Thread: Do more than one thing at the same time?

I'm testing my skills by writing a snake clone. It's pretty much finished but I'm stuck with one major problem; I can't get it to both listen for a keypress and move the snake forward.
Right now the function I use for getting a keypress looks like this.

Code:

void getkey(void)
{
    key = getch();
    if (key == 0)
        key = getch() + 256;
    switch (key) {
        case LEFT:
        case RIGHT:
        case UP:
        case DOWN:
        dir[1] = dir[0];
        dir[0] = key;
        break;
    }
    if ((dir[1] == RIGHT && dir[0] == LEFT) || (dir[1] == LEFT && dir[0] == RIGHT) || (dir[1] == UP && dir[0] == DOWN) || (dir[1] == DOWN && dir[0] == UP))
        dir[0] = dir[1];
}

And whenever it gets there, it will wait for a keypress and not do anything else till you do so.
A friend mentioned something called "threads" but didn't know much about it, Google isn't being helpful either because searching for "threads" will result in links to various message boards.

You could use the _beginthread function, it's used like this:

_beginthread(manageKeys,0,NULL);

The manageKeys function would have to look like this:

void manageKeys(void *p);

When calling the _beginthread function, it creates a new thread and executes the manageKeys function in it. Your program should look something like:

Code:

void manageKeys(void *p);

int dir[1000]; // this is the dir array you used in your sample code, don't know if it's the right type and stuff, doesn't matter too much



int main() {
  // initial code

  _beginthread(manageKeys,0,NULL);

  while(1) {
     // Move the snake here
  }

  return 0;
}

void manageKeys(void *p) {
  while(1)
    getkey();

  _endthread();
}

I'm using Borland C++ on Windows.

When I tried _beginthread() I got "Call to function '_beginthread' with no prototype in function main" and the second one I didn't really understand, isn't that what I'm already using?

In Salem's solution you should use kbhit() (which is defined in conio.h). kbhit() will check wether a key is pressed, if so it will return 1, otherwhise it will return 0. So it should be something like

Code:

if(kbhit()) {
  int key = getch();
  // change direction
}

// move snake

That worked, but not like I wanted it to. It only gets the key before it starts waiting a second, and only then. So you had to hold down a arrow key and hope it got caught by kbhit().

If this is for a DOS program you will need to write an int 09h handler for your keyboard to work correctly.

The default BIOS handler pretty much sucks at everything related to low-latency ease-of-use multi-key detection compatible stuff.

But you must be in DOS to do it and yes, it does work on XP.

Code:

#ifdef __cplusplus
  #define __CPPARGS ...
#else
  #define __CPPARGS
#endif

#include <dos.h>

#define TRUE 1
#define FALSE 0

int HandlerInstalled;

void interrupt (*OldHandler)(__CPPARGS);
int keys[255];

void interrupt NewHandler(__CPPARGS)
{
  int keypress=inportb(0x60);
  
  if (keypress>127)
 {
    keys[keypress & 0x7F]=0;
 } else keys[keypress]=1;

  //Send EOI to PIC
  outportb(0x20,0x20);
}

void InstallHandler(void)
{
  
  atexit(UnInstallHandler);
  OldHandler=getvect(0x09);

  setvect(0x09,NewHandler);
  HandlerInstalled=TRUE;
}

void UnInstallHandler(void)
{
   if (HandlerInstalled)
  {
    setvect(0x09,OldHandler);
    HandlerInstalled=FALSE;
  }
}

int GetKeyState(int scancode)
{
  //No checking to see if scancode is valid or in range
  return keys[scancode];
}

There is another version of this that uses 0x96 to retrieve the key, but I left it out.
I hope there are not any errors in this....but if this is for DOS this code will do what you want.

Call InstallHandler to install the keyboard handler.

Don't press CTRL-BRK during debug...the new handler will be not be uninstalled - and hence you will have to reboot.

Call UnInstallHandler to remove it from the interrupt vector table and restore the IVT.

This code registers UnInstallHandler with atexit() so on a normal exit the handler will be correctly uninstalled.

Originally Posted by OnionKnight

And whenever it gets there, it will wait for a keypress and not do anything else till you do so.
A friend mentioned something called "threads" but didn't know much about it, Google isn't being helpful either because searching for "threads" will result in links to various message boards.

You can find out more on posix threads here.
Ditch the win32 search term and you will yield a lot more information on the subject as well.

~/

The if (kbhit()) actually worked, problem was that I had the sleep() function after it, instead of before it.

A little off topic: I'm stuck with sleep(). Why won't delay() work? According to my googling around, it should be there in my version of Borland C++ (version 5.5.1). When I look in dos.h, there is no prototype for it.