A guard that protects resources of a given class from being detroyed if another thread still works with them. More...

#include <ResourceDestructionGuard.h>

Public Member Functions
	ResourceDestructionGuard ()
	ResourceDestructionGuard (const ResourceDestructionGuard &)=default
ResourceDestructionGuard &	operator= (const ResourceDestructionGuard &)=default
	~ResourceDestructionGuard ()
WeakHandle	handle () const

Detailed Description

A guard that protects resources of a given class from being detroyed if another thread still works with them.

One might think this is not necessary, there is std::shared_ptr for it. But - for objects that don't have shared ownership which are out of control regarding construction/destruction (think of MeVisLab modules controlled by MeVisLab), you need to make sure that MeVisLab doesn't destroys your object while threads are working with it.

Synopsis:

class MyModule : public ml::Module
{
private:
 
  // called from main thread somehow (so instance existence guaranteed)
  void foo()
  {
    auto handle = guard.handle();
    
    // delegate work to a background thread (this is just exemplary code for this demonstration,
    // do not do it in this manner, the important thing is that the code is executed by
    // a different thread than the main thread).
    // and pass the guard's handle as capture
    std::thread([handle] {
 
      // ... some calculations ...
 
      // now, what if the user deleted this instance of MyModule in the GUI in the meantime?
      // there is nothing that protects the ml::Module from being destructed.
      // BUT, there is asio::ResourceDestructionGuard which deletes a mutex-protected shared_ptr
      // on destruction while the given handle has a weak_ptr on that shared_ptr...
      
      auto lock = handle.lock(); // we acquire a lock (which technically is a lock of the mutex and the shared_ptr from weak_ptr)
 
      if (lock) {
        // Now, we are sure that the module is not gone already and is protected
        // from being destructed by the shared mutex. We can safely access class resources
        // The module's destructor (if invoked) will wait until we are finished.
        
        my_resource = "hallo";
      }
      else {
        // The module has gone, we MUST NOT access any members
      }
    });
  }
 
  std::string my_resource;
 
  asio::ResourceDestructionGuard guard; // Be sure to define this as last member of the class.
};

Definition at line 67 of file ResourceDestructionGuard.h.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ ResourceDestructionGuard() [1/2]

asio::ResourceDestructionGuard::ResourceDestructionGuard ( )

Referenced by operator=(), and ResourceDestructionGuard().

◆ ResourceDestructionGuard() [2/2]

asio::ResourceDestructionGuard::ResourceDestructionGuard ( const ResourceDestructionGuard & )

default

References ResourceDestructionGuard().

◆ ~ResourceDestructionGuard()

asio::ResourceDestructionGuard::~ResourceDestructionGuard ( )

Member Function Documentation

◆ handle()

WeakHandle asio::ResourceDestructionGuard::handle ( ) const

◆ operator=()

ResourceDestructionGuard & asio::ResourceDestructionGuard::operator= ( const ResourceDestructionGuard & )