Equivalent to window.setTimeout() for C++

Question

In javascript there's this sweet, sweet function window.setTimeout( func, 1000 ) ; which will asynchronously invoke func after 1000 ms.

I want to do something similar in C++ (without multithreading), so I put together a sample loop like:

    #include <stdio.h>

    struct Callback
    {
      // The _time_ this function will be executed.
      double execTime ;

      // The function to execute after execTime has passed
      void* func ;
    } ;

    // Sample function to execute
    void go()
    {
      puts( "GO" ) ;
    }

    // Global program-wide sense of time
    double time ;

    int main()
    {
      // start the timer
      time = 0 ;

      // Make a sample callback
      Callback c1 ;
      c1.execTime = 10000 ;
      c1.func = go ;

      while( 1 )
      {
        // its time to execute it
        if( time > c1.execTime )
        {
          c1.func ; // !! doesn't work!
        }

        time++;
      }
    }

How can I make something like this work?

Answer 1

After C++11 came out, and if your are using c++11 supported compiler, you can use lambda, variadic template function and asynchronous thread to simulate javascript function in c++ easily.

Here is the code I wrote for setTimeOut, it is fully tested:

setTimeOut funtion's definition:

    #include <windows.h>//different header file in linux
    #include <future>
    using namespace std;

    template <typename... ParamTypes>
    void setTimeOut(int milliseconds,std::function<void(ParamTypes...)> func,ParamTypes... parames)
    {   
        std::async(std::launch::async,[=]()
        {       
            Sleep(milliseconds);
            func(parames...); 
        });
     };

This function accepts variable arguments by using c+11's variadic template, The code can show you how to use it:

    #include <iostream>
    #include <thread>
    #include <string>
    #include <functional>
    #include <windows.h>

    #include <future>
    using namespace std;
    int main() 
    {
        std::mutex locker;
        std::function<void()> func1 = [&]()
        {
            std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk(locker);
            std::cout << "func 1 is trigged:" << "   no parameter" << std::endl;
            lk.unlock();
        };      
        std::function<void(int)> func2 = [&](int param)
        {
            std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk(locker);
            std::cout << "func 2 is trigged:" << "   int: " << param <<std::endl;
            lk.unlock();
        };
        std::function<void(int,std::string)> func3 = [&](int param1,std::string param2)
        {
            std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk(locker);
            std::cout << "func 3 is trigged:" << "   int: " << param1 << ";  string: " << param2 << std::endl;
            lk.unlock();
        };

        for(int index=0;index<100;index++)
        {
            std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk1(locker);
            std::cout << "set timer for func  1" << std::endl;
            lk1.unlock();
            setTimeOut<>(1000,func1);

            std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk2(locker);
            std::cout << "set timer for func  2" << std::endl;
            lk2.unlock();
            setTimeOut<int>(2000,func2,10000);

            std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk3(locker);
            std::cout << "set timer for func  3" << std::endl;
            lk3.unlock();
            setTimeOut<int,std::string>(5000,func3,10000,"ddddd");
        }
        Sleep(10000000);
    }

Answer 2

Make Callback::func of type void (*)(), i.e.

struct Callback
{
    double execTime;
    void (*func)();
};

You can call the function this way:

c1.func();

Also, don't busy-wait. Use ualarm on Linux or CreateWaitableTimer on Windows.