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<concept id="GUID-2161BD64-889B-5EAB-B023-1162FE9619DB" xml:lang="en"><title>How

to use multiple active objects</title><shortdesc>This document illustrates how to use one active object to control

another.</shortdesc><prolog><metadata><keywords/></metadata></prolog><conbody>

<p>The following example code fragments show how to construct a program with

two active objects, where one controls the initiation and cancellation of

the other.</p>

<p>In these examples:</p>

<p><codeph>CActiveConsole</codeph> is an active object and contains a pointer

to a <codeph>CConsoleBase</codeph> object which is a service provider. Through

this service provider, the active object provides the facility to request

a character from the keyboard.</p>

<p><codeph>RunL()</codeph> delegates the handling of completed requests to

the pure virtual function <codeph>ProcessKeyPress()</codeph>, which must be

provided by a derived class.</p>

<p><codeph>CMessageKeyProcessor</codeph> is further derived from <codeph>CActiveConsole</codeph> and

contains a pointer to another active object <codeph>CExampleActiveObject</codeph>,

which requires input from the keyboard.</p>

<p>Depending on the input character, the <codeph>CMessageKeyProcessor</codeph> active

object does one of the following:</p>

<ul>

<li id="GUID-9151F698-3D4F-5C3D-A758-194018FC053C"><p>issues a request to

the <codeph>CExampleActiveObject</codeph> active object</p> </li>

<li id="GUID-FBF8743F-0147-502B-BBE8-824DB727F791"><p>cancels any outstanding

request to the <codeph>CExampleActiveObject</codeph> active object</p> </li>

<li id="GUID-2E714DE6-AAE1-5926-8026-9B6E1C09C5C7"><p>does nothing</p> </li>

</ul>

<p>The implementation of the <codeph>CExampleActiveObject</codeph> active

object is not relevant to the example and is not shown.</p>

<p>The following diagram shows the relationship between the classes.</p>

<fig id="GUID-AF998428-D142-56F8-8967-AF66AF9119F8">

<image href="GUID-BEDF6765-4BF4-532F-A2C7-F052FE8A9CA2_d0e346184_href.png" placement="inline"/>

</fig>

<section id="GUID-5E2A6378-546D-46C5-8081-6425A96FAAFF"><title>Encapsulating the service provider</title> <p>The class <codeph>CActiveConsole</codeph> encapsulates

the provision of basic keyboard services. Its <codeph>iConsole</codeph> data

member is a pointer to the service provider, the <codeph>CConsoleBase</codeph> object.</p> <p>The

active object class is defined as:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-DC98E432-1927-55F5-94A3-68D2493B75E8" xml:space="preserve">class CActiveConsole : public CActive

    {

public:

    CActiveConsole(CConsoleBase* aConsole);

    void ConstructL();

    ~CActiveConsole();

    void RequestCharacter();

    void RunL();

    void DoCancel();

    virtual void ProcessKeyPress(TChar aChar)=0;

protected:

    CConsoleBase* iConsole; 

    };</codeblock> <p>The class constructor takes a pointer to a <codeph>CConsoleBase</codeph> object

as its single argument and initializes its <codeph>iConsole</codeph> data

member to this value:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-2C5C49DB-AE88-5F84-82D7-BA5680A286C8" xml:space="preserve">CActiveConsole::CActiveConsole(CConsoleBase* aConsole)

    : iConsole(aConsole)

    {}</codeblock> <p>The <codeph>ConstructL()</codeph> function adds the

active object to the active scheduler:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-CE947B19-9664-5774-ABFB-17E79A112131" xml:space="preserve">void CActiveConsole::ConstructL()

    {

    CActiveScheduler::Add(this);

    }</codeblock> <p>The destructor cancels any outstanding request before

destroying the active object:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-0120EE92-2BD8-5B2E-841A-DC366B3BED12" xml:space="preserve">CActiveConsole::~CActiveConsole()

    {

    Cancel();

    }</codeblock> <p><codeph>DoCancel()</codeph> is implemented to cancel

the request to <codeph>iConsole</codeph>.</p> <p>The <codeph>RequestCharacter()</codeph> function

makes a request for a key press to the service provider by calling <codeph>iConsole-&gt;Read(iStatus)</codeph> and

setting the active request flag:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-EF731B8D-7001-503F-8167-7A10697D5202" xml:space="preserve">void CActiveConsole::RequestCharacter()

    {

    iConsole->Read(iStatus);

    SetActive();

    }</codeblock> <p>The <codeph>RunL()</codeph> function makes a call to

the <codeph>ProcessKeyPress()</codeph> function. This is a pure virtual function

that derived classes must implement to handle the key press and to reissue

the request:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-DF9F07BB-2099-5310-8921-3A290580B4AF" xml:space="preserve">void CActiveConsole::RunL()

    {

    ProcessKeyPress(TChar(iConsole->KeyCode()));

    }</codeblock> </section>

<section id="GUID-FFD3321F-3A46-4C40-A779-39C142DC79C3"><title>Further deriving from the active object</title> <p>The class <codeph>CMessageKeyProcessor</codeph> is

a concrete class, derived from <codeph>CActiveConsole</codeph>. It provides

an implementation for the<codeph>ProcessKeyPress()</codeph> function and can

issue or cancel requests to a<codeph>CExampleActiveObject</codeph> active

object.</p> <p>This active object class is defined as:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-C5F51E0D-517C-523D-BADA-4B3CDCA53073" xml:space="preserve">class CMessageKeyProcessor : public CActiveConsole

    {

public:

    ...

    CMessageKeyProcessor(CConsoleBase* aConsole, CExampleActiveObject* iExampleObject);

    void ProcessKeyPress(TChar aChar);

private:

    CExampleActiveObject* iExampleObject;

    };</codeblock> <p><b>Notes</b> </p> <ul>

<li id="GUID-2341BA65-3806-5354-9F9D-EB1A8FD3FD61"><p>The first constructor

parameter specifies a <codeph>CConsoleBase</codeph> which will be used to

provide asynchronous keyboard input.</p> </li>

<li id="GUID-E9CAAF35-C404-5418-9720-F560C4CED53D"><p>the second constructor

parameter specifies a <codeph>CExampleActiveObject</codeph> which will be

controlled by this <codeph>CMessageKeyProcessor</codeph>.</p> </li>

</ul> <p>The behaviour of the <codeph>ProcessKeyPress()</codeph> function

depends on the key code value:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-8081A453-4D44-5F2B-BAF3-7A43A1417BEF" xml:space="preserve">void CMessageKeyProcessor::ProcessKeyPress(TChar aChar)

    {

    if (aChar == 'm' || aChar == 'M')

        {

        iExampleObject->Cancel();

        iExampleObject->IssueRequest();

        }

    if (aChar == 'c' || aChar == 'C')

        {

        iExampleObject->Cancel();

        }

    if (aChar != EKeyEscape)

        {

        RequestCharacter();

        }

    else

        {

        iExampleObject->Cancel();

        CActiveScheduler::Stop();

        }

    }</codeblock> </section>

<section id="GUID-91B9EF85-A595-479D-8D57-40CC427C19E7"><title>Enhanced framework</title> <p>In the code fragment below,

an active scheduler is created to which both a <codeph>CMessageKeyProcessor</codeph> active

object and a<codeph>CExampleActiveObject</codeph> active object are added:</p> <codeblock id="GUID-830AA24C-7781-505A-9DD1-4A042040688D" xml:space="preserve">LOCAL_C void doExampleL()

    {

    CActiveScheduler* exampleScheduler=new (ELeave) CActiveScheduler;

    CleanupStack::PushL(exampleScheduler);

    CActiveScheduler::Install(exampleScheduler);

    CExampleActiveObject* iExampleObject =

            CExampleActiveObject::NewLC();

    CMessageKeyProcessor* keyProcessor=

             CMessageKeyProcessor::NewLC(console, iExampleObject);

    keyProcessor->RequestCharacter();

    CActiveScheduler::Start();

    CleanupStack::PopAndDestroy(3);

    }</codeblock> <p><b>Notes</b> </p> <ul>

<li id="GUID-1FB2DB58-C282-5B21-A070-DEC020E98059"><p>An instance of the active

scheduler, <codeph>exampleScheduler</codeph> is pushed onto the cleanup stack

and installed as the current active scheduler.</p> </li>

<li id="GUID-3404475D-4044-5DB4-BEDF-5A308B2521CA"><p>An instance of the <codeph>CExampleActiveObject</codeph> active

object is created.</p> </li>

<li id="GUID-F7C3C84D-66E5-5F8D-8213-8DC3864D659D"><p>An instance of the <codeph>CMessageKeyProcessor</codeph> active

object is created and this is in control.</p> </li>

<li id="GUID-DA61DFD2-B057-50C9-8FD1-C53E884A4A0E"><p><codeph>keyProcessor-&gt;RequestCharacter()</codeph> issues

a request for keyboard input.</p> </li>

<li id="GUID-5BFAEEED-051C-5741-BAA0-96AFC3EA5A02"><p><codeph>CActiveScheduler::Start()</codeph> starts

the active scheduler. At least one outstanding request is necessary before

the wait loop is started, otherwise the thread hangs. All further request

issuing and servicing occurs within this function. The wait loop continues

until one of the active objects’ <codeph>RunL()</codeph> calls<codeph>CActiveScheduler::Stop()</codeph>.</p> </li>

<li id="GUID-E3FB7738-DC6C-5472-8CBF-FAAD47C440D5"><p>The active objects and

the active scheduler are popped from the cleanup stack and destroyed.</p> </li>

</ul> </section>