Class Poco::Task
Author: Applied Informatics Software Engineering GmbH and Contributors
Date: 2009-11-24

# Poco

# class Task

Library: Foundation
Package: Tasks
Header: Poco/Task.h

## Description

A Task is a subclass of Runnable that has a name and supports progress reporting and cancellation.

A TaskManager object can be used to take care of the lifecycle of a Task.

## Inheritance

Direct Base Classes: Runnable, RefCountedObject

All Base Classes: RefCountedObject, Runnable

## Member Summary

Member Functions: cancel, getOwner, isCancelled, name, postNotification, progress, reset, run, runTask, setOwner, setProgress, setState, sleep, state

Inherited Functions: duplicate, referenceCount, release, run

## Enumerations

### TaskState

TASK_IDLE

TASK_STARTING

TASK_RUNNING

TASK_CANCELLING

TASK_FINISHED

## Constructors

### Task

Task(
const std::string & name
);

Creates the Task.

## Destructor

### ~Task

virtual ~Task();

Destroys the Task.

## Member Functions

### cancel

void cancel();

Requests the task to cancel itself. For cancellation to work, the task's runTask() method must periodically call isCancelled() and react accordingly.

### isCancelled

bool isCancelled() const;

Returns true if cancellation of the task has been requested.

A Task's runTask() method should periodically call this method and stop whatever it is doing in an orderly way when this method returns true.

### name

const std::string & name() const;

Returns the task's name.

### progress

float progress() const;

Returns the task's progress. The value will be between 0.0 (just started) and 1.0 (completed).

### reset

void reset();

Sets the task's progress to zero and clears the cancel flag.

### run

void run();

Calls the task's runTask() method and notifies the owner of the task's start and completion.

See also: Poco::Runnable::run()

### runTask

virtual void runTask() = 0;

Do whatever the task needs to do. Must be overridden by subclasses.

### state

TaskState state() const;

Returns the task's current state.

### getOwner

TaskManager * getOwner() const;

Returns the owner of the task, which may be NULL.

### postNotification

virtual void postNotification(
Notification * pNf
);

Posts a notification to the task manager's notification center.

A task can use this method to post custom notifications about its progress.

### setOwner

void setOwner(
TaskManager * pOwner
);

Sets the (optional) owner of the task.

### setProgress

void setProgress(
float progress
);

Sets the task's progress. The value should be between 0.0 (just started) and 1.0 (completed).

### setState

void setState(
TaskState state
);

Sets the task's state.

### sleep

bool sleep(
long milliseconds
);

Suspends the current thread for the specified amount of time.

If the task is cancelled while it is sleeping, sleep() will return immediately and the return value will be true. If the time interval passes without the task being cancelled, the return value is false.

A Task should use this method in favor of Thread::sleep().