Note if you are going to try the tutorial code, you'd better test the code under the tests/unittest. The sample code in the document may be out of date and not compilable.
Code
eventpp::EventQueue<int, void (const std::string &, std::unique_ptr<int> &)> queue;
queue.appendListener(3, [](const std::string & s, std::unique_ptr<int> & n) {
std::cout << "Got event 3, s is " << s << " n is " << *n << std::endl;
});
// The listener prototype doesn't need to be exactly same as the dispatcher.
// It would be find as long as the arguments is compatible with the dispatcher.
queue.appendListener(5, [](std::string s, const std::unique_ptr<int> & n) {
std::cout << "Got event 5, s is " << s << " n is " << *n << std::endl;
});
queue.appendListener(5, [](const std::string & s, std::unique_ptr<int> & n) {
std::cout << "Got another event 5, s is " << s << " n is " << *n << std::endl;
});
// Enqueue the events, the first argument is always the event type.
// The listeners are not triggered during enqueue.
queue.enqueue(3, "Hello", std::unique_ptr<int>(new int(38)));
queue.enqueue(5, "World", std::unique_ptr<int>(new int(58)));
// Process the event queue, dispatch all queued events.
queue.process();Output
Got event 3, s is Hello n is 38
Got event 5, s is World n is 58
Got another event 5, s is World n is 58
Remarks
EventDispatcher<>::dispatch() invokes the listeners synchronously. Sometimes an asynchronous event queue is more useful (think about Windows message queue, or an event queue in a game). EventQueue supports such kind of event queue.
EventQueue<>::enqueue() puts an event to the queue. Its parameters are exactly same as dispatch.
EventQueue<>::process() must be called to dispatch the queued events.
A typical use case is in a GUI application, each components call EventQueue<>::enqueue() to post the events, then the main event loop calls EventQueue<>::process() to dispatch the events.
EventQueue supports non-copyable object as the event arguments, such as the unique pointer in the tutorial.
Code
using EQ = eventpp::EventQueue<int, void (int)>;
EQ queue;
constexpr int stopEvent = 1;
constexpr int otherEvent = 2;
// Start a thread to process the event queue.
// All listeners are invoked in that thread.
std::thread thread([stopEvent, otherEvent, &queue]() {
volatile bool shouldStop = false;
queue.appendListener(stopEvent, [&shouldStop](int) {
shouldStop = true;
});
queue.appendListener(otherEvent, [](const int index) {
std::cout << "Got event, index is " << index << std::endl;
});
while(! shouldStop) {
queue.wait();
queue.process();
}
});
// Enqueue an event from the main thread. After sleeping for 10 milliseconds,
// the event should have be processed by the other thread.
queue.enqueue(otherEvent, 1);
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(10));
std::cout << "Should have triggered event with index = 1" << std::endl;
queue.enqueue(otherEvent, 2);
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(10));
std::cout << "Should have triggered event with index = 2" << std::endl;
{
// EventQueue::DisableQueueNotify is a RAII class that
// disables waking up any waiting threads.
// So no events should be triggered in this code block.
// DisableQueueNotify is useful when adding lots of events at the same time
// and only want to wake up the waiting threads after all events are added.
EQ::DisableQueueNotify disableNotify(&queue);
queue.enqueue(otherEvent, 10);
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(10));
std::cout << "Should NOT trigger event with index = 10" << std::endl;
queue.enqueue(otherEvent, 11);
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(10));
std::cout << "Should NOT trigger event with index = 11" << std::endl;
}
// The DisableQueueNotify object is destroyed here, and has resumed
// waking up waiting threads. So the events should be triggered.
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(10));
std::cout << "Should have triggered events with index = 10 and 11" << std::endl;
queue.enqueue(stopEvent, 1);
thread.join();Output
Got event, index is 1
Should have triggered event with index = 1
Got event, index is 2
Should have triggered event with index = 2
Should NOT trigger event with index = 10
Should NOT trigger event with index = 11
Got event, index is 10
Got event, index is 11
Should have triggered events with index = 10 and 11
Remarks
In tutorial 3, we will demonstrate how to make EventQueue dispatch higher priority event earlier.
// First let's define the event struct. e is the event type, priority determines the priority.
struct MyEvent
{
int e;
int priority;
};
// The comparison function object used by eventpp::OrderedQueueList.
// The function compares the event by priority.
struct MyCompare
{
template <typename T>
bool operator() (const T & a, const T & b) const {
return a.template getArgument<0>().priority > b.template getArgument<0>().priority;
}
};
// Define the EventQueue policy
struct MyPolicy
{
template <typename Item>
using QueueList = eventpp::OrderedQueueList<Item, MyCompare >;
static int getEvent(const MyEvent & event) {
return event.e;
}
};
TEST_CASE("EventQueue tutorial 3, ordered queue")
{
std::cout << std::endl << "EventQueue tutorial 3, ordered queue" << std::endl;
using EQ = eventpp::EventQueue<int, void(const MyEvent &), MyPolicy>;
EQ queue;
queue.appendListener(3, [](const MyEvent & event) {
std::cout << "Get event " << event.e << "(should be 3)."
<< " priority: " << event.priority << std::endl;
});
queue.appendListener(5, [](const MyEvent & event) {
std::cout << "Get event " << event.e << "(should be 5)."
<< " priority: " << event.priority << std::endl;
});
queue.appendListener(7, [](const MyEvent & event) {
std::cout << "Get event " << event.e << "(should be 7)."
<< " priority: " << event.priority << std::endl;
});
// Add an event, the first number 5 is the event type, the second number 100 is the priority.
// After the queue processes, the events will be processed from higher priority to lower priority.
queue.enqueue(MyEvent{ 5, 100 });
queue.enqueue(MyEvent{ 5, 200 });
queue.enqueue(MyEvent{ 7, 300 });
queue.enqueue(MyEvent{ 7, 400 });
queue.enqueue(MyEvent{ 3, 500 });
queue.enqueue(MyEvent{ 3, 600 });
queue.process();
}Output
Get event 3(should be 3). priority: 600
Get event 3(should be 3). priority: 500
Get event 7(should be 7). priority: 400
Get event 7(should be 7). priority: 300
Get event 5(should be 5). priority: 200
Get event 5(should be 5). priority: 100
In tutorial 4, we will demonstrate how different event classes are used in a typical event system in an application. A typical event system may look like, there is a base event class, each event type has a corresponding event class that inherits from the base event. When emitting an event, a pointer/referent to the base event class is used, the event listener then cast the base event to proper derived event.
// This is the definition of event types
enum class EventType
{
// for MouseEvent
mouse,
// for KeyboardEvent
keyboard,
// for either MouseEvent or KeyboardEvent, it's used to demonstrate
// how the listener detects event type dynamically
input,
// for ChangedEvent
changed
};
// This is the base event. It has a getType function to return the actual event type.
class Event
{
public:
explicit Event(const EventType type) : type(type) {
}
virtual ~Event() {
}
EventType getType() const {
return type;
}
private:
EventType type;
};
class MouseEvent : public Event
{
public:
MouseEvent(const int x, const int y)
: Event(EventType::mouse), x(x), y(y)
{
}
int getX() const { return x; }
int getY() const { return y; }
private:
int x;
int y;
};
class KeyboardEvent : public Event
{
public:
explicit KeyboardEvent(const int key)
: Event(EventType::keyboard), key(key)
{
}
int getKey() const { return key; }
private:
int key;
};
class ChangedEvent : public Event
{
public:
explicit ChangedEvent(const std::string & text)
: Event(EventType::changed), text(text)
{
}
std::string getText() const { return text; }
private:
std::string text;
};
// We will pass event as EventPointer, here it's std::shared_ptr<Event>.
// It allows EventQueue to store the events in internal buffer without slicing the objects
// in asynchronous API (EventQueue::enqueue and EventQueue::process, etc).
// If we only use the synchronous API (EventDispatcher, or EventQueue::dispatch),
// we can dispatch events as reference.
using EventPointer = std::shared_ptr<Event>;
// We are going to dispatch event objects directly without specify the event type explicitly,
// so we need to define policy to let eventpp know how to get the event type from the event object.
struct EventPolicy
{
static EventType getEvent(const EventPointer & event) {
return event->getType();
}
};
TEST_CASE("EventQueue tutorial 4, typical event system in an application")
{
std::cout << std::endl << "EventQueue tutorial 4, typical event system in an application" << std::endl;
using EQ = eventpp::EventQueue<EventType, void(const EventPointer &), EventPolicy>;
EQ queue;
queue.appendListener(EventType::mouse, [](const EventPointer & event) {
const MouseEvent * mouseEvent = static_cast<const MouseEvent *>(event.get());
std::cout << "Received mouse event, x=" << mouseEvent->getX() << " y=" << mouseEvent->getY()
<< std::endl;
});
queue.appendListener(EventType::keyboard, [](const EventPointer & event) {
const KeyboardEvent * keyboardEvent = static_cast<const KeyboardEvent *>(event.get());
std::cout << "Received keyboard event, key=" << (char)keyboardEvent->getKey()
<< std::endl;
});
queue.appendListener(EventType::input, [](const EventPointer & event) {
std::cout << "Received input event, ";
if(event->getType() == EventType::mouse) {
const MouseEvent * mouseEvent = static_cast<const MouseEvent *>(event.get());
std::cout << "it's mouse event, x=" << mouseEvent->getX() << " y=" << mouseEvent->getY()
<< std::endl;
}
else if(event->getType() == EventType::keyboard) {
const KeyboardEvent * keyboardEvent = static_cast<const KeyboardEvent *>(event.get());
std::cout << "it's keyboard event, key=" << (char)keyboardEvent->getKey() << std::endl;
}
else {
std::cout << "it's an event that I don't understand." << std::endl;
}
});
queue.appendListener(EventType::changed, [](const EventPointer & event) {
const ChangedEvent * changedEvent = static_cast<const ChangedEvent *>(event.get());
std::cout << "Received changed event, text=" << changedEvent->getText() << std::endl;
});
// Asynchronous API, put events in to the event queue.
queue.enqueue(std::make_shared<MouseEvent>(123, 567));
queue.enqueue(std::make_shared<KeyboardEvent>('W'));
queue.enqueue(std::make_shared<ChangedEvent>("This is new text"));
queue.enqueue(EventType::input, std::make_shared<MouseEvent>(10, 20));
// then process all events.
queue.process();
// Synchronous API, dispatch events to the listeners directly.
queue.dispatch(std::make_shared<KeyboardEvent>('Q'));
queue.dispatch(EventType::input, std::make_shared<ChangedEvent>("Should not display"));
}Output
Received mouse event, x=123 y=567
Received keyboard event, key=W
Received changed event, text=This is new text
Received input event, it's mouse event, x=10 y=20
Received keyboard event, key=Q
Received input event, it's an event that I don't understand.