I'm trying to send signals from my pyobjc gui (a menu in the osx status bar) to the main process of my app. Specifically, I'm running the gui wrapped in a class and this inside a process, and I'm trying to send messages from the gui to the main process via a pipe.
When I use a simple method to put data into the pipe, my code works. The message gets passed to the main process, yielding main process... recv(): foo
When I start the gui in a subprocess and attempt to put data into the pipe, say when I click on the menu option 'start', nothing happens. The main process line never gets printed, and as far as I can tell the main process is blocked.
I'm assuming this has something to do with the event loop in pyobjc. What can I do to make this work? How can I run the pyobjc code as a subprocess?
main.py
import sys
from multiprocessing import Process, Pipe
from userinterface import OSXstatusbaritem
def f2(pipe):
print "starting subprocess f2"
print pipe.send("foo")
pipe.close()
def main():
pipeUI, pipeServer = Pipe()
# p = Process(target=f2, args=(pipeUI,)) # <---------------------- This works
p = Process(target=OSXstatusbaritem.start(pipeUI), args=()) # <----This doesn't
p.start()
print "main process... recv():", pipeServer.recv()
p.join()
if __name__ == "__main__": sys.exit(main())
userinterface.py
import objc, re, os
from Foundation import *
from AppKit import *
from PyObjCTools import AppHelper
from multiprocessing import Pipe
status_images = {'idle':'./ghost.png'}
class OSXstatusbaritem(NSObject):
images = {}
statusbar = None
state = 'idle'
@classmethod
def start(self, pipe):
self.pipe = pipe
self.start_time = NSDate.date()
app = NSApplication.sharedApplication()
delegate = self.alloc().init()
app.setDelegate_(delegate)
AppHelper.runEventLoop()
def applicationDidFinishLaunching_(self, notification):
statusbar = NSStatusBar.systemStatusBar()
# Create the statusbar item
self.statusitem = statusbar.statusItemWithLength_(NSVariableStatusItemLength)
# Load all images
for i in status_images.keys():
self.images[i] = NSImage.alloc().initByReferencingFile_(status_images[i])
# Set initial image
self.statusitem.setImage_(self.images['idle'])
# self.statusitem.setAlternateImage_(self.images['highlight'])
# Let it highlight upon clicking
self.statusitem.setHighlightMode_(1)
# Set a tooltip
self.statusitem.setToolTip_('Sample app')
# Build a very simple menu
self.menu = NSMenu.alloc().init()
# Start and stop service
menuitem = NSMenuItem.alloc().initWithTitle_action_keyEquivalent_('Start Service', 'startService:', '')
self.menu.addItem_(menuitem)
menuitem = NSMenuItem.alloc().initWithTitle_action_keyEquivalent_('Stop Service', 'stopService:', '')
self.menu.addItem_(menuitem)
# Add a separator
menuitem = NSMenuItem.separatorItem()
self.menu.addItem_(menuitem)
# Terminate event
menuitem = NSMenuItem.alloc().initWithTitle_action_keyEquivalent_('Quit', 'terminate:', '')
self.menu.addItem_(menuitem)
# Bind it to the status item
self.statusitem.setMenu_(self.menu)
# Get the timer going
self.timer = NSTimer.alloc().initWithFireDate_interval_target_selector_userInfo_repeats_(self.start_time, 5.0, self, 'tick:', None, True)
NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop().addTimer_forMode_(self.timer, NSDefaultRunLoopMode)
self.timer.fire()
def tick_(self, notification):
print self.state
def startService_(self, notification):
self.pipe.send(["foobar", None])
print "starting service"
def stopService_(self, notification):
print "stopping service"