Using Synchronization in Windows (sample 1 to 4)

The following examples demonstrate how to use the synchronization objects:

1.) Using Critical Section Objects

// Global variable
CRITICAL_SECTION CriticalSection; 

void main()
{
    ...

    // Initialize the critical section one time only.
    if (!InitializeCriticalSectionAndSpinCount(&CriticalSection, 
        0x80000400) ) 
        return;
    ...

    // Release resources used by the critical section object.
    DeleteCriticalSection(&CriticalSection)
}

DWORD WINAPI ThreadProc( LPVOID lpParameter )
{
    ...

    // Request ownership of the critical section.
    EnterCriticalSection(&CriticalSection); 

    // Access the shared resource.

    // Release ownership of the critical section.
    LeaveCriticalSection(&CriticalSection);

    ...
}

2.) Using Event Objects

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#define THREADCOUNT 4 

HANDLE ghWriteEvent; 
HANDLE ghThreads[THREADCOUNT];

DWORD WINAPI ThreadProc(LPVOID);

void CreateEventsAndThreads(void) 
{
    int i; 
    DWORD dwThreadID; 

    // Create a manual-reset event object. The write thread sets this
    // object to the nonsignaled state when it finishes writing to a 
    // shared buffer. 

    ghWriteEvent = CreateEvent( 
        NULL,               // default security attributes
        TRUE,               // manual-reset event
        FALSE,              // initial state is nonsignaled
        TEXT("WriteEvent")  // object name
        ); 

    if (ghWriteEvent == NULL) 
    { 
        printf("CreateEvent failed (%d)\n", GetLastError());
        return;
    }

    // Create multiple threads to read from the buffer.

    for(i = 0; i < THREADCOUNT; i++) 
    {
        // TODO: More complex scenarios may require use of a parameter
        //   to the thread procedure, such as an event per thread to  
        //   be used for synchronization.
        ghThreads[i] = CreateThread(
            NULL,              // default security
            0,                 // default stack size
            ThreadProc,        // name of the thread function
            NULL,              // no thread parameters
            0,                 // default startup flags
            &dwThreadID); 

        if (ghThreads[i] == NULL) 
        {
            printf("CreateThread failed (%d)\n", GetLastError());
            return;
        }
    }
}

void WriteToBuffer(VOID) 
{
    // TODO: Write to the shared buffer.
    
    printf("Main thread writing to the shared buffer...\n");

    // Set ghWriteEvent to signaled

    if (! SetEvent(ghWriteEvent) ) 
    {
        printf("SetEvent failed (%d)\n", GetLastError());
        return;
    }
}

void CloseEvents()
{
    // Close all event handles (currently, only one global handle).
    
    CloseHandle(ghWriteEvent);
}

void main()
{
    DWORD dwWaitResult;

    // TODO: Create the shared buffer

    // Create events and THREADCOUNT threads to read from the buffer

    CreateEventsAndThreads();

    // At this point, the reader threads have started and are most
    // likely waiting for the global event to be signaled. However, 
    // it is safe to write to the buffer because the event is a 
    // manual-reset event.
    
    WriteToBuffer();

    printf("Main thread waiting for threads to exit...\n");

    // The handle for each thread is signaled when the thread is
    // terminated.
    dwWaitResult = WaitForMultipleObjects(
        THREADCOUNT,   // number of handles in array
        ghThreads,     // array of thread handles
        TRUE,          // wait until all are signaled
        INFINITE);

    switch (dwWaitResult) 
    {
        // All thread objects were signaled
        case WAIT_OBJECT_0: 
            printf("All threads ended, cleaning up for application exit...\n");
            break;

        // An error occurred
        default: 
            printf("WaitForMultipleObjects failed (%d)\n", GetLastError());
            return;
    } 
            
    // Close the events to clean up

    CloseEvents();
}

DWORD WINAPI ThreadProc(LPVOID lpParam) 
{
    DWORD dwWaitResult;

    printf("Thread %d waiting for write event...\n", GetCurrentThreadId());
    
    dwWaitResult = WaitForSingleObject( 
        ghWriteEvent, // event handle
        INFINITE);    // indefinite wait

    switch (dwWaitResult) 
    {
        // Event object was signaled
        case WAIT_OBJECT_0: 
            //
            // TODO: Read from the shared buffer
            //
            printf("Thread %d reading from buffer\n", 
                   GetCurrentThreadId());
            break; 

        // An error occurred
        default: 
            printf("Wait error (%d)\n", GetLastError()); 
            return 0; 
    }

    // Now that we are done reading the buffer, we could use another
    // event to signal that this thread is no longer reading. This
    // example simply uses the thread handle for synchronization (the
    // handle is signaled when the thread terminates.)

    printf("Thread %d exiting\n", GetCurrentThreadId());
    return 1;
}

3.) Using Mutex Objects

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>


#define THREADCOUNT 2

HANDLE ghMutex; 

DWORD WINAPI WriteToDatabase( LPVOID );

void main()
{
    HANDLE aThread[THREADCOUNT];
    DWORD ThreadID;
    int i;

    // Create a mutex with no initial owner

    ghMutex = CreateMutex( 
        NULL,              // default security attributes
        FALSE,             // initially not owned
        NULL);             // unnamed mutex

    if (ghMutex == NULL) 
    {
        printf("CreateMutex error: %d\n", GetLastError());
        return;
    }

    // Create worker threads

    for( i=0; i < THREADCOUNT; i++ )
    {
        aThread[i] = CreateThread( 
                     NULL,       // default security attributes
                     0,          // default stack size
                     (LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE) WriteToDatabase, 
                     NULL,       // no thread function arguments
                     0,          // default creation flags
                     &ThreadID); // receive thread identifier

        if( aThread[i] == NULL )
        {
            printf("CreateThread error: %d\n", GetLastError());
            return;
        }
    }

    // Wait for all threads to terminate

    WaitForMultipleObjects(THREADCOUNT, aThread, TRUE, INFINITE);

    // Close thread and mutex handles

    for( i=0; i < THREADCOUNT; i++ )
        CloseHandle(aThread[i]);

    CloseHandle(ghMutex);
}

DWORD WINAPI WriteToDatabase( LPVOID lpParam )
{ 
    DWORD dwCount=0, dwWaitResult; 

    // Request ownership of mutex.

    while( dwCount < 20 )
    { 
        dwWaitResult = WaitForSingleObject( 
            ghMutex,    // handle to mutex
            INFINITE);  // no time-out interval
 
        switch (dwWaitResult) 
        {
            // The thread got ownership of the mutex
            case WAIT_OBJECT_0: 
                __try { 
                    // TODO: Write to the database
                    printf("Line of %d\t Thread %d writing to database...\n", 
                            dwCount,GetCurrentThreadId());
                    dwCount++;
                } 

                __finally { 
                    // Release ownership of the mutex object
                    if (! ReleaseMutex(ghMutex)) 
                    { 
                        // Handle error.
                    } 
                } 
                break; 

            // The thread got ownership of an abandoned mutex
            // The database is in an indeterminate state
            case WAIT_ABANDONED: 
                return FALSE; 
        }
    }
    return TRUE; 
}

4.) Using Semaphore Objects

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#define MAX_SEM_COUNT 3
#define THREADCOUNT 8

HANDLE ghSemaphore;

DWORD WINAPI ThreadProc( LPVOID );

void main()
{
    HANDLE aThread[THREADCOUNT];
    DWORD ThreadID;
    int i;

    // Create a semaphore with initial and max counts of MAX_SEM_COUNT

    ghSemaphore = CreateSemaphore( 
        NULL,           // default security attributes
        MAX_SEM_COUNT,  // initial count
        MAX_SEM_COUNT,  // maximum count
        NULL);          // unnamed semaphore

    if (ghSemaphore == NULL) 
    {
        printf("CreateSemaphore error: %d\n", GetLastError());
        return;
    }

    // Create worker threads

    for( i=0; i < THREADCOUNT; i++ )
    {
        aThread[i] = CreateThread( 
                     NULL,       // default security attributes
                     0,          // default stack size
                     (LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE) ThreadProc, 
                     (PVOID)i,       // no thread function arguments
                     0,          // default creation flags
                     &ThreadID); // receive thread identifier

        if( aThread[i] == NULL )
        {
            printf("CreateThread error: %d\n", GetLastError());
            return;
        }
    }

    // Wait for all threads to terminate

    WaitForMultipleObjects(THREADCOUNT, aThread, TRUE, INFINITE);

    // Close thread and semaphore handles

    for( i=0; i < THREADCOUNT; i++ )
        CloseHandle(aThread[i]);

    CloseHandle(ghSemaphore);
}

DWORD WINAPI ThreadProc( LPVOID lpParam )
{
	printf("Hello~ I am Thread number: %d,ThreadId %d, nice to meet you!\n",(int*)lpParam, GetCurrentThreadId());

    DWORD dwWaitResult; 
    BOOL bContinue=TRUE;

    while(bContinue)
    {
        // Try to enter the semaphore gate.

        dwWaitResult = WaitForSingleObject( 
            ghSemaphore,   // handle to semaphore
            0L);           // zero-second time-out interval

        switch (dwWaitResult) 
        { 
            // The semaphore object was signaled.
            case WAIT_OBJECT_0: 
                // TODO: Perform task
                printf("The Thread Number is %d and \t its ThreadId %d: wait succeeded\n", (int*)lpParam,GetCurrentThreadId());
                bContinue=FALSE;            

                // Simulate thread spending time on task
                Sleep(1);

                // Release the semaphore when task is finished

                if (!ReleaseSemaphore( 
                        ghSemaphore,  // handle to semaphore
                        1,            // increase count by one
                        NULL) )       // not interested in previous count
                {
                    printf("ReleaseSemaphore error: %d\n", GetLastError());
                }
                break; 

            // The semaphore was nonsignaled, so a time-out occurred.
            case WAIT_TIMEOUT: 
                printf("Thread %d: wait timed out\n", GetCurrentThreadId());
                break; 
        }
    }
	printf("I am Thread number: %d, will leave soon!\n",(int*)lpParam);
    return TRUE;
}

To be continued...