Internal message loop - c++

Question

In my main dialog I have a function that creates a process and waits for it to finish. It might take up to 15-20 seconds. If I simply wait using WaitForSingleObject my dialog becomes unresponsive.
I want to use a combination of EnableWindow(FALSE), and an internal message loop to make my dialog block, but without looking like the app freezes, the way MessageBox and DoModal do. But I'm not sure how to do that an internal message loop.

Answer 1

I'm afraid your approach won't work. Your app is single-threaded, or at least your UI is. After you call WaitForSingleObject your thread is put to sleep and it won't process windows messages. The fact that you have an internal message loop won't matter. You should probably start a new thread and use it to wait for the process to finish, then notify your UI thread and exit. Or something along those lines.

Answer 2

Running internal message loop is rather trivial coding.
Something like below is all:
EnableWindow(FALSE);
while ( /* check for my exit condition */ )
{
MSG msg;
if(::PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_NOREMOVE))
{
if( !AfxGetApp()->PumpMessage() )
{
::PostQuitMessage(0);
}
}
}
EnableWindow(TRUE);
To wait for the process exit, you could use very short(<30ms) timeout WaitForSingleObject call in the message loop. Or MsgWaitForMultipleObjects. Or GetExitCodeProcess.
I'd like to recommend another approach.
1) Show new modal popup
2) Start the process in OnInitDialog handler and start a timer
3) Check if the process is still running in OnTimer handler, by GetExitCodeProcess
4) Call EndDialog when the process is no longer running

Answer 3

Try MsgWaitForMultipleObjects function; it can process Windows messages while waiting for the event object.

Answer 4

You could:
(a bit complicated) use MsgWaitForMultipleObjects (or MsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx) to wait for the process to finish or for a message to arrive (processing it in the normal way).
(simple) use RegisterWaitForSingleObject to register a callback that is called in a separate thread when the process exits (and perhaps have that callback just post a message to your window).
(fairly simple) create your own thread to do the waiting in.
I'd go with the 2nd option.

Answer 5

DWORD ec;
if(CreateProcess( NULL, // No module name (use command line).
szExe, // Command line.
NULL, // Process handle not inheritable.
NULL, // Thread handle not inheritable.
FALSE, // Set handle inheritance to FALSE.
procFlags, // No creation flags.
NULL, // Use parent's environment block.
NULL, // Use parent's starting directory.
&si, // Pointer to STARTUPINFO structure.
&pi ) // Pointer to PROCESS_INFORMATION structure.
)
{
while(GetExitCodeProcess(pi.hProcess, &ec) && ec == STILL_ACTIVE)
{
MSG msg;
while(::PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_NOREMOVE))
{
if(!AfxGetApp()->PumpMessage())
{
::PostQuitMessage(0);
break;
}
}
// let MFC do its idle processing
LONG lIdle = 0;
while(AfxGetApp()->OnIdle(lIdle++))
;
}
}
if(ec)
{
CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
}