"Emulating" Application.Run using Application.DoEvents
- by Luca
I'm getting in trouble. I'm trying to emulate the call Application.Run using Application.DoEvents... this sounds bad, and then I accept also alternative solutions to my question...
I have to handle a message pump like Application.Run does, but I need to execute code before and after the message handling. Here is the main significant snippet of code.
// Create barrier (multiple kernels synchronization)
sKernelBarrier = new KernelBarrier(sKernels.Count);
foreach (RenderKernel k in sKernels) {
// Create rendering contexts (one for each kernel)
k.CreateRenderContext();
// Start render kernel kernels
k.mThread = new Thread(RenderKernelMain);
k.mThread.Start(k);
}
while (sKernelBarrier.KernelCount > 0) {
// Wait untill all kernel loops has finished
sKernelBarrier.WaitKernelBarrier();
// Do application events
Application.DoEvents();
// Execute shared context services
foreach (RenderKernelContextService s in sContextServices)
s.Execute(sSharedContext);
// Next kernel render loop
sKernelBarrier.ReleaseKernelBarrier();
}
This snippet of code is execute by the Main routine. Pratically I have a list of Kernel classes, which runs in separate threads, these threads handle a Form for rendering in OpenGL. I need to synchronize all the Kernel threads using a barrier, and this work perfectly.
Of course, I need to handle Form messages in the main thread (Main routine), for every Form created, and indeed I call Application.DoEvents() to do the job.
Now I have to modify the snippet above to have a common Form (simple dialog box) without consuming the 100% of CPU calling Application.DoEvents(), as Application.Run does.
The goal should be to have the snippet above handle messages when arrives, and issue a rendering (releasing the barrier) only when necessary, without trying to get the maximum FPS; there should be the possibility to switch to a strict loop to render as much as possible.
How could it be possible?
Note: the snippet above must be executed in the Main routine, since the OpenGL context is created on the main thread. Moving the snippet in a separated thread and calling Application.Run is quite unstable and buggy...
