IThreadProxy::SwitchTo Method

Performs a cooperative context switch from the currently executing context to a different one.

virtual void SwitchTo(
   IExecutionContext * pContext,
   SwitchingProxyState switchState
) =0;

Parameters

  • pContext
    The execution context to cooperatively switch to.

  • switchState
    Indicates the state of the thread proxy that is executing the switch. The parameter is of type SwitchingProxyState.

Remarks

Use this method to switch from one execution context to another, from the IExecutionContext::Dispatch method of the first execution context. The method associates the execution context pContext with a thread proxy if it is not already associated with one. The ownership of the current thread proxy is determined by the value you specify for the switchState argument.

Use the value Idle when you want to return the currently executing thread proxy to the Resource Manager. Calling SwitchTo with the parameter switchState set to Idle will cause the execution context pContext to start executing on the underlying execution resource. Ownership of this thread proxy is transferred to the Resource Manager, and you are expected to return from the execution context's Dispatch method soon after SwitchTo returns, in order to complete the transfer. The execution context that the thread proxy was dispatching is disassociated from the thread proxy, and the scheduler is free to reuse it or destroy it as it sees fit.

Use the value Blocking when you want this thread proxy to enter a blocked state. Calling SwitchTo with the parameter switchState set to Blocking will cause the execution context pContext to start executing, and block the current thread proxy until it is resumed. The scheduler retains ownership of the thread proxy when the thread proxy is in the Blocking state. The blocking thread proxy can be resumed by calling the function SwitchTo to switch to this thread proxy's execution context. You can also resume the thread proxy, by using its associated context to activate a virtual processor root. For more information on how to do this, see IVirtualProcessorRoot::Activate.

Use the value Nesting when you want to temporarily detach this thread proxy from the virtual processor root it is running on, and the scheduler it is dispatching work for. Calling SwitchTo with the parameter switchState set to Nesting will cause the execution context pContext to start executing and the current thread proxy also continues executing without the need for a virtual processor root. The thread proxy is considered to have left the scheduler until it calls the IThreadProxy::SwitchOut method at a later point in time. The IThreadProxy::SwitchOut method could block the thread proxy until a virtual processor root is available to reschedule it.

SwitchTo must be called on the IThreadProxy interface that represents the currently executing thread or the results are undefined. The function throws invalid_argument if the parameter pContext is set to NULL.

Requirements

Header: concrtrm.h

Namespace: Concurrency

See Also

Reference

IThreadProxy Structure

SwitchingProxyState Enumeration