QTimer in multithreaded application

Question

Okay, so I've completely lost in QTimer. The problem is: I have multithreaded application, and I need to do some work on QTimer's timeout. I've done like this:

QTimer* timer = new QTimer();
timer->setSingleShot(true);
connect(timer, SIGNAL(timeout()), someObject, SLOT(work()));

And this did not work. Sometimes, work() was not called at all, sometimes it was called when I closed program, and sometimes all seemed normal.
So I've come to idea that timer needs thread. To provide MCV example :

class Tester : public QObject
{
 Q_OBJECT
 public:
 Tester(QObject* par = 0) : QObject(par)
 {
 }
 public slots:
 void greet()
 {
  qDebug()<<"hello";
 }
};

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
 QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);

 QTimer* timer1 = new QTimer();

 QThread* thread = new QThread();
 Tester* tester = new Tester();

 timer1->setInterval(500);
 timer1->setSingleShot(false);
 timer1->moveToThread(thread);


 QObject::connect(thread, SIGNAL(started()), timer1, SLOT(start()));

 QObject::connect(timer1, SIGNAL(timeout()), tester, SLOT(greet()));

 QObject::connect(timer1, SIGNAL(timeout()), timer1, SLOT(deleteLater()));
 QObject::connect(timer1, SIGNAL(destroyed()), thread, SLOT(quit()));

 thread->start();

 thread->wait();

 delete thread;
 delete tester;

 return a.exec();
}

And this example does nothing. It does not greet me, so timeout is not called, and it does not end, so thread is not stopped. So questions are:
1. What is wrong with this code?
2. How properly use QTimer in multithreaded environment?

Answer 1

Just calling QTimer::setInterval doesn't start the QTimer. It just sets the interval in which the QTimer::timeout signal is emitted. You didn't start the QTimer. Use QTimer::start.

I think you're doing several mistakes here. You need to move the timer to thread after all the connections are made. Not sure how safe would be to start the timer when the thread starts because at that point, the timer would be in one thread and the thread object would be in another thread. QTimer must be started from the same thread in which it was created. The QThread object is just a thread handler and it lives in the thread in which was created. See the modifications I made to your example:

#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QThread>
#include <QDebug>
#include <QTimer>
#include <QObject>

//#include "tester.h"

class Tester : public QObject
{
    Q_OBJECT

public:
    Tester(QObject* par = 0) : QObject(par)
    {
    }

public slots:
    void greet()
    {
        qDebug()<<"hello";
    }
};

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);

    QTimer* timer1 = new QTimer();

    QThread* thread = new QThread();
    Tester* tester = new Tester();

    timer1->setInterval(500);
    timer1->setSingleShot(false);
    timer1->start();

    QObject::connect(timer1, SIGNAL(timeout()), tester, SLOT(greet()));

    timer1->moveToThread(thread);

    thread->start();

    return a.exec();
}

It's not the safest/best fix(memory leaks and other) but it is, i hope, an example on which you can build.

This would be in my opinion the right and without memory leaks way to use a QTimer in another QThread:

handler.h

#ifndef HANDLER_H
#define HANDLER_H

#include <QObject>

class QTimer;
class QThread;
class Tester;

class Handler : public QObject
{
    Q_OBJECT

public:
    explicit Handler(QObject *parent = 0);
    ~Handler();

    void exec();

private:
    QTimer* timer;
    QThread* thread;
    Tester* tester;
};

#endif // HANDLER_H

handler.cpp

#include "handler.h"
#include "tester.h"

#include <QThread>
#include <QDebug>
#include <QTimer>
#include <QObject>
#include <QCoreApplication>

Handler::Handler(QObject *parent) :
    QObject(parent)
{
    timer = new QTimer;
    thread = new QThread(this);
    tester = new Tester(this);

    timer->setInterval(500);
    timer->setSingleShot(false);

    QObject::connect(timer, SIGNAL(timeout()), tester, SLOT(greet()));
    QObject::connect(thread, SIGNAL(destroyed()), timer, SLOT(deleteLater()));
}

Handler::~Handler()
{
    thread->wait();
}

void Handler::exec()
{
    timer->start();

    timer->moveToThread(thread);

    thread->start();
}

tester.h

#ifndef TESTER_H
#define TESTER_H

#include <QObject>

class Tester : public QObject
{
    Q_OBJECT

public:
    Tester(QObject* par = 0);

public slots:
    void greet();
};


#endif // TESTER_H

tester.cpp

#include "tester.h"

#include <QDebug>

Tester::Tester(QObject *parent) :
    QObject(parent)
{
}

void Tester::greet()
{
    qDebug()<<"hello";
}

main.cpp

#include <QCoreApplication>

#include "handler.h"

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);

    Handler handler;
    handler.exec();

    return a.exec();
}