summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/examples
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'examples')
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot-example.pngbin0 -> 84202 bytes
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll1.pngbin0 -> 19615 bytes
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll2.pngbin0 -> 13901 bytes
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll3.pngbin0 -> 18976 bytes
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom1.pngbin0 -> 16000 bytes
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom2.pngbin0 -> 8163 bytes
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom3.pngbin0 -> 9848 bytes
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/images/queuedcustomtype-example.pngbin0 -> 44851 bytes
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/src/mandelbrot.qdoc368
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/src/queuedcustomtype.qdoc163
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/src/semaphores.qdoc145
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/doc/src/waitconditions.qdoc152
-rw-r--r--examples/threads/threads.pro2
13 files changed, 830 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot-example.png b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot-example.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f5817834e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot-example.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll1.png b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b800455821
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll1.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll2.png b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll2.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..704ea0a7c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll2.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll3.png b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll3.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8b48211444
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_scroll3.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom1.png b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..30190e44eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom1.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom2.png b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom2.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..148ac777b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom2.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom3.png b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom3.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a669f4b5fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/images/mandelbrot_zoom3.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/images/queuedcustomtype-example.png b/examples/threads/doc/images/queuedcustomtype-example.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4399b631d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/images/queuedcustomtype-example.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/src/mandelbrot.qdoc b/examples/threads/doc/src/mandelbrot.qdoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..842f4222ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/src/mandelbrot.qdoc
@@ -0,0 +1,368 @@
+/****************************************************************************
+**
+** Copyright (C) 2012 Digia Plc and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
+** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/legal
+**
+** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
+**
+** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
+** Commercial License Usage
+** Licensees holding valid commercial Qt licenses may use this file in
+** accordance with the commercial license agreement provided with the
+** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in
+** a written agreement between you and Digia. For licensing terms and
+** conditions see http://qt.digia.com/licensing. For further information
+** use the contact form at http://qt.digia.com/contact-us.
+**
+** GNU Free Documentation License Usage
+** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
+** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
+** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of
+** this file. Please review the following information to ensure
+** the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 requirements
+** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.
+** $QT_END_LICENSE$
+**
+****************************************************************************/
+
+/*!
+ \example threads/mandelbrot
+ \title Mandelbrot Example
+
+ The Mandelbrot example shows how to use a worker thread to
+ perform heavy computations without blocking the main thread's
+ event loop.
+
+ The heavy computation here is the Mandelbrot set, probably the
+ world's most famous fractal. These days, while sophisticated
+ programs such as \l{XaoS} that provide real-time zooming in the
+ Mandelbrot set, the standard Mandelbrot algorithm is just slow
+ enough for our purposes.
+
+ \image mandelbrot-example.png Screenshot of the Mandelbrot example
+
+ In real life, the approach described here is applicable to a
+ large set of problems, including synchronous network I/O and
+ database access, where the user interface must remain responsive
+ while some heavy operation is taking place. The \l
+ network/blockingfortuneclient example shows the same principle at
+ work in a TCP client.
+
+ The Mandelbrot application supports zooming and scrolling using
+ the mouse or the keyboard. To avoid freezing the main thread's
+ event loop (and, as a consequence, the application's user
+ interface), we put all the fractal computation in a separate
+ worker thread. The thread emits a signal when it is done
+ rendering the fractal.
+
+ During the time where the worker thread is recomputing the
+ fractal to reflect the new zoom factor position, the main thread
+ simply scales the previously rendered pixmap to provide immediate
+ feedback. The result doesn't look as good as what the worker
+ thread eventually ends up providing, but at least it makes the
+ application more responsive. The sequence of screenshots below
+ shows the original image, the scaled image, and the rerendered
+ image.
+
+ \table
+ \row
+ \li \inlineimage mandelbrot_zoom1.png
+ \li \inlineimage mandelbrot_zoom2.png
+ \li \inlineimage mandelbrot_zoom3.png
+ \endtable
+
+ Similarly, when the user scrolls, the previous pixmap is scrolled
+ immediately, revealing unpainted areas beyond the edge of the
+ pixmap, while the image is rendered by the worker thread.
+
+ \table
+ \row
+ \li \inlineimage mandelbrot_scroll1.png
+ \li \inlineimage mandelbrot_scroll2.png
+ \li \inlineimage mandelbrot_scroll3.png
+ \endtable
+
+ The application consists of two classes:
+
+ \list
+ \li \c RenderThread is a QThread subclass that renders
+ the Mandelbrot set.
+ \li \c MandelbrotWidget is a QWidget subclass that shows the
+ Mandelbrot set on screen and lets the user zoom and scroll.
+ \endlist
+
+ If you are not already familiar with Qt's thread support, we
+ recommend that you start by reading the \l{Thread Support in Qt}
+ overview.
+
+ \section1 RenderThread Class Definition
+
+ We'll start with the definition of the \c RenderThread class:
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.h 0
+
+ The class inherits QThread so that it gains the ability to run in
+ a separate thread. Apart from the constructor and destructor, \c
+ render() is the only public function. Whenever the thread is done
+ rendering an image, it emits the \c renderedImage() signal.
+
+ The protected \c run() function is reimplemented from QThread. It
+ is automatically called when the thread is started.
+
+ In the \c private section, we have a QMutex, a QWaitCondition,
+ and a few other data members. The mutex protects the other data
+ member.
+
+ \section1 RenderThread Class Implementation
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 0
+
+ In the constructor, we initialize the \c restart and \c abort
+ variables to \c false. These variables control the flow of the \c
+ run() function.
+
+ We also initialize the \c colormap array, which contains a series
+ of RGB colors.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 1
+
+ The destructor can be called at any point while the thread is
+ active. We set \c abort to \c true to tell \c run() to stop
+ running as soon as possible. We also call
+ QWaitCondition::wakeOne() to wake up the thread if it's sleeping.
+ (As we will see when we review \c run(), the thread is put to
+ sleep when it has nothing to do.)
+
+ The important thing to notice here is that \c run() is executed
+ in its own thread (the worker thread), whereas the \c
+ RenderThread constructor and destructor (as well as the \c
+ render() function) are called by the thread that created the
+ worker thread. Therefore, we need a mutex to protect accesses to
+ the \c abort and \c condition variables, which might be accessed
+ at any time by \c run().
+
+ At the end of the destructor, we call QThread::wait() to wait
+ until \c run() has exited before the base class destructor is
+ invoked.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 2
+
+ The \c render() function is called by the \c MandelbrotWidget
+ whenever it needs to generate a new image of the Mandelbrot set.
+ The \c centerX, \c centerY, and \c scaleFactor parameters specify
+ the portion of the fractal to render; \c resultSize specifies the
+ size of the resulting QImage.
+
+ The function stores the parameters in member variables. If the
+ thread isn't already running, it starts it; otherwise, it sets \c
+ restart to \c true (telling \c run() to stop any unfinished
+ computation and start again with the new parameters) and wakes up
+ the thread, which might be sleeping.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 3
+
+ \c run() is quite a big function, so we'll break it down into
+ parts.
+
+ The function body is an infinite loop which starts by storing the
+ rendering parameters in local variables. As usual, we protect
+ accesses to the member variables using the class's mutex. Storing
+ the member variables in local variables allows us to minimize the
+ amout of code that needs to be protected by a mutex. This ensures
+ that the main thread will never have to block for too long when
+ it needs to access \c{RenderThread}'s member variables (e.g., in
+ \c render()).
+
+ The \c forever keyword is, like \c foreach, a Qt pseudo-keyword.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 4
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 5
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 6
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 7
+
+ Then comes the core of the algorithm. Instead of trying to create
+ a perfect Mandelbrot set image, we do multiple passes and
+ generate more and more precise (and computationally expensive)
+ approximations of the fractal.
+
+ If we discover inside the loop that \c restart has been set to \c
+ true (by \c render()), we break out of the loop immediately, so
+ that the control quickly returns to the very top of the outer
+ loop (the \c forever loop) and we fetch the new rendering
+ parameters. Similarly, if we discover that \c abort has been set
+ to \c true (by the \c RenderThread destructor), we return from
+ the function immediately, terminating the thread.
+
+ The core algorithm is beyond the scope of this tutorial.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 8
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 9
+
+ Once we're done with all the iterations, we call
+ QWaitCondition::wait() to put the thread to sleep by calling,
+ unless \c restart is \c true. There's no use in keeping a worker
+ thread looping indefinitely while there's nothing to do.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/renderthread.cpp 10
+
+ The \c rgbFromWaveLength() function is a helper function that
+ converts a wave length to a RGB value compatible with 32-bit
+ \l{QImage}s. It is called from the constructor to initialize the
+ \c colormap array with pleasing colors.
+
+ \section1 MandelbrotWidget Class Definition
+
+ The \c MandelbrotWidget class uses \c RenderThread to draw the
+ Mandelbrot set on screen. Here's the class definition:
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.h 0
+
+ The widget reimplements many event handlers from QWidget. In
+ addition, it has an \c updatePixmap() slot that we'll connect to
+ the worker thread's \c renderedImage() signal to update the
+ display whenever we receive new data from the thread.
+
+ Among the private variables, we have \c thread of type \c
+ RenderThread and \c pixmap, which contains the last rendered
+ image.
+
+ \section1 MandelbrotWidget Class Implementation
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 0
+
+ The implementation starts with a few contants that we'll need
+ later on.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 1
+
+ The interesting part of the constructor is the
+ qRegisterMetaType() and QObject::connect() calls. Let's start
+ with the \l{QObject::connect()}{connect()} call.
+
+ Although it looks like a standard signal-slot connection between
+ two \l{QObject}s, because the signal is emitted in a different
+ thread than the receiver lives in, the connection is effectively a
+ \l{Qt::QueuedConnection}{queued connection}. These connections are
+ asynchronous (i.e., non-blocking), meaning that the slot will be
+ called at some point after the \c emit statement. What's more, the
+ slot will be invoked in the thread in which the receiver lives.
+ Here, the signal is emitted in the worker thread, and the slot is
+ executed in the GUI thread when control returns to the event loop.
+
+ With queued connections, Qt must store a copy of the arguments
+ that were passed to the signal so that it can pass them to the
+ slot later on. Qt knows how to take of copy of many C++ and Qt
+ types, but QImage isn't one of them. We must therefore call the
+ template function qRegisterMetaType() before we can use QImage
+ as parameter in queued connections.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 2
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 3
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 4
+
+ In \l{QWidget::paintEvent()}{paintEvent()}, we start by filling
+ the background with black. If we have nothing yet to paint (\c
+ pixmap is null), we print a message on the widget asking the user
+ to be patient and return from the function immediately.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 5
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 6
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 7
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 8
+
+ If the pixmap has the right scale factor, we draw the pixmap directly onto
+ the widget. Otherwise, we scale and translate the \l{Coordinate
+ System}{coordinate system} before we draw the pixmap. By reverse mapping
+ the widget's rectangle using the scaled painter matrix, we also make sure
+ that only the exposed areas of the pixmap are drawn. The calls to
+ QPainter::save() and QPainter::restore() make sure that any painting
+ performed afterwards uses the standard coordinate system.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 9
+
+ At the end of the paint event handler, we draw a text string and
+ a semi-transparent rectangle on top of the fractal.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 10
+
+ Whenever the user resizes the widget, we call \c render() to
+ start generating a new image, with the same \c centerX, \c
+ centerY, and \c curScale parameters but with the new widget size.
+
+ Notice that we rely on \c resizeEvent() being automatically
+ called by Qt when the widget is shown the first time to generate
+ the image the very first time.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 11
+
+ The key press event handler provides a few keyboard bindings for
+ the benefit of users who don't have a mouse. The \c zoom() and \c
+ scroll() functions will be covered later.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 12
+
+ The wheel event handler is reimplemented to make the mouse wheel
+ control the zoom level. QWheelEvent::delta() returns the angle of
+ the wheel mouse movement, in eights of a degree. For most mice,
+ one wheel step corresponds to 15 degrees. We find out how many
+ mouse steps we have and determine the zoom factor in consequence.
+ For example, if we have two wheel steps in the positive direction
+ (i.e., +30 degrees), the zoom factor becomes \c ZoomInFactor
+ to the second power, i.e. 0.8 * 0.8 = 0.64.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 13
+
+ When the user presses the left mouse button, we store the mouse
+ pointer position in \c lastDragPos.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 14
+
+ When the user moves the mouse pointer while the left mouse button
+ is pressed, we adjust \c pixmapOffset to paint the pixmap at a
+ shifted position and call QWidget::update() to force a repaint.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 15
+
+ When the left mouse button is released, we update \c pixmapOffset
+ just like we did on a mouse move and we reset \c lastDragPos to a
+ default value. Then, we call \c scroll() to render a new image
+ for the new position. (Adjusting \c pixmapOffset isn't sufficient
+ because areas revealed when dragging the pixmap are drawn in
+ black.)
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 16
+
+ The \c updatePixmap() slot is invoked when the worker thread has
+ finished rendering an image. We start by checking whether a drag
+ is in effect and do nothing in that case. In the normal case, we
+ store the image in \c pixmap and reinitialize some of the other
+ members. At the end, we call QWidget::update() to refresh the
+ display.
+
+ At this point, you might wonder why we use a QImage for the
+ parameter and a QPixmap for the data member. Why not stick to one
+ type? The reason is that QImage is the only class that supports
+ direct pixel manipulation, which we need in the worker thread. On
+ the other hand, before an image can be drawn on screen, it must
+ be converted into a pixmap. It's better to do the conversion once
+ and for all here, rather than in \c paintEvent().
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 17
+
+ In \c zoom(), we recompute \c curScale. Then we call
+ QWidget::update() to draw a scaled pixmap, and we ask the worker
+ thread to render a new image corresponding to the new \c curScale
+ value.
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/mandelbrotwidget.cpp 18
+
+ \c scroll() is similar to \c zoom(), except that the affected
+ parameters are \c centerX and \c centerY.
+
+ \section1 The main() Function
+
+ The application's multithreaded nature has no impact on its \c
+ main() function, which is as simple as usual:
+
+ \snippet mandelbrot/main.cpp 0
+*/
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/src/queuedcustomtype.qdoc b/examples/threads/doc/src/queuedcustomtype.qdoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a1f2d54a21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/src/queuedcustomtype.qdoc
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+/****************************************************************************
+**
+** Copyright (C) 2012 Digia Plc and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
+** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/legal
+**
+** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
+**
+** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
+** Commercial License Usage
+** Licensees holding valid commercial Qt licenses may use this file in
+** accordance with the commercial license agreement provided with the
+** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in
+** a written agreement between you and Digia. For licensing terms and
+** conditions see http://qt.digia.com/licensing. For further information
+** use the contact form at http://qt.digia.com/contact-us.
+**
+** GNU Free Documentation License Usage
+** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
+** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
+** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of
+** this file. Please review the following information to ensure
+** the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 requirements
+** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.
+** $QT_END_LICENSE$
+**
+****************************************************************************/
+
+/*!
+ \example threads/queuedcustomtype
+ \title Queued Custom Type Example
+
+ The Queued Custom Type example shows how to send custom types between
+ threads with queued signals and slots.
+
+ \image queuedcustomtype-example.png
+
+ Contents:
+
+ \tableofcontents
+
+ \section1 Overview
+
+ In the \l{Custom Type Sending Example}, we showed how to use a custom type
+ with signal-slot communication within the same thread.
+
+ In this example, we create a new value class, \c Block, and register it
+ with the meta-object system to enable us to send instances of it between
+ threads using queued signals and slots.
+
+ \section1 The Block Class
+
+ The \c Block class is similar to the \c Message class described in the
+ \l{Custom Type Example}. It provides the default constructor, copy
+ constructor and destructor in the public section of the class that the
+ meta-object system requires. It describes a colored rectangle.
+
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/block.h custom type definition and meta-type declaration
+
+ We will still need to register it with the meta-object system at
+ run-time by calling the qRegisterMetaType() template function before
+ we make any signal-slot connections that use this type.
+ Even though we do not intend to use the type with QVariant in this example,
+ it is good practice to also declare the new type with Q_DECLARE_METATYPE().
+
+ The implementation of the \c Block class is trivial, so we avoid quoting
+ it here.
+
+ \section1 The Window Class
+
+ We define a simple \c Window class with a public slot that accepts a
+ \c Block object. The rest of the class is concerned with managing the
+ user interface and handling images.
+
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/window.h Window class definition
+
+ The \c Window class also contains a worker thread, provided by a
+ \c RenderThread object. This will emit signals to send \c Block objects
+ to the window's \c addBlock(Block) slot.
+
+ The parts of the \c Window class that are most relevant are the constructor
+ and the \c addBlock(Block) slot.
+
+ The constructor creates a thread for rendering images, sets up a user
+ interface containing a label and two push buttons that are connected to
+ slots in the same class.
+
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/window.cpp Window constructor start
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/window.cpp set up widgets and connections
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/window.cpp connecting signal with custom type
+
+ In the last of these connections, we connect a signal in the
+ \c RenderThread object to the \c addBlock(Block) slot in the window.
+
+ \dots
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/window.cpp Window constructor finish
+
+ The rest of the constructor simply sets up the layout of the window.
+
+ The \c addBlock(Block) slot receives blocks from the rendering thread via
+ the signal-slot connection set up in the constructor:
+
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/window.cpp Adding blocks to the display
+
+ We simply paint these onto the label as they arrive.
+
+ \section1 The RenderThread Class
+
+ The \c RenderThread class processes an image, creating \c Block objects
+ and using the \c sendBlock(Block) signal to send them to other components
+ in the example.
+
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/renderthread.h RenderThread class definition
+
+ The constructor and destructor are not quoted here. These take care of
+ setting up the thread's internal state and cleaning up when it is destroyed.
+
+ Processing is started with the \c processImage() function, which calls the
+ \c RenderThread class's reimplementation of the QThread::run() function:
+
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/renderthread.cpp processing the image (start)
+
+ Ignoring the details of the way the image is processed, we see that the
+ signal containing a block is emitted in the usual way:
+
+ \dots
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/renderthread.cpp processing the image (finish)
+
+ Each signal that is emitted will be queued and delivered later to the
+ window's \c addBlock(Block) slot.
+
+ \section1 Registering the Type
+
+ In the example's \c{main()} function, we perform the registration of the
+ \c Block class as a custom type with the meta-object system by calling the
+ qRegisterMetaType() template function:
+
+ \snippet queuedcustomtype/main.cpp main function
+
+ This call is placed here to ensure that the type is registered before any
+ signal-slot connections are made that use it.
+
+ The rest of the \c{main()} function is concerned with setting a seed for
+ the pseudo-random number generator, creating and showing the window, and
+ setting a default image. See the source code for the implementation of the
+ \c createImage() function.
+
+ \section1 Further Reading
+
+ This example showed how a custom type can be registered with the
+ meta-object system so that it can be used with signal-slot connections
+ between threads. For ordinary communication involving direct signals and
+ slots, it is enough to simply declare the type in the way described in the
+ \l{Custom Type Sending Example}.
+
+ In practice, both the Q_DECLARE_METATYPE() macro and the qRegisterMetaType()
+ template function can be used to register custom types, but
+ qRegisterMetaType() is only required if you need to perform signal-slot
+ communication or need to create and destroy objects of the custom type
+ at run-time.
+
+ More information on using custom types with Qt can be found in the
+ \l{Creating Custom Qt Types} document.
+*/
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/src/semaphores.qdoc b/examples/threads/doc/src/semaphores.qdoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a712cb6414
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/src/semaphores.qdoc
@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+/****************************************************************************
+**
+** Copyright (C) 2012 Digia Plc and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
+** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/legal
+**
+** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
+**
+** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
+** Commercial License Usage
+** Licensees holding valid commercial Qt licenses may use this file in
+** accordance with the commercial license agreement provided with the
+** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in
+** a written agreement between you and Digia. For licensing terms and
+** conditions see http://qt.digia.com/licensing. For further information
+** use the contact form at http://qt.digia.com/contact-us.
+**
+** GNU Free Documentation License Usage
+** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
+** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
+** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of
+** this file. Please review the following information to ensure
+** the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 requirements
+** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.
+** $QT_END_LICENSE$
+**
+****************************************************************************/
+
+/*!
+ \example threads/semaphores
+ \title Semaphores Example
+
+ The Semaphores example shows how to use QSemaphore to control
+ access to a circular buffer shared by a producer thread and a
+ consumer thread.
+
+ The producer writes data to the buffer until it reaches the end
+ of the buffer, at which point it restarts from the beginning,
+ overwriting existing data. The consumer thread reads the data as
+ it is produced and writes it to standard error.
+
+ Semaphores make it possible to have a higher level of concurrency
+ than mutexes. If accesses to the buffer were guarded by a QMutex,
+ the consumer thread couldn't access the buffer at the same time
+ as the producer thread. Yet, there is no harm in having both
+ threads working on \e{different parts} of the buffer at the same
+ time.
+
+ The example comprises two classes: \c Producer and \c Consumer.
+ Both inherit from QThread. The circular buffer used for
+ communicating between these two classes and the semaphores that
+ protect it are global variables.
+
+ An alternative to using QSemaphore to solve the producer-consumer
+ problem is to use QWaitCondition and QMutex. This is what the
+ \l{threads/waitconditions}{Wait Conditions} example does.
+
+ \section1 Global Variables
+
+ Let's start by reviewing the circular buffer and the associated
+ semaphores:
+
+ \snippet semaphores/semaphores.cpp 0
+
+ \c DataSize is the amout of data that the producer will generate.
+ To keep the example as simple as possible, we make it a constant.
+ \c BufferSize is the size of the circular buffer. It is less than
+ \c DataSize, meaning that at some point the producer will reach
+ the end of the buffer and restart from the beginning.
+
+ To synchronize the producer and the consumer, we need two
+ semaphores. The \c freeBytes semaphore controls the "free" area
+ of the buffer (the area that the producer hasn't filled with data
+ yet or that the consumer has already read). The \c usedBytes
+ semaphore controls the "used" area of the buffer (the area that
+ the producer has filled but that the consumer hasn't read yet).
+
+ Together, the semaphores ensure that the producer is never more
+ than \c BufferSize bytes ahead of the consumer, and that the
+ consumer never reads data that the producer hasn't generated yet.
+
+ The \c freeBytes semaphore is initialized with \c BufferSize,
+ because initially the entire buffer is empty. The \c usedBytes
+ semaphore is initialized to 0 (the default value if none is
+ specified).
+
+ \section1 Producer Class
+
+ Let's review the code for the \c Producer class:
+
+ \snippet semaphores/semaphores.cpp 1
+ \snippet semaphores/semaphores.cpp 2
+
+ The producer generates \c DataSize bytes of data. Before it
+ writes a byte to the circular buffer, it must acquire a "free"
+ byte using the \c freeBytes semaphore. The QSemaphore::acquire()
+ call might block if the consumer hasn't kept up the pace with the
+ producer.
+
+ At the end, the producer releases a byte using the \c usedBytes
+ semaphore. The "free" byte has successfully been transformed into
+ a "used" byte, ready to be read by the consumer.
+
+ \section1 Consumer Class
+
+ Let's now turn to the \c Consumer class:
+
+ \snippet semaphores/semaphores.cpp 3
+ \snippet semaphores/semaphores.cpp 4
+
+ The code is very similar to the producer, except that this time
+ we acquire a "used" byte and release a "free" byte, instead of
+ the opposite.
+
+ \section1 The main() Function
+
+ In \c main(), we create the two threads and call QThread::wait()
+ to ensure that both threads get time to finish before we exit:
+
+ \snippet semaphores/semaphores.cpp 5
+ \snippet semaphores/semaphores.cpp 6
+
+ So what happens when we run the program? Initially, the producer
+ thread is the only one that can do anything; the consumer is
+ blocked waiting for the \c usedBytes semaphore to be released (its
+ initial \l{QSemaphore::available()}{available()} count is 0).
+ Once the producer has put one byte in the buffer,
+ \c{freeBytes.available()} is \c BufferSize - 1 and
+ \c{usedBytes.available()} is 1. At that point, two things can
+ happen: Either the consumer thread takes over and reads that
+ byte, or the consumer gets to produce a second byte.
+
+ The producer-consumer model presented in this example makes it
+ possible to write highly concurrent multithreaded applications.
+ On a multiprocessor machine, the program is potentially up to
+ twice as fast as the equivalent mutex-based program, since the
+ two threads can be active at the same time on different parts of
+ the buffer.
+
+ Be aware though that these benefits aren't always realized.
+ Acquiring and releasing a QSemaphore has a cost. In practice, it
+ would probably be worthwhile to divide the buffer into chunks and
+ to operate on chunks instead of individual bytes. The buffer size
+ is also a parameter that must be selected carefully, based on
+ experimentation.
+*/
diff --git a/examples/threads/doc/src/waitconditions.qdoc b/examples/threads/doc/src/waitconditions.qdoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3ca1970685
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/threads/doc/src/waitconditions.qdoc
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+/****************************************************************************
+**
+** Copyright (C) 2012 Digia Plc and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
+** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/legal
+**
+** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
+**
+** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
+** Commercial License Usage
+** Licensees holding valid commercial Qt licenses may use this file in
+** accordance with the commercial license agreement provided with the
+** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in
+** a written agreement between you and Digia. For licensing terms and
+** conditions see http://qt.digia.com/licensing. For further information
+** use the contact form at http://qt.digia.com/contact-us.
+**
+** GNU Free Documentation License Usage
+** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
+** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
+** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of
+** this file. Please review the following information to ensure
+** the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 requirements
+** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.
+** $QT_END_LICENSE$
+**
+****************************************************************************/
+
+/*!
+ \example threads/waitconditions
+ \title Wait Conditions Example
+
+ The Wait Conditions example shows how to use QWaitCondition and
+ QMutex to control access to a circular buffer shared by a
+ producer thread and a consumer thread.
+
+ The producer writes data to the buffer until it reaches the end
+ of the buffer, at which point it restarts from the beginning,
+ overwriting existing data. The consumer thread reads the data as
+ it is produced and writes it to standard error.
+
+ Wait conditions make it possible to have a higher level of
+ concurrency than what is possible with mutexes alone. If accesses
+ to the buffer were simply guarded by a QMutex, the consumer
+ thread couldn't access the buffer at the same time as the
+ producer thread. Yet, there is no harm in having both threads
+ working on \e{different parts} of the buffer at the same time.
+
+ The example comprises two classes: \c Producer and \c Consumer.
+ Both inherit from QThread. The circular buffer used for
+ communicating between these two classes and the synchronization
+ tools that protect it are global variables.
+
+ An alternative to using QWaitCondition and QMutex to solve the
+ producer-consumer problem is to use QSemaphore. This is what the
+ \l{threads/semaphores}{Semaphores} example does.
+
+ \section1 Global Variables
+
+ Let's start by reviewing the circular buffer and the associated
+ synchronization tools:
+
+ \snippet waitconditions/waitconditions.cpp 0
+
+ \c DataSize is the amount of data that the producer will generate.
+ To keep the example as simple as possible, we make it a constant.
+ \c BufferSize is the size of the circular buffer. It is less than
+ \c DataSize, meaning that at some point the producer will reach
+ the end of the buffer and restart from the beginning.
+
+ To synchronize the producer and the consumer, we need two wait
+ conditions and one mutex. The \c bufferNotEmpty condition is
+ signalled when the producer has generated some data, telling the
+ consumer that it can start reading it. The \c bufferNotFull
+ condition is signalled when the consumer has read some data,
+ telling the producer that it can generate more. The \c numUsedBytes
+ is the number of bytes in the buffer that contain data.
+
+ Together, the wait conditions, the mutex, and the \c numUsedBytes
+ counter ensure that the producer is never more than \c BufferSize
+ bytes ahead of the consumer, and that the consumer never reads
+ data that the producer hasn't generated yet.
+
+ \section1 Producer Class
+
+ Let's review the code for the \c Producer class:
+
+ \snippet waitconditions/waitconditions.cpp 1
+ \snippet waitconditions/waitconditions.cpp 2
+
+ The producer generates \c DataSize bytes of data. Before it
+ writes a byte to the circular buffer, it must first check whether
+ the buffer is full (i.e., \c numUsedBytes equals \c BufferSize).
+ If the buffer is full, the thread waits on the \c bufferNotFull
+ condition.
+
+ At the end, the producer increments \c numUsedBytes and signalls
+ that the condition \c bufferNotEmpty is true, since \c
+ numUsedBytes is necessarily greater than 0.
+
+ We guard all accesses to the \c numUsedBytes variable with a
+ mutex. In addition, the QWaitCondition::wait() function accepts a
+ mutex as its argument. This mutex is unlocked before the thread
+ is put to sleep and locked when the thread wakes up. Furthermore,
+ the transition from the locked state to the wait state is atomic,
+ to prevent race conditions from occurring.
+
+ \section1 Consumer Class
+
+ Let's turn to the \c Consumer class:
+
+ \snippet waitconditions/waitconditions.cpp 3
+ \snippet waitconditions/waitconditions.cpp 4
+
+ The code is very similar to the producer. Before we read the
+ byte, we check whether the buffer is empty (\c numUsedBytes is 0)
+ instead of whether it's full and wait on the \c bufferNotEmpty
+ condition if it's empty. After we've read the byte, we decrement
+ \c numUsedBytes (instead of incrementing it), and we signal the
+ \c bufferNotFull condition (instead of the \c bufferNotEmpty
+ condition).
+
+ \section1 The main() Function
+
+ In \c main(), we create the two threads and call QThread::wait()
+ to ensure that both threads get time to finish before we exit:
+
+ \snippet waitconditions/waitconditions.cpp 5
+ \snippet waitconditions/waitconditions.cpp 6
+
+ So what happens when we run the program? Initially, the producer
+ thread is the only one that can do anything; the consumer is
+ blocked waiting for the \c bufferNotEmpty condition to be
+ signalled (\c numUsedBytes is 0). Once the producer has put one
+ byte in the buffer, \c numUsedBytes is \c BufferSize - 1 and the
+ \c bufferNotEmpty condition is signalled. At that point, two
+ things can happen: Either the consumer thread takes over and
+ reads that byte, or the consumer gets to produce a second byte.
+
+ The producer-consumer model presented in this example makes it
+ possible to write highly concurrent multithreaded applications.
+ On a multiprocessor machine, the program is potentially up to
+ twice as fast as the equivalent mutex-based program, since the
+ two threads can be active at the same time on different parts of
+ the buffer.
+
+ Be aware though that these benefits aren't always realized.
+ Locking and unlocking a QMutex has a cost. In practice, it would
+ probably be worthwhile to divide the buffer into chunks and to
+ operate on chunks instead of individual bytes. The buffer size is
+ also a parameter that must be selected carefully, based on
+ experimentation.
+*/
diff --git a/examples/threads/threads.pro b/examples/threads/threads.pro
index 1ab89c4e0a..027d4c2ebb 100644
--- a/examples/threads/threads.pro
+++ b/examples/threads/threads.pro
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
TEMPLATE = subdirs
+CONFIG += no_docs_target
+
SUBDIRS = semaphores \
waitconditions