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/*!
    \example blockingreceiver
    \title Blocking Receiver Example
    \ingroup qtserialport-examples
    \brief Shows how to use the synchronous API of QSerialPort in a non-GUI thread.

    \e{Blocking Receiver} shows how to create an application for a serial interface
    using QSerialPort's synchronous API in a non-GUI thread.

    \image blockingreceiver-example.png

    QSerialPort supports two general programming approaches:

    \list

    \li \e{The asynchronous (non-blocking) approach.} Operations are scheduled
    and performed when the control returns to Qt's event loop. QSerialPort emits
    a signal when the operation is finished. For example, QSerialPort::write()
    returns immediately. When the data is sent to the serial port, QSerialPort
    emits \l{QIODevice::bytesWritten()}{bytesWritten()}.

    \li \e{The synchronous (blocking) approach.} In non-GUI and multithreaded
    applications, the \c waitFor...() functions can be called (i.e.
    QSerialPort::waitForReadyRead()) to suspend the calling thread until the
    operation has completed.

    \endlist

    In this example, the synchronous approach is demonstrated. The
    \l{terminal}{Terminal} example illustrates the
    asynchronous approach.

    The purpose of this example is to demonstrate a pattern that you can use
    to simplify your serial programming code, without losing responsiveness
    in your user interface. Use of Qt's blocking serial programming API often
    leads to simpler code, but because of its blocking behavior, it should only
    be used in non-GUI threads to prevent the user interface from freezing.
    But contrary to what many think, using threads with QThread does not
    necessarily add unmanageable complexity to your application.

    This application is a Receiver, that demonstrate the work paired with Sender
    application \l{Blocking Sender Example}.

    The Receiver application receives the request via serial port from
    the Sender application and send a response to it.

    We will start with the ReceiverThread class, which handles the serial
    programming code.

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.h 0

    ReceiverThread is a QThread subclass that provides an API for receive requests
    from Sender, and it has signals for delivering responses and reporting
    errors.

    You should call startReceiver() to startup Receiver application. This method
    transfers to the ReceiverThread desired parameters for configure and startup
    the serial interface. When ReceiverThread received from Sender any request then
    emitted the request() signal. If any error occurs, the error() or timeout()
    signals is emitted.

    It's important to notice that startReceiver() is called from the main, GUI
    thread, but the response data and other parameters will be accessed from
    ReceiverThread's thread. ReceiverThread's data members are read and written
    from different threads concurrently, so it is advisable to use QMutex to
    synchronize access.

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 2

    The startReceiver() function stores the serial port name, timeout and response
    data, and QMutexLocker locks the mutex to protect these data. We then
    start the thread, unless it is already running. QWaitCondition::wakeOne()
    will be discussed later.

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 4
    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 5

    In the run() function, start by acquiring the mutex lock, fetch the
    serial port name, timeout and response data from the member data, and then
    release the lock again. Under no circumstance should the method \c startReceiver()
    be called simultaneously with a process fetching these data. QString is reentrant
    but not thread-safe, and it is not recommended to read the serial port name
    from one startup, call and timeout or response data of another. ReceiverThread
    can only handle one startup at a time.

    The QSerialPort object we construct on stack into run() function before loop
    enter:

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 6

    This allows us once to create an object, while running loop, and also means
    that all the methods of the object will be executed in the context of the
    run() thread.

    In the loop, check whether the name of the serial port for the current
    startup has changed or not. If it has, re-open and reconfigure the serial port.

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 7

    The loop will continue waiting for request data:

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 8

    \warning The method waitForReadyRead() should be used before each read()
    call for the blocking approach, because it processes all the I/O routines
    instead of Qt event-loop.

    The timeout() signal is emitted if an error occurs when reading data.

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 9

    After a successful read, try to send a response and wait for completion of the
    transfer:

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 10

    \warning The method waitForBytesWritten() should be used after each write()
    call for the blocking approach, because it processes all the I/O routines
    instead of Qt event-loop.

    The timeout() signal is emitted if an error occurs when writing data.

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 11

    After a successful writing is emitted, request() signal containing the
    data received from the Sender application:

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 12

    Next, the thread switches to reading the current parameters for the serial
    interface, because they can already have been updated, and run the loop
    from the beginning.

    \snippet blockingreceiver/receiverthread.cpp 13

    \sa {Terminal Example}, {Blocking Sender Example}

    \include examples-run.qdocinc
*/
