I've been asked multiple times how I would implement a signal / slot mechanism in modern C++. Here is the answer!
What's the Signal / Slot Pattern?
So basically it allows for event based inter-object communication. In my opinion it's intuitive to use and produces easily readable code when used in a moderate amount. And the big plus: It can be added to your program with one simple template class!
The signal on its own does not perform any action. Instead, it is ‘connected' to a ‘slot'. The slot can be any callable Python function. In PyQt, connection between a signal and a slot can be achieved in different ways. Following are most commonly used techniques − QtCore.QObject.connect(widget, QtCore.SIGNAL(‘signalname'), slot. As you might have seen in the previous example, the slot was just declared as public and not as slot. Qt will indeed call directly the function pointer of the slot, and will not need moc introspection anymore. (It still needs it for the signal) But what we can also do is connecting to any function or functor. Signals and slots are loosely coupled: A class which emits a signal neither knows nor cares which slots receive the signal. Qt's signals and slots mechanism ensures that if you connect a signal to a slot, the slot will be called with the signal's parameters at the right time. Signals and slots can take any number of arguments of any type.
There are many libraries around (refer to the linked Wikipedia article) implementing this pattern, but it's so easy to implement on you own that I would recommend to do this without an additional dependency. Motor city casino soundboard seating chart. All you need is the header I posted below. And it's a good exercise.
The signal template class
Below you can find the entire class. Because this class is using variadic templates you can define signals which pass any kind of data to their slots. Basically you can create signals which allow for arbitrary slot signatures. The emit method will accept the same argument types you declared as template parameters for the Signal class. The class is documented with comments and should be quite understandable. Further below you will find two usage examples.
Simple usage
The example below creates a simple signal. To this signal functions may be connected which accept a string and an integer. A lambda is connected and gets called when the emit method of the signal is called.
When you saved the Signal class as Signal.hpp
and the above example as main.cpp
you can compile the example with:
And if you execute the resulting application you will get the following output:
Advanced usage
This example shows the usage with classes. A message gets displayed when the button is clicked. Note that neither the button knows anything of a message nor does the message know anything about a button. That's awesome! You can compile this example in the same way as the first.
You may also connect member functions which take arguments (Thank you FlashingChris for pointing out how to do this without std::placeholders!). In the following example Alice and Bob may say something and the other will hear it:
Issues & next steps
There are two drawbacks in this simple implementation: It's not threadsafe and you cannot disconnect a slot from a signal from within the slot callback. Both problems are easy to solve but would make this example more complex.
Using this Signal class other patterns can be implemented easily. In a follow-up post I'll present another simple class: the Property. This will allow for a clean implementation of the observer pattern.
Have some fun coding events in C++!
Edit on 2020-10-19:
- Add move-copy-constructor and move-assignment-operator
- Add
emit_for_all_but_one
andemit_for
methods. - Remove previously added
std::forward
.
Description:Signals are software interrupts delivered to a process by the operating system.Signals can also be issued by the operating system based on system or error conditions.There is a default behavior for some (i.e. a process is terminated when it receives an inturrupt SIGINT signal by pressing keystrokes ctrl-C) but this tutorial shows how to handle the signal by defining callback functions to manage the signal. Where possible, this allows one to close files and perform operations and react in a manner defined by the programmer.
Note that not all signals can be handled.
Types of signals:Signal | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
SIGHUP | 1 | Hangup (POSIX) Report that user's terminal is disconnected. Signal used to report the termination of the controlling process. |
SIGINT | 2 | Interrupt (ANSI) Program interrupt. (ctrl-c) |
SIGQUIT | 3 | Quit (POSIX) Terminate process and generate core dump. |
SIGILL | 4 | Illegal Instruction (ANSI) Generally indicates that the executable file is corrupted or use of data where a pointer to a function was expected. |
SIGTRAP | 5 | Trace trap (POSIX) |
SIGABRT SIGIOT | 6 | Abort (ANSI) IOT trap (4.2 BSD) Process detects error and reports by calling abort |
SIGBUS | 7 | BUS error (4.2 BSD) Indicates an access to an invalid address. |
SIGFPE | 8 | Floating-Point arithmetic Exception (ANSI). This includes division by zero and overflow.The IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic (ANSI/IEEE Std 754-1985) defines various floating-point exceptions. |
SIGKILL | 9 | Kill, unblockable (POSIX) Cause immediate program termination. Can not be handled, blocked or ignored. |
SIGUSR1 | 10 | User-defined signal 1 |
SIGSEGV | 11 | Segmentation Violation (ANSI) Occurs when a program tries to read or write outside the memory that is allocated for it by the operating system, dereferencing a bad or NULL pointer. Indicates an invalid access to valid memory. |
SIGUSR2 | 12 | User-defined signal 2 |
SIGPIPE | 13 | Broken pipe (POSIX) Error condition like trying to write to a socket which is not connected. |
SIGALRM | 14 | Alarm clock (POSIX) Indicates expiration of a timer. Used by the alarm() function. |
SIGTERM | 15 | Termination (ANSI) This signal can be blocked, handled, and ignored. Generated by 'kill' command. |
SIGSTKFLT | 16 | Stack fault |
SIGCHLD SIGCLD | 17 | Child status has changed (POSIX) Signal sent to parent process whenever one of its child processes terminates or stops. See the YoLinux.com Fork, exec, wait, waitpid tutorial |
SIGCONT | 18 | Continue (POSIX) Signal sent to process to make it continue. |
SIGSTOP | 19 | Stop, unblockable (POSIX) Stop a process. This signal cannot be handled, ignored, or blocked. |
SIGTSTP | 20 | Keyboard stop (POSIX) Interactive stop signal. This signal can be handled and ignored. (ctrl-z) |
SIGTTIN | 21 | Background read from tty (POSIX) |
SIGTTOU | 22 | Background write to tty (POSIX) |
SIGURG | 23 | Urgent condition on socket (4.2 BSD) Signal sent when 'urgent' or out-of-band data arrives on a socket. |
SIGXCPU | 24 | CPU limit exceeded (4.2 BSD) |
SIGXFSZ | 25 | File size limit exceeded (4.2 BSD) |
SIGVTALRM | 26 | Virtual Time Alarm (4.2 BSD) Indicates expiration of a timer. |
SIGPROF | 27 | Profiling alarm clock (4.2 BSD) Indicates expiration of a timer. Use for code profiling facilities. |
SIGWINCH | 28 | Window size change (4.3 BSD, Sun) |
SIGIO SIGPOLL | 29 | I/O now possible (4.2 BSD) Pollable event occurred (System V) Signal sent when file descriptor is ready to perform I/O (generated by sockets) |
SIGPWR | 30 | Power failure restart (System V) |
SIGSYS | 31 | Bad system call |
Signals which can be processed include: SIGINT, SIGABRT, SIGFPE, SIGILL, SIGSEGV, SIGTERM, SIGHUP
List all signals available to the system:
Use the command: kill -lExample Slot Signal C++ Jammers
Sending a process a signal:
A process can be sent a signal using the 'kill' command: kill -s signal-numberpidWhere the pid (process id) can be obtained using the 'ps' command.
Basic C signal callback function example:
File: signalExample.cpp
Compile: gcc signalExample.cpp
Run: a.out
Results:
Simple usage
The example below creates a simple signal. To this signal functions may be connected which accept a string and an integer. A lambda is connected and gets called when the emit method of the signal is called.
When you saved the Signal class as Signal.hpp
and the above example as main.cpp
you can compile the example with:
And if you execute the resulting application you will get the following output:
Advanced usage
This example shows the usage with classes. A message gets displayed when the button is clicked. Note that neither the button knows anything of a message nor does the message know anything about a button. That's awesome! You can compile this example in the same way as the first.
You may also connect member functions which take arguments (Thank you FlashingChris for pointing out how to do this without std::placeholders!). In the following example Alice and Bob may say something and the other will hear it:
Issues & next steps
There are two drawbacks in this simple implementation: It's not threadsafe and you cannot disconnect a slot from a signal from within the slot callback. Both problems are easy to solve but would make this example more complex.
Using this Signal class other patterns can be implemented easily. In a follow-up post I'll present another simple class: the Property. This will allow for a clean implementation of the observer pattern.
Have some fun coding events in C++!
Edit on 2020-10-19:
- Add move-copy-constructor and move-assignment-operator
- Add
emit_for_all_but_one
andemit_for
methods. - Remove previously added
std::forward
.
Description:Signals are software interrupts delivered to a process by the operating system.Signals can also be issued by the operating system based on system or error conditions.There is a default behavior for some (i.e. a process is terminated when it receives an inturrupt SIGINT signal by pressing keystrokes ctrl-C) but this tutorial shows how to handle the signal by defining callback functions to manage the signal. Where possible, this allows one to close files and perform operations and react in a manner defined by the programmer.
Note that not all signals can be handled.
Types of signals:Signal | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
SIGHUP | 1 | Hangup (POSIX) Report that user's terminal is disconnected. Signal used to report the termination of the controlling process. |
SIGINT | 2 | Interrupt (ANSI) Program interrupt. (ctrl-c) |
SIGQUIT | 3 | Quit (POSIX) Terminate process and generate core dump. |
SIGILL | 4 | Illegal Instruction (ANSI) Generally indicates that the executable file is corrupted or use of data where a pointer to a function was expected. |
SIGTRAP | 5 | Trace trap (POSIX) |
SIGABRT SIGIOT | 6 | Abort (ANSI) IOT trap (4.2 BSD) Process detects error and reports by calling abort |
SIGBUS | 7 | BUS error (4.2 BSD) Indicates an access to an invalid address. |
SIGFPE | 8 | Floating-Point arithmetic Exception (ANSI). This includes division by zero and overflow.The IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic (ANSI/IEEE Std 754-1985) defines various floating-point exceptions. |
SIGKILL | 9 | Kill, unblockable (POSIX) Cause immediate program termination. Can not be handled, blocked or ignored. |
SIGUSR1 | 10 | User-defined signal 1 |
SIGSEGV | 11 | Segmentation Violation (ANSI) Occurs when a program tries to read or write outside the memory that is allocated for it by the operating system, dereferencing a bad or NULL pointer. Indicates an invalid access to valid memory. |
SIGUSR2 | 12 | User-defined signal 2 |
SIGPIPE | 13 | Broken pipe (POSIX) Error condition like trying to write to a socket which is not connected. |
SIGALRM | 14 | Alarm clock (POSIX) Indicates expiration of a timer. Used by the alarm() function. |
SIGTERM | 15 | Termination (ANSI) This signal can be blocked, handled, and ignored. Generated by 'kill' command. |
SIGSTKFLT | 16 | Stack fault |
SIGCHLD SIGCLD | 17 | Child status has changed (POSIX) Signal sent to parent process whenever one of its child processes terminates or stops. See the YoLinux.com Fork, exec, wait, waitpid tutorial |
SIGCONT | 18 | Continue (POSIX) Signal sent to process to make it continue. |
SIGSTOP | 19 | Stop, unblockable (POSIX) Stop a process. This signal cannot be handled, ignored, or blocked. |
SIGTSTP | 20 | Keyboard stop (POSIX) Interactive stop signal. This signal can be handled and ignored. (ctrl-z) |
SIGTTIN | 21 | Background read from tty (POSIX) |
SIGTTOU | 22 | Background write to tty (POSIX) |
SIGURG | 23 | Urgent condition on socket (4.2 BSD) Signal sent when 'urgent' or out-of-band data arrives on a socket. |
SIGXCPU | 24 | CPU limit exceeded (4.2 BSD) |
SIGXFSZ | 25 | File size limit exceeded (4.2 BSD) |
SIGVTALRM | 26 | Virtual Time Alarm (4.2 BSD) Indicates expiration of a timer. |
SIGPROF | 27 | Profiling alarm clock (4.2 BSD) Indicates expiration of a timer. Use for code profiling facilities. |
SIGWINCH | 28 | Window size change (4.3 BSD, Sun) |
SIGIO SIGPOLL | 29 | I/O now possible (4.2 BSD) Pollable event occurred (System V) Signal sent when file descriptor is ready to perform I/O (generated by sockets) |
SIGPWR | 30 | Power failure restart (System V) |
SIGSYS | 31 | Bad system call |
Signals which can be processed include: SIGINT, SIGABRT, SIGFPE, SIGILL, SIGSEGV, SIGTERM, SIGHUP
List all signals available to the system:
Use the command: kill -lExample Slot Signal C++ Jammers
Sending a process a signal:
A process can be sent a signal using the 'kill' command: kill -s signal-numberpidWhere the pid (process id) can be obtained using the 'ps' command.
Basic C signal callback function example:
File: signalExample.cpp
Example to handle ctrl-cCompile: gcc signalExample.cpp
Run: a.out
Results:
The function prototype: void (*signal (int sig, void (*func)(int)))(int); Dream meaning casino chips.
- signal - ANSI C signal handling
- raise - send a signal to the current process
- strsignal - return string describing signal (GNU extension)
- psignal - print signal message
- sigaction - POSIX signal handling functions
- sigsetops - POSIX signal set operations
- sigvec - BSD software signal facilities
- alarm - set an alarm clock for delivery of a signal
Example Slot Signal C++ Booster
Commands:- kill - terminate a process
- ps - report a snapshot of the current processes.
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