Ecore offers a simplified API for managing threads in EFL applications. The Ecore API applies to a typical scenario where the main thread creates another thread, which in turn sends data back to the main thread or calls GUI-related functions. GUI-related functions are not thread-safe.

The threads created with Ecore are by default integrated with the thread pool and offer simple callback-based ways to interact with the main loop. New threads are created as needed until the maximum capacity of the thread pool is reached.

Use the ecore_thread_feedback_run() function to send intermediate feedback from the thread to the main loop.

To create and run a thread, use the ecore_thread_run() function. It runs a function inside a thread from the thread pool and takes care of all the low-level work. It returns the corresponding thread handler or NULL on failure.

The most common way to return data from one thread to the main thread is to put a pointer to it in the data. When the thread is aborted or finishes, either func_cancel() or func_end() is called from the main loop. The functions are running in the simpler context of a single thread running at once and therefore avoid race-conditions.

The data pointer approach can only be used when the data is shared between the one thread and the main thread only. However, this does not prevent you from using the func_end() callback to merge the results into a single data structure. For example, you can add all the values computed by the threads to an Eina_List, as all the operations on the list happen from a single thread and therefore one after the other and not concurrently.

If you are performing operations in another thread and want to update a progress bar, the update operation must be done from the main thread. The simplest way is to use the ecore_main_loop_thread_safe_call_async() function, which takes a function and some data as parameters and instructs the main loop to execute the given function with the given data.

Depending on the kind of thread the function is called from, the process differs:

• If the function is called from a thread that is not the main one, the function sends a message to the main loop and returns quickly. The message is processed in order, similarly to others.
• If the function is called from the main thread, the function is called immediately as if it were a direct call.

If you want to wait until the callback is called and returns, use the ecore_main_loop_thread_safe_call_sync() function, which is similar but synchronous. Since it is synchronous, it can also return the value returned by the callback.