My solution:
struct MyWidget : QWidget {
// some non-GUI related stuff:
int someData;
virtual void doSth();
// We reset that in the destructor. When you hold its mutex-lock,
// the ref is either NULL or a valid pointer to this MyWidget.
struct LockedRef {
boost::mutex mutex;
MyWidget* ptr;
LockedRef(MyWidget& w) : ptr(&w) {}
void reset() {
boost::mutex::scoped_lock lock(mutex);
ptr = NULL;
}
};
boost::shared_ptr<LockedRef> selfRef;
struct WeakRef;
struct ScopedRef {
boost::shared_ptr<LockedRef> _ref;
MyWidget* ptr;
bool lock;
ScopedRef(WeakRef& ref);
~ScopedRef();
operator bool() { return ptr; }
MyWidget* operator->() { return ptr; }
};
struct WeakRef {
typedef boost::weak_ptr<LockedRef> Ref;
Ref ref;
WeakRef() {}
WeakRef(MyWidget& w) { ref = w.selfRef; }
ScopedRef scoped() { return ScopedRef(*this); }
};
MyWidget();
~MyWidget();
};
MyWidget::ScopedRef::ScopedRef(WeakRef& ref) : ptr(NULL), lock(true) {
_ref = ref.ref.lock();
if(_ref) {
lock = (QThread::currentThread() == qApp->thread());
if(lock) _ref->mutex.lock();
ptr = _ref->ptr;
}
}
MyWidget::ScopedRef::~ScopedRef() {
if(_ref && lock)
_ref->mutex.unlock();
}
MyWidget::~QtBaseWidget() {
selfRef->reset();
selfRef.reset();
}
MyWidget::MyWidget() {
selfRef = boost::shared_ptr<LockedRef>(new LockedRef(*this));
}
Now, everywhere I need to pass around a MyWidget
pointer, I'm using:
MyWidget::WeakRef widget;
And I can use it from another thread like this:
MyWidget::ScopedRef widgetRef(widget);
if(widgetRef)
widgetRef->doSth();
This is safe. As long as ScopedRef
exists, MyWidget
cannot be deleted. It will block in its destructor. Or it is already deleted and ScopedRef::ptr == NULL
.