New AngelScript sample: Concurrent script threads

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5 comments, last by WitchLord 18 years, 10 months ago
I wrote a new sample for AngelScript this afternoon, and thought I would share it with you already, since it will probably be some days yet before the next WIP release. This script shows how to have two (or more) script contexts running concurrently. The scripts voluntarily give up their control by calling Sleep(), and a simple context manager resumes the execution when the time has passed.

#include <iostream>  // cout
#include <assert.h>  // assert()
#include <conio.h>   // kbhit(), getch()
#include <windows.h> // timeGetTime()
#include <vector>
#include <angelscript.h>
#include "../../../add_on/scriptstring/scriptstring.h"

using namespace std;

// Function prototypes
void ConfigureEngine(asIScriptEngine *engine);
int  CompileScript(asIScriptEngine *engine);
void PrintString(string &str);
void PrintNumber(int num);
void ScriptSleep(UINT milliSeconds);

struct SContextInfo
{
	UINT sleepUntil;
	asIScriptContext *ctx;
};

// This simple manager will let us manage the contexts, 
// in a simple scheme for apparent multithreading
class CContextManager
{
public:
	void AddContext(int funcID);
	void ExecuteScripts();
	void SetSleeping(asIScriptContext *ctx, UINT milliSeconds);
	void AbortAll();

	vector<SContextInfo> contexts;
} contextManager;

asIScriptEngine *engine = 0;
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
	int r;

	// Create the script engine
	engine = asCreateScriptEngine(ANGELSCRIPT_VERSION);
	if( engine == 0 )
	{
		cout << "Failed to create script engine." << endl;
		return -1;
	}

	// Configure the script engine with all the functions, 
	// and variables that the script should be able to use.
	ConfigureEngine(engine);

	// Compile the script code
	r = CompileScript(engine);
	if( r < 0 ) return -1;

	contextManager.AddContext(engine->GetFunctionIDByDecl("script1", "void main()"));
	contextManager.AddContext(engine->GetFunctionIDByDecl("script2", "void main()"));
	
	// Print some useful information and start the input loop
	cout << "This sample shows how two scripts can be executed concurrently." << endl; 
	cout << "Both scripts voluntarily give up the control by calling Sleep()." << endl;
	cout << "Press any key to terminate the application." << endl;

	for(;;)
	{
		// Check if any key was pressed
		if( kbhit() )
		{
			contextManager.AbortAll();
			break;
		}

		// Allow the contextManager to determine which script to execute next
		contextManager.ExecuteScripts();
	}

	// Release the engine
	engine->Release();

	return 0;
}

void ConfigureEngine(asIScriptEngine *engine)
{
	int r;

	// Register the script string type
	// Look at the implementation for this function for more information  
	// on how to register a custom string type, and other object types.
	// The implementation is in "/add_on/scriptstring/scriptstring.cpp"
	RegisterScriptString(engine);

	// Register the functions that the scripts will be allowed to use
	r = engine->RegisterGlobalFunction("void Print(string &in)", asFUNCTION(PrintString), asCALL_CDECL); assert( r >= 0 );
	r = engine->RegisterGlobalFunction("void Print(int)", asFUNCTION(PrintNumber), asCALL_CDECL); assert( r >= 0 );
	r = engine->RegisterGlobalFunction("void Sleep(uint)", asFUNCTION(ScriptSleep), asCALL_CDECL); assert( r >= 0 );
}

class asCOutputStream : public asIOutputStream
{
public:
	void Write(const char *text) { buffer += text; }

	string buffer;
};

int CompileScript(asIScriptEngine *engine)
{
	int r;

	// This script prints a message 3 times per second
	const char *script1 = 
	"int count = 0;                     "
	"void main()                        "
	"{                                  "
	"  for(;;)                          "
	"  {                                "
	"    Print(\"A :\");                "
	"    Print(count++);                "
	"    Print(\"\\n\");                "
	"    Sleep(333);                    "
	"  }                                "
	"}                                  ";
	
	// This script prints a message once per second
	const char *script2 =
	"int count = 0;                     "
	"void main()                        "
	"{                                  "
	"  for(;;)                          "
	"  {                                "
	"    Print(\" B:\");                "
	"    Print(count++);                "
	"    Print(\"\\n\");                "
	"    Sleep(1000);                   "
	"  }                                "
	"}                                  ";

	// The script compiler will send any compiler messages to the outstream
	asCOutputStream out;

	// Build the two script into separate modules. This will make them have
	// separate namespaces, which allows them to use the same name for functions
	// and global variables.
	r = engine->AddScriptSection("script1", "script1", script1, strlen(script1), 0, false);
	if( r < 0 ) 
	{
		cout << "AddScriptSection() failed" << endl;
		return -1;
	}
	
	r = engine->Build("script1", &out);
	if( r < 0 )
	{
		cout << "Build() failed" << endl;
		return -1;
	}

	r = engine->AddScriptSection("script2", "script2", script2, strlen(script2), 0, false);
	if( r < 0 )
	{
		cout << "AddScriptSection() failed" << endl;
		return -1;
	}

	r = engine->Build("script2", &out);
	if( r < 0 )
	{
		cout << "Build() failed" << endl;
		return -1;
	}

	return 0;
}

void PrintString(string &str)
{
	cout << str;
}

void PrintNumber(int num)
{
	cout << num;
}

void ScriptSleep(UINT milliSeconds)
{
	// Get a pointer to the context that is currently being executed
	asIScriptContext *ctx = asGetActiveContext();
	if( ctx )
	{
		// Suspend it's execution. The VM will continue until the current 
		// statement is finished and then return from the Execute() method
		ctx->Suspend();

		// Tell the context manager when the context is to continue execution
		contextManager.SetSleeping(ctx, milliSeconds);
	}
}

void CContextManager::ExecuteScripts()
{
	// Check if the system time is higher than the time set for the contexts
	UINT time = timeGetTime();
	for( int n = 0; n < contexts.size(); n++ )
	{
		if( contexts[n].ctx && contexts[n].sleepUntil < time )
		{
			int r = contexts[n].ctx->Execute();
			if( r != asEXECUTION_SUSPENDED )
			{
				// The context has terminated execution (for one reason or other)
				contexts[n].ctx->Release();
				contexts[n].ctx = 0;
			}
		}
	}
}

void CContextManager::AbortAll()
{
	// Abort all contexts and release them. The script engine will make 
	// sure that all resources held by the scripts are properly released.
	for( int n = 0; n < contexts.size(); n++ )
	{
		if( contexts[n].ctx )
		{
			contexts[n].ctx->Abort();
			contexts[n].ctx->Release();
			contexts[n].ctx = 0;
		}
	}
}

void CContextManager::AddContext(int funcID)
{
	// Create the new context
	asIScriptContext *ctx;
	int r = engine->CreateContext(&ctx);
	if( r < 0 )
	{
		cout << "Failed to create context" << endl;
		return;
	}

	// Prepare it to execute the function
	r = ctx->Prepare(funcID);
	if( r < 0 )
	{
		cout << "Failed to prepare the context" << endl;
		return;
	}

	// Add the context to the list for execution
	SContextInfo info = {0, ctx};
	contexts.push_back(info);
}

void CContextManager::SetSleeping(asIScriptContext *ctx, UINT milliSeconds)
{
	// Find the context and update the timeStamp  
	// for when the context is to be continued
	for( int n = 0; n < contexts.size(); n++ )
	{
		if( contexts[n].ctx == ctx )
		{
			contexts[n].sleepUntil = timeGetTime() + milliSeconds;
		}
	}
}

The next step would be to create co-routines, that can be controlled from the scripts. This shouldn't be difficult to do: A function for creating new co-routines would be needed, as well as function for passing control to a co-routine. The difficult part would be to pass parameters to the newly created co-routine, but some form of container could be written that would allow any value to be stored in it. That would be a pretty generic solution, which would mean that perhaps I don't have to do anything to the actual library in order to support co-routines. [grin] I'll write this sample that shows how to do co-routines right now, then I'll see what needs to be improved in the library to better support them. I've already seen that a datatype that can store any other type would be a very useful addition to the script library, so this is probably something I'll do in the near future. Regards, Andreas

AngelCode.com - game development and more - Reference DB - game developer references
AngelScript - free scripting library - BMFont - free bitmap font generator - Tower - free puzzle game

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Quote:The difficult part would be to pass parameters to the newly created co-routine, but some form of container could be written that would allow any value to be stored in it. That would be a pretty generic solution, which would mean that perhaps I don't have to do anything to the actual library in order to support co-routines.


boost::any is what you are looking for. It will still be neccessary to write inserter/extracter wrapper functions to bind to the script, but that can be automated with templates. The co-routine can receive an array of anys and a count.
I'll take a look at boost::any, but I have a feeling that it will not serve. I think I will need something that is more integrated into the AngelScript library, in which case I don't want to use any external programming libs. Still, boost::any might give me some valuable ideas on how to implement this container.

Thanks for the tip.

AngelCode.com - game development and more - Reference DB - game developer references
AngelScript - free scripting library - BMFont - free bitmap font generator - Tower - free puzzle game

Polymorphism can be used to hold any type, with the type variable at runtime, in C++. I have my own any type class that works this way, if you want it.
I'd like to take a look at that implementation. If you could send it to my e-mail I'd be grateful.

Thanks,
Andreas

AngelCode.com - game development and more - Reference DB - game developer references
AngelScript - free scripting library - BMFont - free bitmap font generator - Tower - free puzzle game

I sent it to the e-mail address in your profile.
I received it. Thanks!

AngelCode.com - game development and more - Reference DB - game developer references
AngelScript - free scripting library - BMFont - free bitmap font generator - Tower - free puzzle game

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