# QT Ruby odd focus behavior **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [March 8, 2007, 5:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/qt-ruby-odd-focus-behavior/88097 "2007-03-08T05:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/christophertasma)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 5:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/qt-ruby-odd-focus-behavior/88097/1 "2007-03-08T05:27:45Z")
Hello all, I was writing a simple ‘file sharing’ program with QT and ruby. I noticed when running two clients on one machine for testing some odd behavior with the focus. When a peer receives a request from and serves files to another peer, it does so from a file server running in a separate thread. I noticed that the programs seem to die when there is no focus on the main window of the client. As I watch the socket comminication on the console, I see that I have to move the mouse over the peer who needs to take the next step before anything will happen. If I make a request from the other peer, it just sits there waiting for some response. I have to actaully move over and give focus to the other window before it will respond. I have to go back and forth like this until all communication is done. Any have any ideas on how this would be tied to the windows focus? ---
**Author:** ![christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/christophertasma)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/qt-ruby-odd-focus-behavior/88097/2 "2007-03-08T11:55:31Z")
On Mar 8, 5:27 pm, Christopher T. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > console, I see that I have to move the mouse over the peer who needs to > take the next step before anything will happen. If I make a request > from the other peer, it just sits there waiting for some response. I > have to actaully move over and give focus to the other window before it > will respond. I have to go back and forth like this until all > communication is done. > > Any have any ideas on how this would be tied to the windows focus? > > – > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. Do you have explicit callbacks into Ruby to allow Ruby’s green threads to go? Ruby doesn’t use operating system threads yet and QtRuby will not be particularly respectful about letting Ruby run at appropriate intervals. I’m guessing there are enough callbacks to Ruby code while the window is in focus for your thread to run happily but the thread is starved while the Qt window is receiving no external events. You could fix this by creating a timer which periodically calls Thread.pass and allows other Ruby threads to run. ---
**Author:** ![christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/christophertasma)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 5:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/qt-ruby-odd-focus-behavior/88097/3 "2007-03-10T05:57:19Z")
> Do you have explicit callbacks into Ruby to allow Ruby’s green threads > to go? Ruby doesn’t use operating system threads yet and QtRuby will > not be particularly respectful about letting Ruby run at appropriate > intervals. Thanks for the suggestion, and sorry it took so long to try it out. There hasn’t been much time after work this week to play 😉 I tried several different things to try and give control to the interpreter, but I didn’t have much luck. The best I got with the Thread.pass was a non functioning GUI. Any more ideas would be welcome, otherwise I will try to post what is going wrong if I ever figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/christophertasma)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/qt-ruby-odd-focus-behavior/88097/4 "2007-03-11T06:12:56Z")
Christopher T. wrote: > Thanks for the suggestion, and sorry it took so long to try it out. > There hasn’t been much time after work this week to play 😉 > > I tried several different things to try and give control to the > interpreter, but I didn’t have much luck. The best I got with the > Thread.pass was a non functioning GUI. Any more ideas would be welcome, > otherwise I will try to post what is going wrong if I ever figure it > out. This might not be particularly useful, but have you considered separating the gui code from the actual functional part and having them run in separate processes? this would fix your issue, and give you the ‘feature’ of allowing the downloads to continue with no window or have a different gui. ---
**Author:** ![christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/christophertasma)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/qt-ruby-odd-focus-behavior/88097/5 "2007-03-11T21:20:27Z")
> This might not be particularly useful, but have you considered > separating the gui code from the actual functional part and having them > run in separate processes? this would fix your issue, and give you the > ‘feature’ of allowing the downloads to continue with no window or have a > different gui. I’ve thought about that. I hadn’t done anything with ruby and threads before this, so I got myself into a hole on this one. I think next time I will have to do like you said, and separate things on a process level. For this project, I might assume that it won’t be a problem because there won’t be anybody sharing with themselves anyway 😉 ---
**Author:** ![christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/christophertasma)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/qt-ruby-odd-focus-behavior/88097/6 "2007-03-11T21:30:52Z")
On Mar 11, 8:20 pm, Christopher T. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > For this project, I might assume that it won’t be a problem because > there won’t be anybody sharing with themselves anyway 😉 > > – > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. > Qt and QtRuby have complete support for networking integrated into the > Qt event loop via classes such as Qt::SocketNotifier, Qt::TcpSocket or > Qt::Ftp, and so you might be better off using them rather than ruby > threads or extra processes. Otherwise, you can set a Qt::Timer to > periodically call a slot and allow the Ruby interpreter to run the > code in the threads as another reply suggested. – Richard ---
**Author:** ![christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@christophertasma](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/christophertasma)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/qt-ruby-odd-focus-behavior/88097/7 "2007-03-14T22:02:00Z")
> > – > > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. > > Qt and QtRuby have complete support for networking integrated into the > > Qt event loop via classes such as Qt::SocketNotifier, Qt::TcpSocket or > > Qt::Ftp, and so you might be better off using them rather than ruby > > threads or extra processes. Otherwise, you can set a Qt::Timer to > > periodically call a slot and allow the Ruby interpreter to run the > > code in the threads as another reply suggested. > > – Richard Thanks for the ideas!