Application Crashes on Thread Exit - C++ - c++

Question

My application is crashing when it exits the thread function. This is how my thread is initialized:
LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE pThreadStart = (LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE)NotifyWindowThreadFn;
void * pvThreadData = reinterpret_cast<void *>(_pobjSerialPort);
// Create the exit notify window thread event handle.
_hNotifyWindowThreadExitEvent = ::CreateEvent(
NULL, // No security
TRUE, // Create a manual-reset event object
FALSE, // Initial state is non-signaled
NULL // No name specified
);
if ( _hNotifyWindowThreadExitEvent == NULL )
{
TRACE(_T("CreateNotifyWindow : Failed to get a handle for the exit message-only window event.\r\n\tError: %d\r\n\tFile: %s\r\n\tLine: %d\r\n"), ::GetLastError(), __WFILE__, __LINE__);
return ::GetLastError();
}
// Create the notify window thread to begin execution on its own.
_hNotifyWindowThread = ::CreateThread(
NULL, // No security attributes.
0, // Use default initial stack size.
pThreadStart, // Function to execute in new thread.
pvThreadData, // Thread parameters.
0, // Use default creation settings.
NULL // Thread ID is not needed.
);
if ( _hNotifyWindowThread == NULL )
{
TRACE(_T("CreateNotifyWindow : Failed to create handle for message-only window thread.\r\n\tError: %d\r\n\tFile: %s\r\n\tLine: %d\r\n"), ::GetLastError(), __WFILE__, __LINE__);
return ::GetLastError();
}
This is the portion of my thread function that gets executed:
DWORD NotifyWindowThreadFn( void * pParam )
{
static CNotifyWindow * pobjNotifyWindow = NULL;
CSerialPort * pobjSerialPort = reinterpret_cast<CSerialPort *>(pParam);
// Create notify window to handle surprize removal/insertion events...
try
{
pobjNotifyWindow = new CNotifyWindow();
}
catch ( DWORD error )
{
return error; // 1. PC gets here
}
catch ( long error )
{
return error;
}
catch ( ... )
{
return ERROR_CANNOT_MAKE;
}
/* Other stuff that is not executed due to return. */
} // 2. PC then gets here
When the application crashes, Visual Studio gives me this error message:
Windows has triggered a breakpoint in CppTestConsole.exe.
This may be due to a corruption of the heap, which indicates a bug in CppTestConsole.exe or any of the DLLs it has loaded.
This may also be due to the user pressing F12 while CppTestConsole.exe has focus.
The output window may have more diagnostic information.
The output window doesn't have anything especially useful. Only...
The thread 'NotifyWindowThreadFn' (0x414) has exited with code 0 (0x0).
Then it shows that a bunch of DLLs are unloaded. When I click the Break button, the PC is at the end of _CrtIsValidHeapPointer in dbgheap.c. Does anyone have any ideas as to why my application is crashing when the thread exits? Should I not be returning directly from within a threaded function? Thanks.

Answer 1

I might be wrong, but it seems like you're trying to create a window from a worker thread. Don't do this. Windows need the message pump in order to function, and there's only one message pump in your application -- it's in the main thread.

Answer 2

you should declare and define you function as : DWORD WINAPI NotifyWindowThreadFn( void * pParam )

Answer 3

Try using _beginthreadex instead of CreateThread:
A thread in an executable that calls
the C run-time library (CRT) should
use the _beginthreadex and
_endthreadex functions for thread management rather than CreateThread
and ExitThread; this requires the use
of the multi-threaded version of the
CRT. If a thread created using
CreateThread calls the CRT, the CRT
may terminate the process in
low-memory conditions.