Ocamlnet 3 Reference Manual : Unixqueue.event_system

# Class type Unixqueue.event_system

    class type event_system = object .. end

The `event_system` manages events, handlers, resources, groups, etc. It is now a class type, and you may invoke the operations directly for the class. The operations are still available as functions (below).

A resource is an operation with an optional timer. The operation describes the condition to watch for, and the timer defines the maximum period of time for that. If the condition becomes true, an `Input_arrived`, `Output_readiness`, or `Out_of_band` event will be triggered. If the timer expires, a `Timeout` event will be generated. After the event the resource remains active, and the timeout period begins anew.

A resource is usually bound to a file descriptor. It is allowed to watch the same descriptor for several different conditions, but it is forbidden to watch the same descriptor for the same kind of condition several times.

As a special case, the operation `Wait` is not bound to a file descriptor, but simply starts a timer. The argument of `Wait` can be used to distinguish between several timers that are active at the same time.

Event handlers get the events one after the other, and process them. When a handler is called for an event, there are several possible reactions: (1) The handler can return normally, which means that the event has been accepted, and will not be passed to any other handler. (2) The handler can raise `Equeue.Reject`, which means that the handler cannot process the event, and that another handler should get it. (3) The handler can raise `Equeue.Terminate` which means that the event has been accepted, and that the handler is terminated (it will never be called again). (4) The handler can raise `Abort` which means that the event is deferred, and that a special abort mechanism is triggered (see the description for `Abort` above), this is also terminates the handler. The deferred event will again be processed in the future. (5) The handler can raise any other exception. This causes that the event is deferred, and the exception falls through to the caller of `run`.

Groups are used to simplify the association of events to handlers, and to simplify the termination of handlers (see `clear`). If an event is associated with a group, only handlers associated with the same group will get them.

There is a special Close handler which is useful to close file descriptors no longer needed. It is called when all resources are removed from the event system dealing with the file descriptor. The close handler should close the descriptor. Note that close handlers are only useful under certain circumstances.

    method new_group : unit -> group

    method new_wait_id : unit -> wait_id

    method exists_resource : operation -> bool

    method add_resource : group -> operation * float -> unit

    method add_weak_resource : group -> operation * float -> unit

    method add_close_action : group -> Unix.file_descr * (Unix.file_descr -> unit) -> unit

    method add_abort_action : group -> (group -> exn -> unit) -> unit

    method remove_resource : group -> operation -> unit

    method add_handler : group ->
           (event_system ->
            event Equeue.t -> event -> unit) ->
           unit

    method add_event : event -> unit

    method clear : group -> unit

    method run : unit -> unit

    method is_running : bool

    method when_blocking : (unit -> unit) -> unit