#include "Worker.h"
// DEFINES
// EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS
// EXTERNAL VARIABLES
// CONSTANTS
// STRUCTS
// TYPEDEFS
// FORWARD DECLARATIONS
class Worker : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
public slots:
void doWork(int count) {
QString result = "finished";
// Event loop allocated in workerThread
// (non-main) thread affinity (as moveToThread)
// this is important as otherwise it would occur
// on the main thread.
QEventLoop loop;
for (auto i=0; i< count; i++) {
// wait 1000 ms doing nothing...
QTimer::singleShot(1000, &loop, SLOT(quit()));
// process any signals emitted above
loop.exec();
emit progressUpdate(i);
}
emit resultReady(result);
}
signals:
void progressUpdate(int secondsLeft);
void resultReady(const QString &result);
};
MainWindow.h - I needed to add a Controller member here. I also added an updateValue slot here where I wish to update the GUI. Unfortunately I don't know how to get the controller or the worker to connect a signal from the thread to update this slot.
#pragma once
// SYSTEM INCLUDES
#include <memory>
#include <QMainWindow>
// APPLICATION INCLUDES
// DEFINES
// EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS
// EXTERNAL VARIABLES
// CONSTANTS
// STRUCTS
// TYPEDEFS
// FORWARD DECLARATIONS
namespace Ui {
class MainWindow;
}
class Controller;
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit MainWindow(QWidget *parent = nullptr);
~MainWindow();
private slots:
void on_pushButton_clicked();
void updateValue(int secsLeft);
private:
Ui::MainWindow *ui;
std::unique_ptr<Controller> mpController;
};
MainWindow.cpp -
#include <QThread>
#include "MainWindow.h"
#include "ui_MainWindow.h"
#include "Controller.h"
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent)
: QMainWindow(parent)
, ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
, mpController(std::make_unique<Controller>())
{
ui->setupUi(this);
}
MainWindow::~MainWindow()
{
delete ui;
}
void MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()
{
emit mpController->operate(100);
}
void MainWindow::updateValue(int secsLeft)
{
ui->secondsLeft->setText(QString::number(secsLeft));
}
and finally main.cpp
#include "MainWindow.h"
#include <QApplication>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
MainWindow w;
w.show();
return a.exec();
}
I basically need help and an explanation on how I should use the QT Thread's controller/worker integrated in my GUI.
I'll try to answer all the issues you're addressing in your question:
I don't know how to get the controller or the worker to connect a signal from the thread to update this slot.
You got that almost right yourself.
Your Worker lives within the event loop of your Controller:
+--GUI-thread--+ (main event loop)
| MainWindow, |
| Controller --o-----> +--QThread--+ (own event loop in ::exec())
+--------------+ | Worker |
+-----------+
Communication between Controller and Worker must happen through signal-slot-connections. In between MainWindow and Controller signals help keep dependencies to a minimum.
You can imagine Controller as a kind of relay: Commands from MainWindow get forwarded through Controller to the Worker. Results from Worker get forwarded through the Controller to anyone who is interested.
For this, you can simply define signals in Controller:
class Controller : public QObject
{
//...
signals:
void SignalForwardResult(int result);
};
and then instead of
connect(worker, &Worker::resultReady, this, &Controller::handleResults);
use the new signal:
connect(worker, &Worker::resultReady, this, &Controller::SignalForwardResult);
// Yes, you can connect a signal to another signal the same way you would connect to a slot.
and in your MainWindow constructor:
//...
ui->setupUi(this);
connect(mpController, &Controller::SignalForwardResult, this, &MainWindow::displayResult);
Likewise for Worker::progressUpdate() -> Controller::SignalForwardProgress() -> MainWindow::updateValue().
how to stop and restart a replacement worker when the current one has either finished or been interrupted and restarted.
Either create a new worker for each task or use a persistent worker that can react on new task requests.
You start a task by sending it to the worker ::doWork() function.
A task ends by itself when the long work is finished. You get a notification via the worker's resultReady signal.
Cancelling a task is only possible by intervention
If you indeed have a QTimer, you can use a cancel() slot because that will be invoked in the thread's event loop before the next timeout.
If you have a long-running calculation, you need to share some token that you read from inside your calculation method and set from your GUI thread. I usually use a shared QAtomicInt pointer for that, but a shared bool usually suffices too.
Note that while a method is running on a thread, that thread's event loop is blocked and won't receive any signals until the method is finished.
DON'T use QCoreApplication::processEvents() except if you really know, what you're doing. (And expect that you don't!)
how to properly integrate the timer in my worker thread
You shouldn't.
I guess you use a background thread because there is so much work to do or you need to blocking wait for so long that it would block the GUI, right? (If not, consider not using threads, saves you a lot of headaches.)
If you need a timer, make it a member of Worker and set its parentObject to the Worker instance. This way, both will always have the same thread affinity. Then, connect it to a slot, like Worker::timeoutSlot(). There you can emit your finish signal.
When calling luaL_error() on a lua state running in a separate thread from the GUI, the warning QObject::~QObject: Timers cannot be stopped from another thread is printed and the application closes.
After a lot of testing, I was able to reproduce this in a compact sample program simulating my current workflow. Below is the code:
mainwindow.h
#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
#define MAINWINDOW_H
#include <QMainWindow>
#include <QDebug>
#include <QThread>
#include "lua_src/lua.hpp"
class Worker : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
Worker() : QObject(){}
public slots:
void process()
{
lua_State *L = luaL_newstate();
luaL_dostring(L, "x=5");
luaL_error(L, "test error");
lua_close(L);
emit finished();
}
signals:
void finished();
};
namespace Ui {
class MainWindow;
}
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit MainWindow(QWidget *parent = 0);
~MainWindow();
Worker *worker;
QThread *workerThread;
private:
Ui::MainWindow *ui;
};
#endif // MAINWINDOW_H
mainwindow.cpp
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "ui_mainwindow.h"
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
worker = new Worker();
workerThread = new QThread();
worker->moveToThread(workerThread);
connect(workerThread, SIGNAL(started()), worker, SLOT(process()));
connect(worker, SIGNAL(finished()), workerThread, SLOT(quit()));
connect(worker, SIGNAL(finished()), worker, SLOT(deleteLater()));
connect(workerThread, SIGNAL(finished()), workerThread, SLOT(deleteLater()));
workerThread->start();
}
MainWindow::~MainWindow()
{
delete ui;
}
main.cpp
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include <QApplication>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
MainWindow w;
w.show();
return a.exec();
}
I would have expected that the worker thread process would continue and the lua state would simply close. However this renders lua error handling useless. I've included Lua 5.3's source for this project.
One thing I did notice is that this problem appears to only happens for GUI applications and not console applications.
Does anyone know what's going on here and how to handle lua errors from inside a QThread? Thanks for your time.
The documentation for luaL_error states:
This function never returns, ...
Elsewhere, the lua error handling documentation has:
If an error happens outside any protected environment, Lua calls a panic function (see lua_atpanic) and then calls abort, thus exiting the host application. Your panic function can avoid this exit by never returning (e.g., doing a long jump to your own recovery point outside Lua).
So you can think of luaL_error (and lua_error) as raising fatal errors. They're fatal for the script in protected mode, or fatal for your process outside of protected mode.
If your C code is being called from a script, you can start the script in protected mode with lua_pcall. This is the usual case. If your C code isn't called from a script then you probably don't want to use luaL_error since its main advantage is reporting information about where the error occurred in a script.
You can also get information about the location of the error with luaL_where and report it to the user in some other way.
I am trying to create a thread for a Scanner class which handles all the events for this particular class, thereby freeing the GUI thread. I have an exit button on my GUI which simply calls qApp->quit() to exit the application, but I am not sure how to deal with the thread in my Scanner class. I am seeing the following errors in the debug log when the application is exited.
QThread::wait: Thread tried to wait on itself
QThread::wait: Thread tried to wait on itself
QThread: Destroyed while thread is still running
In Scanner.cpp (Omitted other functions)
Scanner::Scanner() :
{
this->moveToThread(&m_thread);
connect(&m_thread, &QThread::finished, this, &QObject::deleteLater);
connect(this, SIGNAL(StartEnroll()), this, SLOT(StartEnrollment()));
m_thread.start();
}
Scanner::~Scanner()
{
m_thread.quit(); // Not sure if this is the correct
m_thread.wait();
}
In main Window.cpp (Omitted other functions)
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
connect(ui->ExitButton, SIGNAL(released()), this, SLOT(Quit()));
connect(&m_scanner, SIGNAL(FinishedEnroll(bool)), this, SLOT(EnrollDone(bool)));
}
void MainWindow::Quit()
{
close();
qApp->quit();
}
Any pointers on how to quit safely quit the application in a multi-threaded application.
You need to let the Scanner class know that the application is exiting.
Add the following line to the constructor of MainWindow
connect(qApp, SIGNAL(aboutToQuit()), &m_scanner, SLOT(deleteLater()));
UPDATE:
connect(&m_thread, &QThread::finished, this, &QObject::deleteLater);
Should not be in the constructor of Scanner
and
m_thread.quit();
m_thread.wait();
should not be in the destructor of Scanner
In fact, m_thread should not be part of Scanner in any way. The QThread class does not represent a thread, it is a thread manager and should be owned and controlled from the thread where it was created.
There are a number of methods of using threads in Qt, many not documented very well. If you want to use the
workerObject->moveToThread(&thread);
thread.start();
way of using threads, then m_thread should be a member of MainWindow class and these function calls should be made in it's constructor.
Thanks for clarifying and for the solutions posted above. Here is what I did based on what was posted before.
ScannerThread.h
#include <QThread>
class ScannerThread : public QThread
{
public:
ScannerThread();
~ScannerThread();
};
ScannerThread.cpp
#include "scannerthread.h"
ScannerThread::ScannerThread()
{
connect(this, &QThread::finished, this, &QObject::deleteLater);
}
ScannerThread::~ScannerThread()
{
quit();
wait();
}
In MainWindow.h
#include <QMainWindow>
namespace Ui {
class MainWindow;
}
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit MainWindow(QWidget *parent = 0);
~MainWindow();
private slots:
void Quit();
private:
Ui::MainWindow *ui;
Scanner m_scanner;
ScannerThread m_scannerThread;
};
In MainWindow.cpp (Omitting other functions)
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
m_scanner.moveToThread(&m_scannerThread);
m_scannerThread.start();
connect(ui->ExitButton, SIGNAL(released()), this, SLOT(Quit()));
connect(qApp, SIGNAL(aboutToQuit()), &m_scanner, SLOT(deleteLater()));
}
void MainWindow::Quit()
{
close();
qApp->quit();
}
This seemed to work fine for me. If you see any errors please correct, and thanks for helping with this.
First you should move your QThread out of the Scanner class. A QThread manages a thread, so you can't call functions that are related to the thread management inside that thread itself. That's the reason you're getting the message about the thread waiting on itself.
You should rather have something like that:
m_scanner.moveToThread(&m_thread);//make the thread a member of your window
m_thread.start();
Then, in your quit function, do as you want, either waiting on the thread (better) or terminating it (worse) before exiting, or a tradeoff, such as:
void MainWindow::Quit()
{
close();
//Wait maximum 1 second
if(!m_thread.wait(1000) {
m_thread.terminate();
}
qApp->quit();
}
I have a qslider to control the zooming of a map like this:
connect(ui->zoomSlider, SIGNAL(valueChanged(int)), ui->map, SLOT(SetZoom(int)));
However, because this online-map response relatively slow.
I found that the qslider's response also becomes very slow which means when you slide the slider, it's position won't change until suddenly it jump to the position where you release your mouse.
How could I solve this?
One possible solution to delay processing of your signal is to connect it with slot by using Qt::QueuedConnection.
connect(ui->zoomSlider, SIGNAL(valueChanged(int)), ui->map, SLOT(SetZoom(int)), Qt::QueuedConnection);
With Qt::QueuedConnection emitted valueChanged signal event will be not processed at the time of generation, as it happens with directly connected signals. Event will be added to the event loop queue. This is how Qt::QueuedConnection is implemented inside Qt.
Specially for Nejat to test this approach it's possible to use following code:
MainWindow.h:
#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
#define MAINWINDOW_H
#include <QMainWindow>
namespace Ui {
class MainWindow;
}
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit MainWindow(QWidget *parent = 0);
~MainWindow();
private slots:
void signalReceived();
void signalReceivedQueued();
void buttonPressed();
signals:
void directConnectedSignal();
void queuedConnectedSignal();
private:
Ui::MainWindow *ui;
};
#endif // MAINWINDOW_H
MainWindow.cpp:
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "ui_mainwindow.h"
#include <QDebug>
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
connect(this, SIGNAL(directConnectedSignal()), SLOT(signalReceived()), Qt::DirectConnection);
connect(this, SIGNAL(queuedConnectedSignal()), SLOT(signalReceivedQueued()), Qt::QueuedConnection);
connect(ui->pushButton, SIGNAL(pressed()), SLOT(buttonPressed()));
}
MainWindow::~MainWindow()
{
delete ui;
}
void MainWindow::signalReceived()
{
qDebug() << "signalReceived";
}
void MainWindow::signalReceivedQueued()
{
qDebug() << "signalReceivedQueued";
}
void MainWindow::buttonPressed()
{
emit queuedConnectedSignal();
emit directConnectedSignal();
}
If you run code snippet above you will get following output on button press:
signalReceived
signalReceivedQueued
Queued signal is emitted first, but received last. And this can be used in your case to prioritize processing of emitted signals.
However most of all using of queued connection will not help you, because user emits slider event too frequently and UI will freeze in any case. So, I can suggest following:
Determine why exactly UI is freezes, what part of code freezing it.
Try to avoid freezing by asynchronous calls or by moving logic into separate thread, or by using QtConcurrent
If you really can't control the way how map is scaled in your webpage, try to ignore all events generated by the QSlider and react only on last generated in 500 ms interval, for example.
I'm new to StackOverflow and wondering if I'm doing this right:
I'm writing a simple Qt application to test multi-threading (something I am also completely new to). I made a MainWindow that contains widgets, and a class MyThread that subclasses QThread and overrides the run() method.
The application simply displays two buttons, "Start Counter" and "Stop Counter", and a text field. When "start counter" is pressed, a worker thread is created and runs in the background, continuously incrementing a counter in a while loop and signaling the main thread (where the GUI is) with the updated value. When "Stop Counter" is pressed, a signal is sent to the main thread that stops the while loop, and the counter is stopped until "Start Counter" is pressed again.
This works perfectly fine ... but is it the best way? I'm new at this, and read a lot of people saying "don't subclass QThread" and other people saying "subclass QThread", and it's a little bit confusing. If this isn't the best way to implement this sort of thing (run a computationally-intensive loop in a background thread with "start" and "stop" buttons), what is? If I'm doing it wrong, how do I do it right? I don't want to learn the wrong way.
Thank you! And here's the code:
MyThread.h
#ifndef MYTHREAD_H
#define MYTHREAD_H
#include <QThread>
#include <QMutex>
class MyThread : public QThread
{
Q_OBJECT
public slots:
void stopRunning();
protected:
virtual void run();
signals:
void signalValueUpdated(QString);
private:
bool isRunning;
};
MyThread.cpp
#include "MyThread.h"
#include <QString>
void MyThread::run()
{
qDebug("Thread id inside run %d",(int)QThread::currentThreadId());
static int value=0; //If this is not static, then it is reset to 0 every time this function is called.
isRunning = 1;
while(isRunning == 1)
{
QString string = QString("value: %1").arg(value++);
sleep(1/1000); //If this isn't here, the counter increments way too fast and dies, or something; the app freezes, anyway.
emit signalValueUpdated(string);
}
}
void MyThread::stopRunning()
{
isRunning = 0;
}
MainWindow.h
#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
#define MAINWINDOW_H
#include <QApplication>
#include <QPushButton>
#include <QHBoxLayout>
#include <QLineEdit>
#include "MyThread.h"
class MainWindow : public QWidget
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
MainWindow(QWidget *parent = 0);
private:
//Widgets
QHBoxLayout * boxLayout;
QPushButton * startButton;
QPushButton * stopButton;
QLineEdit * lineEdit;
MyThread thread;
};
#endif
MainWindow.cpp
#include "MainWindow.h"
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) : QWidget(parent)
{
boxLayout = new QHBoxLayout(this);
startButton = new QPushButton("Start Counter", this);
stopButton = new QPushButton("Stop Counter", this);
lineEdit = new QLineEdit(this);
boxLayout->addWidget(startButton);
boxLayout->addWidget(stopButton);
boxLayout->addWidget(lineEdit);
qDebug("Thread id %d",(int)QThread::currentThreadId());
//When the start button is pressed, invoke the start() method in the counter thread
QObject::connect(startButton,SIGNAL(clicked()),&thread,SLOT(start()), Qt::QueuedConnection);
//When the stop button is pressed, invoke the stop() method in the counter thread
QObject::connect(stopButton,SIGNAL(clicked()),&thread,SLOT(stopRunning()), Qt::QueuedConnection);
//When the counter thread emits a signal saying its value has been updated, reflect that change in the lineEdit field.
QObject::connect(&thread,SIGNAL(signalValueUpdated(const QString&)),lineEdit,SLOT(setText(const QString&)), Qt::QueuedConnection);
}
Most of the time QThread sub-classing is a wrong way to do threading in Qt. I suggest you to read an article about threads, event loops and other which could give you an idea how to use threads in Qt in a better way. But do not listen to anyone who arguing that there is the only one right way to use QThread. There are 2 ways and while subclassing is not needed in general it could be useful sometimes. You just need to use non-subclassing way until you really need to subclass. In your particular case you don't need subclassing.
Replace sleep(1/1000); with msleep(100); Things will be just fine :)