GTK+ Forums

hi all,
sorry if glib is a bit out of topic,

I am using g_timeout_add, and wandering what happen if the callback takes a time greater than the interval.

Reading the doc i find:


Seems that the interval is recalculated, but not clear how. For example what happen if interval is 1 and my function takes 2 ?

Thanks

Hi,

This is on topic.

With g_timeout_add() when you add a time out your signal may be received some time after your requested time. To take a case which is probably unlikely to happen, but is possible. Say you requested a time out of 1 second, it is possible that you receive the signal 1.5 seconds latter. That is a 50% error. Note this is unlikely to happen unless you have done something very wrong else where in your code.

If you are having recurring time outs of 1 second you could have

- Time out 1.1 second
- Time in your call back
- Time out 1.4 second
- Time in your call back
- Time out 1 second
- Time in your call back
- Time out 1.1 second
- Time in your call back
- Time out 1.2 second
- Etc. etc.

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E.

Interesting topic, sorry I don't mean to hijack your thread hear Angelo. Errol, so there's no way to ensure accurate reoccurring time outs? If not what's the best way to reduce the margin of error?

g_timeout_add has never been intended to be used for accurate timing, due to it being fairly generic. Delays in producing the signal can be caused by many situations. These include the load on the CPU by other processes and other threads, processing of other signals, poor quality of coding in other signals.

There are many ways to improve timing. This depends on your situation/operating system and what you need to do and how accurate you really need to have it.

One way to improve the situation is to set the priority of the signal handler higher such as G_PRIORITY_HIGH. This will make sure that this signal is processed before any other, but can not help if another signal is blocking already in a call back that is taking a long time.

Another possibility is to having your timings handled in another thread if what you need done is not GTK dependent or use POSIX signals.

Note in my thought example, these timings are just very bad case conditions and your timings will probably be much better. But things like this can happen if you have poor code in your other call-backs.

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E.