How to interact with a child QProcess? - c++

Question

In my program I have a child process that interacts with a serial port specified to it when the parent process demands it. For example the parent process commands the child process to read a number of bytes with a certain time out from the opened port by sending this command: read 100 1000. The child process launches and opens the port successfully and I can see the message port openned successfully! but from there onwards it won't read the parent commands.
Here's the child source code:
SerialPortHandler.h
#ifndef SERIALPORTHANDLER_H
#define SERIALPORTHANDLER_H
#include <QObject>
#include <QSocketNotifier>
#include <QTextStream>
#include <QSerialPort>
#include <QFile>
#include <QTimer>
#include <QDebug>
#include <QtCore>
enum CommandType { READ, WRITE, BAD, UNKNOWN };
class SerialPortHandler : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit SerialPortHandler(QString portname, QString baudrate, QObject *parent = 0);
signals:
public slots:
void execmd();
bool open(const QString& portname, const QString& baudrate);
qint64 read(char * buff, const qint64 size, const qint32 timeout);
QString convertToCaseInsensitiveRegExp(QString str);
CommandType analyze(const QString& line);
qint64 getNum(const QString &line, int index);
void reply(char *buff);
private:
QSocketNotifier *innotif;
QSerialPort *sp;
QTimer *timer;
};
#endif // SERIALPORTHANDLER_H
SerialPortHandler.cpp
#include "SerialPortHandler.h"
#include <unistd.h>
#include <limits>
SerialPortHandler::SerialPortHandler(QString portname, QString baudrate, QObject *parent) :
QObject(parent)
{
timer = new QTimer(this);
sp = new QSerialPort(this);
if(!open(portname, baudrate)) {
qDebug() << sp->error() << sp->errorString();
exit(sp->error());
}
innotif = new QSocketNotifier(STDIN_FILENO, QSocketNotifier::Read, this);
connect(innotif, SIGNAL(activated(int)), this, SLOT(execmd()));
}
void SerialPortHandler::execmd()
{
qDebug() << "command received. analyzing...";
// qint64 nbr = -1, size = -1;
// qint32 timeout = -1;
// char * buff = 0;
// QTextStream in(stdin);
// QString ln = in.readAll();
// switch (analyze(ln)) {
// case READ:
// size = getNum(ln, 1);
// timeout = getNum(ln, 2);
// if(size > -1 && timeout > -1)
// nbr = read(buff, size, timeout);
// if(nbr > -1)
// reply(buff);
// break;
// default:
// break;
// }
}
bool SerialPortHandler::open(const QString &portname, const QString &baudrate)
{
sp->setPortName(portname);
if (!sp->open(QIODevice::ReadWrite) ||
!sp->setBaudRate(baudrate.toInt()) ||
!sp->setDataBits(QSerialPort::Data8) ||
!sp->setParity(QSerialPort::NoParity) ||
!sp->setStopBits(QSerialPort::OneStop) ||
!sp->setFlowControl(QSerialPort::NoFlowControl)) {
return false;
}
sp->clear();
qDebug() << "port openned successfully!";
return true;
}
//day light wont affect this timer so the system wont freeze
qint64 SerialPortHandler::read(char *buff, const qint64 size, const qint32 timeout)
{
qint64 numbytesread = -1;
timer->start(timeout);
while (true) {
if(timer->remainingTime() > 0) {
return -1;
}
if((sp->isReadable() && sp->bytesAvailable() > 0) ||
(sp->isReadable() && sp->waitForReadyRead(10))) {
numbytesread += sp->read(buff, size);
}
if(numbytesread < 0) {
return -1;
}
if(numbytesread == size) {
break;
}
}
return numbytesread;
}
void SerialPortHandler::notify()
{
}
QString SerialPortHandler::convertToCaseInsensitiveRegExp(QString str)
{
QString result;
for(int i = 0 ; i < str.size() ; ++i) {
result.append("[");
result.append(str.at(i).toLower());
result.append(str.at(i).toUpper());
result.append("]");
}
return result;
}
CommandType SerialPortHandler::analyze(const QString &line)
{
QString read, write;
read = convertToCaseInsensitiveRegExp("read");
write = convertToCaseInsensitiveRegExp("write");
if(line.contains(QRegExp(QString("^.*%1\\s+[1-9]\\d*\\s+[1-9]\\d*.*").arg(read)))) {
return READ;
}
return UNKNOWN;
}
qint64 SerialPortHandler::getNum(const QString& line, int index) {
QStringList args(line.split(QRegExp("\\s+")));
bool done;
qint64 size = args.at(index).toInt(&done, 10);
if(done) {
return size;
}
return -1;
}
void SerialPortHandler::reply(char * buff) {
QDataStream out(stdout);
out << buff;
}
main.cpp
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QDebug>
#include "SerialPortHandler.h"
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
if(argc != 3) {
qDebug() << "usage:" << argv[0] << "port" << "baudrate";
} else {
SerialPortHandler *sph = new SerialPortHandler(argv[1], argv[2]);
}
return a.exec();
}
My parent process consists of the following:
ParentProcess.h
#ifndef PARENTPROCESS_H
#define PARENTPROCESS_H
#include <QObject>
#include <QtCore>
class ParentProcess : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit ParentProcess(QObject *parent = 0);
signals:
public slots:
private slots:
void sendRead();
void writeSomething();
void handleError(QProcess::ProcessError error);
private:
QProcess *p;
};
#endif // PARENTPROCESS_H
ParentProcess.cpp
#include "ParentProcess.h"
#include <QDebug>
ParentProcess::ParentProcess(QObject *parent) :
QObject(parent)
{
p = new QProcess(this);
connect(p, SIGNAL(readyReadStandardOutput()), this, SLOT(sendRead()));
connect(p, SIGNAL(readyReadStandardError()), this, SLOT(sendRead()));
connect(p, SIGNAL(started()), this, SLOT(writeSomething()));
connect(p, SIGNAL(error(QProcess::ProcessError)), this, SLOT(handleError(QProcess::ProcessError)));
QStringList args;
args << "/dev/ttyUSB0" << "115200";
p->start("/home/moki/Work/Programs/build-serialio-Desktop_Qt_5_3_0_GCC_64bit-Debug/serialio", args, QProcess::ReadWrite);
}
void ParentProcess::sendRead() {
qDebug() << "data:" << p->readAllStandardError() << p->readAllStandardOutput();
}
void ParentProcess::writeSomething() {
qDebug() << "writing";
QString cmd = "read 10 10000\n";
qint64 a = p->write(cmd.toStdString().c_str());
qDebug() << "wrote:" << a;
}
void ParentProcess::handleError(QProcess::ProcessError error)
{
switch (error) {
case QProcess::FailedToStart:
qDebug() << "failed to start";
break;
case QProcess::Crashed:
qDebug() << "crashed.";
break;
default:
break;
}
}
main.cpp
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include "ParentProcess.h"
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
ParentProcess p;
return a.exec();
}
I have seen a couple of other answers in SO but none of them address my issue. As you can see my child process is not supposed to complete and exit. It will remain launched as long as the parent process wishes. Is it correct to use QProcess-launched processes this way?

Answer 1

I changed my code to the following and now it's working. But I haven't understood why this code works and my original one doesn't.
in the parent process source i changed the constructor as follows:
ParentProcess::ParentProcess(QObject *parent) :
QObject(parent)
{
p = new QProcess(this);
connect(p, SIGNAL(error(QProcess::ProcessError)), this, SLOT(handleError(QProcess::ProcessError)));
connect(p, SIGNAL(readyRead()), this, SLOT(sendRead()));
connect(p, SIGNAL(started()), this, SLOT(writeSomething()));
QStringList args;
args << "/dev/ttyUSB0" << "115200";
p->setProcessChannelMode(QProcess::MergedChannels);
p->start("/home/moki/Work/Programs/build-serialio-Desktop_Qt_5_3_0_GCC_64bit-Debug/serialio", args, QProcess::ReadWrite);
}
and the sendRead() function to this:
void ParentProcess::sendRead() {
int bytes = p->bytesAvailable();
qDebug() << "data:" << p->read(bytes);
}
finally, the writeSomething() to:
void ParentProcess::writeSomething() {
qDebug() << "gonna write.";
if(p->state() == QProcess::Running) {
qDebug() << "writing";
QString cmd = "read 10 10000\n";
qint64 a = p->write(cmd.toStdString().c_str());
qDebug() << "wrote:" << a << "bytes.";
}
}
and now it works. If anyone could please explain this to me, I would be really grateful.