From: Mark Barton <mark@...>
Date: 2011-10-05T04:30:03+09:00
Subject: WxRuby and blocking issues with a long running function.

Hi All,
First time post and please forgive if this is not 
the right forum for my question. I have googled a 
bit, but I haven't come across anything specific.

I have been programming with Ruby for a while now 
and just started getting into using WxRuby for a 
GUI based application running on Windows. I'm 
having an issue with a function call from WxRuby 
that takes considerable amount to time to complete 
as it does spend much of its time sending and 
receiving serial data as well as a few sleeps 
sprinkled about. I need to be able to update a 
progress bar on the GUI screen, but WXRuby is 
blocked during the call. I have the long running 
call in a separate thread and that seems to be 
working, but the performance is pretty abysmal, 
even with a timer set to allow the thread to run 
at 10 msec.

Is there a  callback to the Wx thread that I can 
make from the long running function that will 
allow the gui to update? I just need to be able to 
update a progress gauge as all the other control 
are disabled during the call.

Thanks for the help

Mark