how does system determine when to enter the thread function when using mutex

From:
"Daniel" <newsonly@cableone.net>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.language
Date:
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:44:25 -0500
Message-ID:
<eqVdWBV7IHA.2336@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl>
Following is a sample code I got from the MSDN help on using the mutex with
multiple threads. I can't figure out how the operating system decides when
the break out of the thread function to allow entry for another thread. It
doesn't appear to be under the control of the code. Is that something the
system determines? based on time slice, perhaps?

#include "stdafx.h"

#include <windows.h>

#include <stdio.h>

#define THREADCOUNT 2

HANDLE ghMutex;

DWORD WINAPI WriteToDatabase( LPVOID );

void main()

{

HANDLE aThread[THREADCOUNT];

DWORD ThreadID;

int i;

// Create a mutex with no initial owner

ghMutex = CreateMutex(

NULL, // default security attributes

FALSE, // initially not owned

NULL); // unnamed mutex

if (ghMutex == NULL)

{

printf("CreateMutex error: %d\n", GetLastError());

return;

}

// Create worker threads

for( i=0; i < THREADCOUNT; i++ )

{

aThread[i] = CreateThread(

NULL, // default security attributes

0, // default stack size

(LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE) WriteToDatabase,

NULL, // no thread function arguments

0, // default creation flags

&ThreadID); // receive thread identifier

if( aThread[i] == NULL )

{

printf("CreateThread error: %d\n", GetLastError());

return;

}

}

// Wait for all threads to terminate

WaitForMultipleObjects(THREADCOUNT, aThread, TRUE, INFINITE);

// Close thread and mutex handles

for( i=0; i < THREADCOUNT; i++ )

CloseHandle(aThread[i]);

CloseHandle(ghMutex);

}

DWORD WINAPI WriteToDatabase( LPVOID lpParam )

{

DWORD dwCount=0, dwWaitResult;

printf("%d*********************\n", GetCurrentThreadId());

// Request ownership of mutex.

while( dwCount < 20 )

{

printf("%d dwCount = %d\n", GetCurrentThreadId(), (int)dwCount);

printf("%d ...wait...\n", GetCurrentThreadId());

dwWaitResult = WaitForSingleObject(

ghMutex, // handle to mutex

INFINITE); // no time-out interval

printf("%d ---switch---\n", GetCurrentThreadId());

switch (dwWaitResult)

{

// The thread got ownership of the mutex

case WAIT_OBJECT_0:

__try {

// TODO: Write to the database

printf("%d writing to database...\n",

GetCurrentThreadId());

dwCount++;

}

__finally {

// Release ownership of the mutex object

if (! ReleaseMutex(ghMutex))

{

// Deal with error.

}

printf("%d xxxreleasexxx\n", GetCurrentThreadId());

}

break;

// The thread got ownership of an abandoned mutex

case WAIT_ABANDONED:

printf("%dWAIT_ABANDONED------------\n", GetCurrentThreadId());

return FALSE;

}

}

printf("%d----------------------\n", GetCurrentThreadId());

return TRUE;

}

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