multithreading - Resuming suspended thread in Delphi 2010?

Question

TThread's resume method is deprecated in D2010. So, I thought it should now work like this:

TMyThread = class (TThread)
protected
  Execute; override;
public
  constructor Create;
end;
...

TMyThread.Create;
begin
  inherited Create (True);
  ...
  Start;
 end;

Unfortunately I get an exception "Cannot call start on a running or supsended thread"...which seems weird to me considering the fact that the documentation tells me that I should call Start on a thread created in suspended mode.

What am I missing here?

Answer 1

The reason is that a Thread is not supposed to start itself.

The thread never knows when initialization is complete. Construction is not the same as initialization (construction should always be short and exception free; further initialization is done after construction).

A similar situation is a TDataSet: no TDataSet constructor should ever call Open, or set Active := True.

See also this blog entry by Wings of Wind.

You should either:

• Create the TMyThread suspended by calling Create(true) and perform the Start outside your TMyThread class
• Create the TMyThread non-suspeneded, making sure the Create constructor does full initialization, and let TThread.AfterConstruction start the thread.

Explanation of TThread usage:

Basically, a thread should be just that: the encapsulation of the context on which code is executed.

The actual code (the business logic) that is executed should then be in other classes.

By decoupling those two, you gain a lot of flexibility, especially initiating your business logic from within multiple places (which is very convenient when writing unit tests!).

This is the kind of framework you could use for that:

unit DecoupledThreadUnit;

interface

uses
  Classes;

type
  TDecoupledThread = class(TThread)
  strict protected
    //1 called in the context of the thread
    procedure DoExecute; virtual;
    //1 Called in the context of the creating thread (before context of the new thread actualy lives)
    procedure DoSetUp; virtual;
    //1 called in the context of the thread right after OnTerminate, but before the thread actually dies
    procedure DoTearDown; virtual;
  protected
    procedure DoTerminate; override;
    procedure Execute; override;
  public
    constructor Create;
    procedure AfterConstruction; override;
  end;

implementation

constructor TDecoupledThread.Create;
begin
  // create suspended, so that AfterConstruction can call DoSetup();
  inherited Create(True);
end;

procedure TDecoupledThread.AfterConstruction;
begin
  // DoSetUp() needs to be called without the new thread in suspended state
  DoSetUp();
  // this will unsuspend the underlying thread
  inherited AfterConstruction;
end;

procedure TDecoupledThread.DoExecute;
begin
end;

procedure TDecoupledThread.DoSetUp;
begin
end;

procedure TDecoupledThread.DoTearDown;
begin
end;

procedure TDecoupledThread.DoTerminate;
begin
  inherited DoTerminate();
  // call DoTearDown on in the thread context right before it dies:
  DoTearDown();
end;

procedure TDecoupledThread.Execute;
begin
  // call DoExecute on in the thread context
  DoExecute();
end;

end.

You could even make it event based by something like this:

unit EventedThreadUnit;

interface

uses
  Classes,
  DecoupledThreadUnit;

type
  TCustomEventedThread = class(TDecoupledThread)
  private
    FOnExecute: TNotifyEvent;
    FOnSetUp: TNotifyEvent;
    FOnTearDown: TNotifyEvent;
  strict protected
    procedure DoExecute; override;
    procedure DoSetUp; override;
    procedure DoTearDown; override;
  public
    property OnExecute: TNotifyEvent read FOnExecute write FOnExecute;
    property OnSetUp: TNotifyEvent read FOnSetUp write FOnSetUp;
    property OnTearDown: TNotifyEvent read FOnTearDown write FOnTearDown;
  end;

  // in case you want to use RTTI
  TEventedThread = class(TCustomEventedThread)
  published
    property OnExecute;
    property OnSetUp;
    property OnTearDown;
  end;

implementation

{ TCustomEventedThread }

procedure TCustomEventedThread.DoExecute;
var
  TheOnExecute: TNotifyEvent;
begin
  inherited;
  TheOnExecute := OnExecute;
  if Assigned(TheOnExecute) then
    TheOnExecute(Self);
end;

procedure TCustomEventedThread.DoSetUp;
var
  TheOnSetUp: TNotifyEvent;
begin
  inherited;
  TheOnSetUp := OnSetUp;
  if Assigned(TheOnSetUp) then
    TheOnSetUp(Self);
end;

procedure TCustomEventedThread.DoTearDown;
var
  TheOnTearDown: TNotifyEvent;
begin
  inherited;
  TheOnTearDown := OnTearDown;
  if Assigned(TheOnTearDown) then
    TheOnTearDown(Self);
end;

end.

Or adapt it for DUnit TTestCase descendants like this:

unit TestCaseThreadUnit;

interface

uses
  DecoupledThreadUnit,
  TestFramework;

type
  TTestCaseRanEvent = procedure (Sender: TObject; const TestResult: TTestResult) of object;
  TTestCaseThread = class(TDecoupledThread)
  strict private
    FTestCase: TTestCase;
  strict protected
    procedure DoTestCaseRan(const TestResult: TTestResult); virtual;
    function GetTestCase: TTestCase; virtual;
    procedure SetTestCase(const Value: TTestCase); virtual;
  protected
    procedure DoExecute; override;
    procedure DoSetUp; override;
    procedure DoTearDown; override;
  public
    constructor Create(const TestCase: TTestCase);
    property TestCase: TTestCase read GetTestCase write SetTestCase;
  end;

implementation

constructor TTestCaseThread.Create(const TestCase: TTestCase);
begin
  inherited Create();
  Self.TestCase := TestCase;
end;

procedure TTestCaseThread.DoExecute;
var
  TestResult: TTestResult;
begin
  if Assigned(TestCase) then
  begin
    // this will call SetUp and TearDown on the TestCase
    TestResult := TestCase.Run();
    try
      DoTestCaseRan(TestResult);
    finally
      TestResult.Free;
    end;
  end
  else
    inherited DoExecute();
end;

procedure TTestCaseThread.DoTestCaseRan(const TestResult: TTestResult);
begin
end;

function TTestCaseThread.GetTestCase: TTestCase;
begin
  Result := FTestCase;
end;

procedure TTestCaseThread.SetTestCase(const Value: TTestCase);
begin
  FTestCase := Value;
end;

procedure TTestCaseThread.DoSetUp;
begin
  if not Assigned(TestCase) then
    inherited DoSetUp();
end;

procedure TTestCaseThread.DoTearDown;
begin
  if not Assigned(TestCase) then
    inherited DoTearDown();
end;

end.

--jeroen