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Why doesn't PostThreadMessage work consistently?

Help!

I need to send notifications from a worker thread to the main thread of my MFC application. Using PostThreadMessage usually works, but sometimes the messages never get received. In particular, if the main thread is displaying a dialog box and the user is moving the dialog box around the screen continuously, any and all messages posted from the worker thread to the main thread using PostThreadMessage never get received by the main thread.

Am I doing something incorrectly or is this just the way PostThreadMessage works? If the latter, what alternatives do I have? I do not want to lock up the UI, that is the reason for the worker thread.

Thanks in advance...

mikeblas

PostThreadMessage() posts a thread message. Special code in the message pump must be executing in order to recognize and appropriately dispatch the thread message. Since it has no window, it won't work with the regular DispatchMessage() call.

MFC's message pump does it right. But the message pumps built into windows and run during a dialog box, message box, or previewed menu (for example) won't handle the message correctly and can't dispatch it.

B ekiM

bheld

ASKER

Mikeblas,

Thanks for the suggestion...does this hold true for modeless and modal dialog boxes? I am displaying a modeless dialog box in the main (UI) thread. Any alternatives? Perhaps I need to create the dialog box in another thread (not the main thread)?

bheld

ASKER

Mikeblas,

Thanks for the info, but I need to know alternatives in order to solve my problem?

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mikeblas

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bheld

ASKER

Mikeblas,

I like your #2 suggestion the best. Does that suggest I always post messages to windows, or how do I send WM_USER+messages correctly?

mikeblas

You'll always post messages to windows, yes. Since a given thread always owns a given window, you know for sure which thread will handle it and the net effect (including blocking) is the same.

B ekiM

bheld

ASKER

Mikeblas,

I tried you suggestion,

BOOL b = pDoc->MainThread->GetMainWnd()->PostMessage(WM_START_SERVER,(WPARAM)1, (LPARAM)pIteration);

where WM_START_SERVER is defined as "WM_USER + 10"

and the message is still not received. Any ideas?

mikeblas

What's happening in the thread that's to be receiving the message? If a Windows message pump is active, you've got no hope of receiving any message. If it's an MFC message pump, then there's some other problem.

B ekiM

bheld

ASKER

The main thread is displaying a modeless dialog box. This should be OK, correct?

bheld

ASKER

I forgot to mention that the message does usually get received. However, it does not get received if the user is moving the modeless dialog box around the screen (the dialog box created by the main thread).

bheld

ASKER

Mike,

Sorry to keep bothering you, but I really need an answer to my problem. Check my previous comments for more information.

Thanks

mikeblas

If the user is moving the box around, Windows is running it's own message pump as it's tracking the mouse and redrawing the window. You'll notice similar behaviour if the user is tracking a popup menu.

Since Windows, at that point, is running it's own message pump, it will discard non-mouse messages.

B ekiM