Why QProcess signal readyReadStandardOutput() emited twice? - qt

I use QProcess and connect it's readyReadStandardOutput to slot. But after starting slot execute twice. Tell me please why is it?
{
myProcess = new QProcess(parent);
myProcess->start("mayabatch.exe -file "+scene);
connect(myProcess, SIGNAL(readyReadStandardOutput()), this, SLOT(readOutput()));
}
void MainWindow::readOutput()
{
qDebug()<<"Read";
QByteArray outData = myProcess->readAllStandardOutput();
qDebug()<<QString(outData);
}
OUTPUT:
Read
"File read in 0 seconds.
"
Read
"cacheFi"
Read
"le -attachFile -fileName "nClothShape1" -directory ...
Last string was broken. "Read" appears between words.

From the documentation of QProcess::readyReadStandardOutput()
This signal is emitted when the process has made new data available through its standard output channel (stdout). It is emitted regardless of the current read channel.
The slot is executed more than once for the simple reason that the underlying process flushed the output in separate and random ways. You should not be caring about this because it depends on things you cannot control.
If you want to save the whole output you should be doing
void MainWindow::readOutput(){
bigbuffer.append(myProcess->readAllStandardOutput();)
}
If you want to read line by line, then
void MainWindow::readOutput(){
while(myProcess.canReadLine()){
qDebug() << myProcess.readLine();
}
}
The second call will leave data in the process buffer such that you don't have "broken" reads like cacheFi.

Related

How to fix "In Qt two timer to one function, use qmutex will qeventloop for sleep"

I have some code use qtcpsocket to write and read,
write-->sleep-->read;
and ui had 2 and more timer to use this function; by i want i run synchronous;so i add mutex to lock it; by it deadlock;
qt4; qt5;
void MainWindow::Start()
{
pTimer = new QTimer(this);
pTimer->setInterval(100);
connect(pTimer,SIGNAL(timeout()), this, SLOT(OnTimer()) );
pTimer->start();
pTimer2 = new QTimer(this);
pTimer2->setInterval(100);
connect(pTimer2,SIGNAL(timeout()), this, SLOT(OnTimer()) );
pTimer2->start();
}
void MainWindow::OnTimer()
{
FunCal(); // in my real code it will MyObj.DoSometing();
}
void MainWindow::FunCal()
{
qDebug()<<"log in fun...";
QMutexLocker loc(&this->_mtx);
qDebug()<<"getted lock in fun...";
QEventLoop loop;
QTimer::singleShot(100, &loop, SLOT(quit()));
loop.exec();
qDebug()<<"log out fun...";
}
I Want i run and out put as:
log in fun...
getted lock in fun ...
log out fun...
log in fun...
getted lock in fun...
log out fun...
but It Run like this:
log in fun...
getted lock in fun ...
log in fun....
---------------------------------no more ---------------------
IMHO the issue of OP results from a basic misunderstanding:
QTimer doesn't introduce multithreading.
It's just a facility to queue events which will sent after a certain time.
That's why, the QEventLoop is necessary to make it running at all.
However, it's still a deterministic execution and this is what probably happens inside the code of OP:
pTimer->start(); → starts first timer
pTimer2->start(); → starts second timer
control flow returns to event loop of QApplication (not exposed in code)
first timer becomes due and calls MainWindow::FunCal()
qDebug()<<"log in fun..."; → output of log in fun...
QMutexLocker loc(&this->_mtx); → this->_mtx becomes locked
qDebug()<<"getted lock in fun..."; → output of getted lock in fun...
loop.exec(); → enter a nested event loop (Nested event loops are allowed in Qt.)
second timer becomes due and calls MainWindow::FunCal() (Please, remember that it was immediately started after first with same interval time.)
qDebug()<<"log in fun..."; → output of log in fun...
QMutexLocker loc(&this->_mtx); → PROBLEM!
To illustrate it further, imagine the following call stack at this point (above called below):
QApplication::exec()
QEventLoop::exec()
QEventLoop::processEvents()
QTimer::timerEvent()
QTimer::timeOut()
MainWindow::onTimer()
MainWindow::FunCal()
QEventLoop::exec()
QTimer::timerEvent()
QTimer::timeOut()
MainWindow::onTimer()
MainWindow::FunCal()
QMutexLocker::QMutexLocker()
QMutex::lock()
(Note: In reality, you will see much more entries in the call-stack which I considered as irrelevant details in this case.)
The problem is: This second call of MainWindow::FunCal() cannot lock the mutex because it is already locked. Hence, the execution is suspended until the mutex is unlocked but this will never happen. The locking of mutex happened in the same thread (in the first/outer call of MainWindow::FunCal()). Unlocking would require to return from this point but it cannot because it's suspended due to the locked mutex.
If you think this sounds like a cat byting into its own tail – yes, this impression is right. However, the official term is Deadlock.
The usage of a QMutex doesn't make much sense as long as there are no competing threads. In a single thread, a simple bool variable would do as well because there are no concurrent accesses possible in a single thread.
Whatever OP tried to achieve in this code: Concerning the event-based programming forced/required by Qt, the problem is simply modeled wrong.
In single threading, a function cannot be entered twice accept by
a (direct or indirect) recursive call
a call out of a triggered interrupt handler.
Leaving the 2. aside (irrelevant for OPs Qt issue), the recursive call happens explicitly due to establishing a second (nested) event loop. Without this, the whole (mutex) locking is unnecessary and should be removed as well.
To understand event-based programming in general – it's described in the Qt doc. The Event System.
Additionally, I found Another Look at Events by Jasmin Blanchette which IMHO gives a nice little introduction into how the Qt event-based execution works.
Note:
Event-based programming can become confusing as soon as the amount of involved objects and signals becomes large enough. While debugging my Qt applications, I noticed from time to time recursions which I didn't expect.
A simple example: A value is changed and emits a signal. One of the slots updates a Qt widget which emits a signal about modification. One of the slots updates the value. Hence, the value is changed and emits a signal...
To break such infinite recursions, a std::lock_guard might be used with a simple DIY class Lock:
#include <iostream>
#include <mutex>
#include <functional>
#include <cassert>
// a lock class
class Lock {
private:
bool _lock;
public:
Lock(): _lock(false) { }
~Lock() = default;
Lock(const Lock&) = delete;
Lock& operator=(const Lock&) = delete;
operator bool() const { return _lock; }
void lock() { assert(!_lock); _lock = true; }
void unlock() { assert(_lock); _lock = false; }
};
A sample object with
a property-like member: bool _value
a simplified signal emitter: std::function<void()> sigValueSet
and a lock used to prevent recursive calls to setValue(): Lock _lockValue
// a sample data class with a property
class Object {
private:
bool _value; // a value
Lock _lockValue; // a lock to prevent recursion
public:
std::function<void()> sigValueSet;
public:
Object(): _value(false) { }
bool value() const { return _value; }
void setValue(bool value)
{
if (_lockValue) return;
std::lock_guard<Lock> lock(_lockValue);
// assign value
_value = value;
// emit signal
if (sigValueSet) sigValueSet();
}
};
Finally, some code to force the lock into action:
#define DEBUG(...) std::cout << #__VA_ARGS__ << ";\n"; __VA_ARGS__
int main()
{
DEBUG(Object obj);
std::cout << "obj.value(): " << obj.value() << '\n';
DEBUG(obj.sigValueSet = [&](){ obj.setValue(obj.value()); });
DEBUG(obj.setValue(true));
std::cout << "obj.value(): " << obj.value() << '\n';
}
To keep things short, I connected a slot to the signal which directly sets value again while the signal is emitted.
Output:
Object obj;
obj.value(): 0
obj.sigValueSet = [&](){ obj.setValue(obj.value()); };
obj.setValue(true);
obj.value(): 1
Live Demo on coliru
For a counter-example, I excluded the test if (_lockValue) return; and got the following output:
a.out: main.cpp:18: void Lock::lock(): Assertion `!_lock' failed.
Object obj;
obj.value(): 0
obj.sigValueSet = [&](){ obj.setValue(obj.value()); };
obj.setValue(true);
bash: line 7: 12214 Aborted (core dumped) ./a.out
Live Demo on coliru
This is similar to what happened in OPs case with the only difference that in my case double-locking just violated the assert().
To make this complete, I exluded the lock guard std::lock_guard<Lock> lock(_lockValue); as well and got the following output:
execution expired
Live Demo on coliru
The execution was trapped into an infinite recursion, and the online compiler aborted this after a certain time. (Sorry, coliru. I won't do it again.)

Communication issue printing from Arduino to Qt using QSerialPort

I am having problems communicating FROM the arduino to my Qt application through QSerialPort. I have a listening signal that tells me when there is data ready to be read from the arduino. I expect a value for the number of steps that a stepper motor has undertaken before hitting a limit switch, so only a simple int such as "2005". When the data is available for reading, sometimes I get two separate reads with "200" and "5". Obviously this messes things up when I am parsing the data because it records it as two numbers, both much smaller than the intended number.
How can I fix this without me putting in a Sleep or QTimer to allow for a bit more time for the data to come in from the arduino? Note: my program is not multithreaded.
Example Qt code:
//Get the data from serial, and let MainWindow know it's ready to be collected.
QByteArray direct = arduino->readAll();
data = QString(direct);
emit dataReady();
return 0;
Arduino:
int count = 2005;
Serial.print(count);
You can add line break to synchronize.
Example Qt code:
//Get the data from serial, and let MainWindow know it's ready to be collected.
QByteArray direct = arduino->readLine();
data = QString(direct);
emit dataReady();
return 0;
Arduino:
int count = 2005;
Serial.print(count);
Serial.println();
If you are going to use QSerialPort::readyRead signal, you need to also use the QSerialPort::canReadLine function, see this.
Thank you for your help Arpegius. The println() function was definitely a good choice to use for the newline delimiter. And following that link, I was able to get a listening function that got everything the arduino sent as seperate strings. The extra if statements in the loop handle any cases where the incoming string does not contain the newline character (I am paranoid :D)
My code for anyone that has the same problem in the future.
int control::read()
{
QString characters;
//Get the data from serial, and let MainWindow know it's ready to be collected.
while(arduino->canReadLine())
{
//String for data to go.
bool parsedCorrectly = 0;
//characters = "";
//Loop until we find the newline delimiter.
do
{
//Get the line.
QByteArray direct = arduino->readLine();//Line();
//If we have found a new line character in any line, complete the parse.
if(QString(direct).contains('\n'))
{
if(QString(direct) != "\n")
{
characters += QString(direct);
characters.remove(QRegExp("[\\n\\t\\r]"));
parsedCorrectly = 1;
}
}
//If we don't find the newline straight away, add the string we got to the characters QString and keep going.
else
characters += QString(direct);
}while(!parsedCorrectly);
//Save characters to data and emit signal to collect it.
data = characters;
emit dataReady();
//Reset characters!
characters = "";
}
return 0;
}

QXMLStreamreader reading from slow QProcess

In Qt 5.1, I'm having an issue with QXMLStreamReader waiting for a QProcess to produce more data.
If I read lines from an unbuffered QProcess, it works fine:
while(!vupProcess.state() == QProcess::NotRunning)
{
if (vupProcess.atEnd())
{
vupProcess.waitForReadyRead();
}
qDebug() << vupProcess.readLine();
}
It's pretty clear cut: when the buffer is out of data, it waits until there is more. When there is more, it will print lines without waiting.
Now, if I want to do the same with QXMLStreamReader, it works, but the processing of the XML elements happens at the wrong moment (too late).
Consider this:
QXmlStreamReader xml;
xml.setDevice(&vupProcess);
QStack<VUPDevice *> deviceStack;
QXmlStreamReader::TokenType tokenType = QXmlStreamReader::NoToken;
while (tokenType != QXmlStreamReader::EndDocument && !xml.hasError())
{
if (xml.device()->atEnd())
{
xml.device()->waitForReadyRead(XML_READNEXT_TIMEOUT);
}
tokenType = xml.readNext();
if (xml.hasError())
{
qDebug() << "ERROR";
return;
}
...
}
By the time waitForReadyRead(int) is called, a lot of elements are available already, and I need them processed to update the GUI. However, it won't continue until the QProcess starts to output more. It seems to be because the underlying QProcess is read till it's empty as fast as possible, and then my parser unnecessarily hangs in the early stages, because the QProcess doesn't output anymore.
What I need, is xml.hasMoreElements(), so that I can make:
if (xml.device()->atEnd() && !xml.hasMoreElements())
{
xml.device()->waitForReadyRead(XML_READNEXT_TIMEOUT);
}
But I can't seem to find an API call that does this for me.
So, how do I not wait for more data when it's not necessery?
I guess I solved it. There is no method for asking if there ar more XML elements, but the readNext() call will put the QXMLStreamReader object in a state you can detect, and use to have the back-end device wait:
QXmlStreamReader::TokenType tokenType = xml.readNext();
while (xml.error() == QXmlStreamReader::PrematureEndOfDocumentError)
{
xml.device()->waitForReadyRead(XML_READNEXT_TIMEOUT);
tokenType = xml.readNext();
}
if (xml.hasError())
{
...
}

Need to display in qtextEdit real time

I have an arm board with a touchscreen display, where I want to display the output from a certain function, vcm_test(). The output of this function is saved to a file called
test.txt . Now I am able to read the contents of the file test.txt and display it in my qtextEdit only if it is less than 50-60 lines. Whereas I have more than 7000 lines in the test.txt . When I try to display 7000 lines the arm board keeps reading and nothing is displayed until reading is complete. Is there any way to read and display after every line or say every 10 lines. I thought of using qProcess in readfile too, but I have no idea how I can do that.
connect(ui->readfil, SIGNAL(clicked()), SLOT(readfile()));
connect(ui->VCMon, SIGNAL(clicked()), SLOT(vcm_test()));
connect(ui->Offloaderon, SIGNAL(clicked()), SLOT(offloader_test()));
connect(ui->quitVCM, SIGNAL(clicked()),vcmprocess, SLOT(kill()));
connect(ui->quitoffloader, SIGNAL(clicked()),offloaderprocess, SLOT(kill()));}
MainWindow::~MainWindow(){
delete ui;}
void MainWindow::readfile(){
QString filename="/ftest/test.txt";
QFile file(filename);
if(!file.exists()){
qDebug() << "NO file exists "<<filename;}
else{
qDebug() << filename<<" found...";}
QString line;
ui->textEdit->clear();
if (file.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text)){
QTextStream stream(&file);
while (!stream.atEnd()){
line = stream.readLine();
ui->textEdit->setText(ui->textEdit->toPlainText()+line+"\n");
qDebug() << "line: "<<line;}
}
file.close();}
void MainWindow::vcm_test(){
vcmprocess->start("/ftest/vcm_test_2");}
void MainWindow::offloader_test(){
offloaderprocess->start("/ftest/off_test_2");}
Any advice is really appreciated.Thanks.
You could use QApplication::processEvents() after reading every line and appending it to your text edit. But you should be really careful when using this, and I would not recommend doing so. You should also consider using QTextEdit::Append() instead of setText.
A better solution is to read the file in another thread and use signals and slots to send read data that you want to append to your QTextEdit.

QProcess dies for no obvious reason

While coding a seemingly simple part of a Qt application that would run a subprocess and read data from its standard output, I have stumbled upon a problem that has me really puzzled. The application should read blocks of data (raw video frames) from the subprocess and process them as they arrive:
start a QProcess
gather data until there is enough for one frame
process the frame
return to step 2
The idea was to implement the processing loop using signals and slots – this might look silly in the simple, stripped-down example that I provide below, but seemed entirely reasonable within the framework of the original application. So here we go:
app::app() {
process.start("cat /dev/zero");
buffer = new char[frameLength];
connect(this, SIGNAL(wantNewFrame()), SLOT(readFrame()), Qt::QueuedConnection);
connect(this, SIGNAL(frameReady()), SLOT(frameHandler()), Qt::QueuedConnection);
emit wantNewFrame();
}
I start here a trivial process (cat /dev/zero) so that we can be confident that it will not run out of data. I also make two connections: one starts the reading when a frame is needed and the other calls a data handling function upon the arrival of a frame. Note that this trivial example runs in a single thread so the connections are made to be of the queued type to avoid infinite recursion. The wantNewFrame() signal initiates the acquisition of the first frame; it gets handled when the control returns to the event loop.
bool app::readFrame() {
qint64 bytesNeeded = frameLength;
qint64 bytesRead = 0;
char* ptr = buffer;
while (bytesNeeded > 0) {
process.waitForReadyRead();
bytesRead = process.read(ptr, bytesNeeded);
if (bytesRead == -1) {
qDebug() << "process state" << process.state();
qDebug() << "process error" << process.error();
qDebug() << "QIODevice error" << process.errorString();
QCoreApplication::quit();
break;
}
ptr += bytesRead;
bytesNeeded -= bytesRead;
}
if (bytesNeeded == 0) {
emit frameReady();
return true;
} else
return false;
}
Reading the frame: basically, I just stuff the data into a buffer as it arrives. The frameReady() signal at the end announces that the frame is ready and in turn causes the data handling function to run.
void app::frameHandler() {
static qint64 frameno = 0;
qDebug() << "frame" << frameno++;
emit wantNewFrame();
}
A trivial data processor: it just counts the frames. When it is done, it emits wantNewFrame() to start the reading cycle anew.
This is it. For completeness, I'll also post the header file and main() here.
app.h:
#include <QDebug>
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QProcess>
class app : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
app();
~app() { delete[] buffer; }
signals:
void wantNewFrame();
void frameReady();
public slots:
bool readFrame();
void frameHandler();
private:
static const quint64 frameLength = 614400;
QProcess process;
char* buffer;
};
main.cpp:
#include "app.h"
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
QCoreApplication coreapp(argc, argv);
app foo;
return coreapp.exec();
}
And now for the bizarre part. This program processes a random number of frames just fine (I've seen anything from fifteen to more than thousand) but eventually stops and complains that the QProcess had crashed:
$ ./app
frame 1
...
frame 245
frame 246
frame 247
process state 0
process error 1
QIODevice error "Process crashed"
Process state 0 means "not running" and process error 1 means "crashed". I investigated into it and found out that the child process receives a SIGPIPE – i.e., the parent had closed the pipe on it. But I have absolutely no idea of where and why this happens. Does anybody else?
The code is a bit weird looking (not using the readyRead signal and instead relying on delayed signals/slots). As you pointed out in the discussion, you've already seen the thread on the qt-interest ML where I asked about a similar problem. I've just realized that I, too, used the QueuedConnection at that time. I cannot explain why it is wrong -- the queued signals "should work", in my opinion. A blind shot is that the invokeMethod which is used by the Qt's implementation somehow races with your signal delivery so that you empty your read buffer before Qt gets a chance to process the data. This would mean that Qt will ultimately read zero bytes and (correctly) interpret that as an EOF, closing the pipe.
I cannot find the referenced "Qt task 217111" anymore, but there is a couple of reports in their Jira about waitForReadyRead not working as users expect, see e.g. QTBUG-9529.
I'd bring this to the Qt's "interest" mailing list anmd stay clear of the waitFor... family of methods. I agree that their documentation deserves updating.

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