Communication between QThread and Yes/No QMessageBox?

[pmaktieh.sirhc]

Hi,

is there a way to show a QMessageBox and get the return code (yes/no message box) out of a thread (QThread subclass)?

Thanks!
Chris

[jpn]

Unfortunately no, because you may not touch the GUI from any other than the main GUI thread.

[pmaktieh.sirhc]

...mmmhhhh, no chance with connections or events?

If the messagebox create process in main thread and call this with connection from second thread and return the result (yes/no) back via connection to second thread?

[jpn]

Of course it's possible. The messagebox just has to be exec'd in the main thread. Use queued signals or custom events to deliver the information between threads.

[pmaktieh.sirhc]

Ok, but the second thread must be wait for messagebox reply! How?

[jpn]

Well, it depends pretty much how the thread is running. Is it running an event loop or is everything done in QThread::run()? You could start with taking a look at the thread examples shipped with Qt.

[pmaktieh.sirhc]

It's not implemented yet! I think, in QThread:run()! Is the event loop better?

[wysota]

IMO eventually you'll have to use a wait condition to put the waiting thread to sleep. And the message box would have to be shown using show() and not exec(), otherwise it'll block the main thread execution which makes all the situation with using another thread highly doubtfull.

To me it smells a little like a bad design somewhere...

[jpn]

Just curious, what is the thread actually processing?

[pmaktieh.sirhc]

Nothing, it's not implemented yet! It's a consideration so far!

[spurious_interrupt]

I have an application that uses tape drives. The thread needs to ask if there are any more tapes for the job, SCSI errors, file dialogs...

This method uses QT3, I have not ported this application to QT4 yet.

in your application
 
void  TapeMan::customEvent( QCustomEvent *event )
{
 if( event->type() == QEvent::User + 3 ) // display message box
    {
    MessageBoxEvent  *me = ( MessageBoxEvent* )event;
    ThreadMessageBox  *tm = me->tm;
 
    if( me->kind == TMSG_WARN )
        tm->messageResult = QMessageBox::warning( this, me->caption, me->message, 
                me->button0, me->button1, me->button2 );
    if( me->kind == TMSG_INFO )
        tm->messageResult = QMessageBox::information( this, me->caption, 
                me->message, me->button0, me->button1, me->button2 );
    if( me->kind == TMSG_STOP )
        tm->messageResult = QMessageBox::critical( this, me->caption, me->message, 
                me->button0, me->button1, me->button2 );
    }
}
 
and then 2 classes
 
#ifndef THREADMESSAGEBOX_H
#define THREADMESSAGEBOX_H
 
#include  <qstring.h>
#include  <qmessagebox.h>
 
class ThreadMessageBox
{
public: 
	ThreadMessageBox( THREAD_MESSAGE kind, const QString &caption, const 
                QString& message, int button0, int button1=QMessageBox::NoButton, 
                int button2=QMessageBox::NoButton );
 
	~ThreadMessageBox();
 
	int  messageResult;
};
 
#endif
 
#include  "threadmessagebox.h"
#include  "messageboxevent.h"
 
#include  <qapplication.h>
 
extern TapeMan  *gApp;
 
ThreadMessageBox::ThreadMessageBox( THREAD_MESSAGE kind, const QString &caption,
                const QString& message, int button0, int button1, int button2 )
{
    MessageBoxEvent  *mess = new  MessageBoxEvent( this, kind, caption, message, 
                button0, button1, button2 );
 
    messageResult = -99999;
 
    QApplication::postEvent( gApp, mess );	// post event
 
    while( messageResult == -99999 )         // wait
        {
        sleep( 1 );
        }
}
 
ThreadMessageBox::~ThreadMessageBox()
{
}
 
#ifndef MESSAGE_BOX_EVENT_H
#define MESSAGE_BOX_EVENT_H
 
#include  <qevent.h>
#include  <qmessagebox.h>
#include  <qdeepcopy.h>
 
class  ThreadMessageBox;
 
class MessageBoxEvent : public QCustomEvent
{
public: 
    MessageBoxEvent( ThreadMessageBox *tm, THREAD_MESSAGE kind, const QString &caption,
                const QString& message, int button0, int button1=QMessageBox::NoButton, 
                int button2=QMessageBox::NoButton );
    ~MessageBoxEvent();
 
   THREAD_MESSAGE  kind;	// kind of message box
 
    QDeepCopy<QString>  caption;	// caption for message box
    QDeepCopy<QString>  message;	// text for message
 
    int  button0;			// buttons to display
    int  button1;
    int  button2;
 
    ThreadMessageBox  *tm;		// pointer to thread message box
};
#endif
 
#include "messageboxevent.h"
 
MessageBoxEvent::MessageBoxEvent( ThreadMessageBox *tm, THREAD_MESSAGE kind, 
                const QString &caption, const QString& message,
                int button0, int button1, int button2 ) : QCustomEvent( QEvent::User+3 )
{
    this->kind    = kind;
    this->caption = caption;
    this->message = message;
    this->button0 = button0;
    this->button1 = button1;
    this->button2 = button2;
    this->tm = tm;
}
 
MessageBoxEvent::~MessageBoxEvent()
{
}
 
to get a message box from your thread
 
    ThreadMessageBox  mess = ThreadMessageBox( TMSG_INFO, "Tape Done", "Are there any more tapes",
                QMessageBox::Yes, QMessageBox::No );  // will block until message box is closed
 
    if( mess.messageResult == QMessageBox::Yes )
        // do action here!

in your application

void  TapeMan::customEvent( QCustomEvent *event )
{
 if( event->type() == QEvent::User + 3 ) // display message box
    {
    MessageBoxEvent  *me = ( MessageBoxEvent* )event;
    ThreadMessageBox  *tm = me->tm;

    if( me->kind == TMSG_WARN )
        tm->messageResult = QMessageBox::warning( this, me->caption, me->message, 
                me->button0, me->button1, me->button2 );
    if( me->kind == TMSG_INFO )
        tm->messageResult = QMessageBox::information( this, me->caption, 
                me->message, me->button0, me->button1, me->button2 );
    if( me->kind == TMSG_STOP )
        tm->messageResult = QMessageBox::critical( this, me->caption, me->message, 
                me->button0, me->button1, me->button2 );
    }
}

and then 2 classes

#ifndef THREADMESSAGEBOX_H
#define THREADMESSAGEBOX_H

#include  <qstring.h>
#include  <qmessagebox.h>

class ThreadMessageBox
{
public: 
	ThreadMessageBox( THREAD_MESSAGE kind, const QString &caption, const 
                QString& message, int button0, int button1=QMessageBox::NoButton, 
                int button2=QMessageBox::NoButton );

	~ThreadMessageBox();

	int  messageResult;
};

#endif

#include  "threadmessagebox.h"
#include  "messageboxevent.h"

#include  <qapplication.h>

extern TapeMan  *gApp;

ThreadMessageBox::ThreadMessageBox( THREAD_MESSAGE kind, const QString &caption,
                const QString& message, int button0, int button1, int button2 )
{
    MessageBoxEvent  *mess = new  MessageBoxEvent( this, kind, caption, message, 
                button0, button1, button2 );

    messageResult = -99999;

    QApplication::postEvent( gApp, mess );	// post event

    while( messageResult == -99999 )         // wait
        {
        sleep( 1 );
        }
}

ThreadMessageBox::~ThreadMessageBox()
{
}

#ifndef MESSAGE_BOX_EVENT_H
#define MESSAGE_BOX_EVENT_H

#include  <qevent.h>
#include  <qmessagebox.h>
#include  <qdeepcopy.h>

class  ThreadMessageBox;

class MessageBoxEvent : public QCustomEvent
{
public: 
    MessageBoxEvent( ThreadMessageBox *tm, THREAD_MESSAGE kind, const QString &caption,
                const QString& message, int button0, int button1=QMessageBox::NoButton, 
                int button2=QMessageBox::NoButton );
    ~MessageBoxEvent();

   THREAD_MESSAGE  kind;	// kind of message box

    QDeepCopy<QString>  caption;	// caption for message box
    QDeepCopy<QString>  message;	// text for message

    int  button0;			// buttons to display
    int  button1;
    int  button2;

    ThreadMessageBox  *tm;		// pointer to thread message box
};
#endif

#include "messageboxevent.h"

MessageBoxEvent::MessageBoxEvent( ThreadMessageBox *tm, THREAD_MESSAGE kind, 
                const QString &caption, const QString& message,
                int button0, int button1, int button2 ) : QCustomEvent( QEvent::User+3 )
{
    this->kind    = kind;
    this->caption = caption;
    this->message = message;
    this->button0 = button0;
    this->button1 = button1;
    this->button2 = button2;
    this->tm = tm;
}

MessageBoxEvent::~MessageBoxEvent()
{
}

to get a message box from your thread

    ThreadMessageBox  mess = ThreadMessageBox( TMSG_INFO, "Tape Done", "Are there any more tapes",
                QMessageBox::Yes, QMessageBox::No );  // will block until message box is closed

    if( mess.messageResult == QMessageBox::Yes )
        // do action here!

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You need to use QDeepCopy's to insure each thread has a unique copy of the strings. This is not needed in QT4. The wait loop is a simple sleep. That is all that was needed for this application.

[spud]

As long as the tQThread object was created in the Gui thread, you can set up a connection between a private signal and a private slot. For the synchronization you need a QWaitCondition and a QMutex.
e.g.:

class WorkingThread : public QThread
{
	Q_OBJECT
public:
	WorkingThread(QObject*parent=0);
protected:
	virtual void run();
signals:
	void askAQuestion( const QString& question, QMessageBox::StandardButton* answer);
private slots:
	void questionAsked(const QString& question, QMessageBox::StandardButton* answer);
private:
	QWaitCondition waitCondition;
	QMutex mutex;
};
 
WorkingThread::WorkingThread(QObject*parent) 
	: QThread(parent=0)
{
	connect(this, SIGNAL(askAQuestion( const QString&, QMessageBox::StandardButton*)), 
		this, SLOT(questionAsked( const QString&, QMessageBox::StandardButton*)));
}
 
void WorkingThread::run()
{
	QMessageBox::StandardButton answer = QMessageBox::Yes;
	do
	{
		QMutexLocker locker(&mutex);
		emit askAQuestion( "do you want to continue?", &answer);
		waitCondition.wait(&mutex);
	}
	while(answer == QMessageBox::Yes);
}
 
void WorkingThread::questionAsked(const QString& question, QMessageBox::StandardButton* answer)
{
	QMutexLocker locker(&mutex);
	*answer = QMessageBox::question(0, "Question:", question, QMessageBox::Yes|QMessageBox::No);
	waitCondition.wakeOne();
}

class WorkingThread : public QThread
{
	Q_OBJECT
public:
	WorkingThread(QObject*parent=0);
protected:
	virtual void run();
signals:
	void askAQuestion( const QString& question, QMessageBox::StandardButton* answer);
private slots:
	void questionAsked(const QString& question, QMessageBox::StandardButton* answer);
private:
	QWaitCondition waitCondition;
	QMutex mutex;
};

WorkingThread::WorkingThread(QObject*parent) 
	: QThread(parent=0)
{
	connect(this, SIGNAL(askAQuestion( const QString&, QMessageBox::StandardButton*)), 
		this, SLOT(questionAsked( const QString&, QMessageBox::StandardButton*)));
}

void WorkingThread::run()
{
	QMessageBox::StandardButton answer = QMessageBox::Yes;
	do
	{
		QMutexLocker locker(&mutex);
		emit askAQuestion( "do you want to continue?", &answer);
		waitCondition.wait(&mutex);
	}
	while(answer == QMessageBox::Yes);
}

void WorkingThread::questionAsked(const QString& question, QMessageBox::StandardButton* answer)
{
	QMutexLocker locker(&mutex);
	*answer = QMessageBox::question(0, "Question:", question, QMessageBox::Yes|QMessageBox::No);
	waitCondition.wakeOne();
}

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The connection will automatically be queued since the run() function doesn't reside in the same thread as the QThread object, thus it's safe to use a messagebox.

Good luck!