Task

class Task(**properties: Any)

Superclasses: Object

Implemented Interfaces: AsyncResult

A GTask represents and manages a cancellable ‘task’.

Asynchronous operations

The most common usage of GTask is as a AsyncResult, to manage data during an asynchronous operation. You call new in the ‘start’ method, followed by set_task_data and the like if you need to keep some additional data associated with the task, and then pass the task object around through your asynchronous operation. Eventually, you will call a method such as return_pointer or return_error, which will save the value you give it and then invoke the task’s callback function in the thread-default main context (see push_thread_default) where it was created (waiting until the next iteration of the main loop first, if necessary). The caller will pass the GTask back to the operation’s finish function (as a AsyncResult), and you can use propagate_pointer or the like to extract the return value.

Using GTask requires the thread-default MainContext from when the GTask was constructed to be running at least until the task has completed and its data has been freed.

If a GTask has been constructed and its callback set, it is an error to not call ``g_task_return_``*() on it. GLib will warn at runtime if this happens (since 2.76).

Here is an example for using GTask as a AsyncResult:

typedef struct {
  CakeFrostingType frosting;
  char *message;
} DecorationData;

static void
decoration_data_free (DecorationData *decoration)
{
  g_free (decoration->message);
  g_slice_free (DecorationData, decoration);
}

static void
baked_cb (Cake     *cake,
          gpointer  user_data)
{
  GTask *task = user_data;
  DecorationData *decoration = g_task_get_task_data (task);
  GError *error = NULL;

  if (cake == NULL)
    {
      g_task_return_new_error (task, BAKER_ERROR, BAKER_ERROR_NO_FLOUR,
                               "Go to the supermarket");
      g_object_unref (task);
      return;
    }

  if (!cake_decorate (cake, decoration->frosting, decoration->message, &error))
    {
      g_object_unref (cake);
      // :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.Task.return_error` takes ownership of error
      g_task_return_error (task, error);
      g_object_unref (task);
      return;
    }

  g_task_return_pointer (task, cake, g_object_unref);
  g_object_unref (task);
}

void
baker_bake_cake_async (Baker               *self,
                       guint                radius,
                       CakeFlavor           flavor,
                       CakeFrostingType     frosting,
                       const char          *message,
                       GCancellable        *cancellable,
                       GAsyncReadyCallback  callback,
                       gpointer             user_data)
{
  GTask *task;
  DecorationData *decoration;
  Cake  *cake;

  task = g_task_new (self, cancellable, callback, user_data);
  if (radius < 3)
    {
      g_task_return_new_error (task, BAKER_ERROR, BAKER_ERROR_TOO_SMALL,
                               "``%ucm`` radius cakes are silly",
                               radius);
      g_object_unref (task);
      return;
    }

  cake = _baker_get_cached_cake (self, radius, flavor, frosting, message);
  if (cake != NULL)
    {
      // _baker_get_cached_cake() returns a reffed cake
      g_task_return_pointer (task, cake, g_object_unref);
      g_object_unref (task);
      return;
    }

  decoration = g_slice_new (DecorationData);
  decoration->frosting = frosting;
  decoration->message = g_strdup (message);
  g_task_set_task_data (task, decoration, (GDestroyNotify) decoration_data_free);

  _baker_begin_cake (self, radius, flavor, cancellable, baked_cb, task);
}

Cake *
baker_bake_cake_finish (Baker         *self,
                        GAsyncResult  *result,
                        GError       **error)
{
  g_return_val_if_fail (g_task_is_valid (result, self), NULL);

  return g_task_propagate_pointer (G_TASK (result), error);
}

Chained asynchronous operations

GTask also tries to simplify asynchronous operations that internally chain together several smaller asynchronous operations. get_cancellable, get_context, and get_priority allow you to get back the task’s Cancellable, MainContext, and I/O priority when starting a new subtask, so you don’t have to keep track of them yourself. attach_source simplifies the case of waiting for a source to fire (automatically using the correct MainContext and priority).

Here is an example for chained asynchronous operations:

typedef struct {
  Cake *cake;
  CakeFrostingType frosting;
  char *message;
} BakingData;

static void
decoration_data_free (BakingData *bd)
{
  if (bd->cake)
    g_object_unref (bd->cake);
  g_free (bd->message);
  g_slice_free (BakingData, bd);
}

static void
decorated_cb (Cake         *cake,
              GAsyncResult *result,
              gpointer      user_data)
{
  GTask *task = user_data;
  GError *error = NULL;

  if (!cake_decorate_finish (cake, result, &error))
    {
      g_object_unref (cake);
      g_task_return_error (task, error);
      g_object_unref (task);
      return;
    }

  // baking_data_free() will drop its ref on the cake, so we have to
  // take another here to give to the caller.
  g_task_return_pointer (task, g_object_ref (cake), g_object_unref);
  g_object_unref (task);
}

static gboolean
decorator_ready (gpointer user_data)
{
  GTask *task = user_data;
  BakingData *bd = g_task_get_task_data (task);

  cake_decorate_async (bd->cake, bd->frosting, bd->message,
                       g_task_get_cancellable (task),
                       decorated_cb, task);

  return G_SOURCE_REMOVE;
}

static void
baked_cb (Cake     *cake,
          gpointer  user_data)
{
  GTask *task = user_data;
  BakingData *bd = g_task_get_task_data (task);
  GError *error = NULL;

  if (cake == NULL)
    {
      g_task_return_new_error (task, BAKER_ERROR, BAKER_ERROR_NO_FLOUR,
                               "Go to the supermarket");
      g_object_unref (task);
      return;
    }

  bd->cake = cake;

  // Bail out now if the user has already cancelled
  if (g_task_return_error_if_cancelled (task))
    {
      g_object_unref (task);
      return;
    }

  if (cake_decorator_available (cake))
    decorator_ready (task);
  else
    {
      GSource *source;

      source = cake_decorator_wait_source_new (cake);
      // Attach ``source`` to ``task``’s GMainContext and have it call
      // decorator_ready() when it is ready.
      g_task_attach_source (task, source, decorator_ready);
      g_source_unref (source);
    }
}

void
baker_bake_cake_async (Baker               *self,
                       guint                radius,
                       CakeFlavor           flavor,
                       CakeFrostingType     frosting,
                       const char          *message,
                       gint                 priority,
                       GCancellable        *cancellable,
                       GAsyncReadyCallback  callback,
                       gpointer             user_data)
{
  GTask *task;
  BakingData *bd;

  task = g_task_new (self, cancellable, callback, user_data);
  g_task_set_priority (task, priority);

  bd = g_slice_new0 (BakingData);
  bd->frosting = frosting;
  bd->message = g_strdup (message);
  g_task_set_task_data (task, bd, (GDestroyNotify) baking_data_free);

  _baker_begin_cake (self, radius, flavor, cancellable, baked_cb, task);
}

Cake *
baker_bake_cake_finish (Baker         *self,
                        GAsyncResult  *result,
                        GError       **error)
{
  g_return_val_if_fail (g_task_is_valid (result, self), NULL);

  return g_task_propagate_pointer (G_TASK (result), error);
}

Asynchronous operations from synchronous ones

You can use run_in_thread to turn a synchronous operation into an asynchronous one, by running it in a thread. When it completes, the result will be dispatched to the thread-default main context (see push_thread_default) where the GTask was created.

Running a task in a thread:

typedef struct {
  guint radius;
  CakeFlavor flavor;
  CakeFrostingType frosting;
  char *message;
} CakeData;

static void
cake_data_free (CakeData *cake_data)
{
  g_free (cake_data->message);
  g_slice_free (CakeData, cake_data);
}

static void
bake_cake_thread (GTask         *task,
                  gpointer       source_object,
                  gpointer       task_data,
                  GCancellable  *cancellable)
{
  Baker *self = source_object;
  CakeData *cake_data = task_data;
  Cake *cake;
  GError *error = NULL;

  cake = bake_cake (baker, cake_data->radius, cake_data->flavor,
                    cake_data->frosting, cake_data->message,
                    cancellable, &error);
  if (cake)
    g_task_return_pointer (task, cake, g_object_unref);
  else
    g_task_return_error (task, error);
}

void
baker_bake_cake_async (Baker               *self,
                       guint                radius,
                       CakeFlavor           flavor,
                       CakeFrostingType     frosting,
                       const char          *message,
                       GCancellable        *cancellable,
                       GAsyncReadyCallback  callback,
                       gpointer             user_data)
{
  CakeData *cake_data;
  GTask *task;

  cake_data = g_slice_new (CakeData);
  cake_data->radius = radius;
  cake_data->flavor = flavor;
  cake_data->frosting = frosting;
  cake_data->message = g_strdup (message);
  task = g_task_new (self, cancellable, callback, user_data);
  g_task_set_task_data (task, cake_data, (GDestroyNotify) cake_data_free);
  g_task_run_in_thread (task, bake_cake_thread);
  g_object_unref (task);
}

Cake *
baker_bake_cake_finish (Baker         *self,
                        GAsyncResult  *result,
                        GError       **error)
{
  g_return_val_if_fail (g_task_is_valid (result, self), NULL);

  return g_task_propagate_pointer (G_TASK (result), error);
}

Adding cancellability to uncancellable tasks

Finally, run_in_thread and run_in_thread_sync can be used to turn an uncancellable operation into a cancellable one. If you call set_return_on_cancel, passing TRUE, then if the task’s Cancellable is cancelled, it will return control back to the caller immediately, while allowing the task thread to continue running in the background (and simply discarding its result when it finally does finish). Provided that the task thread is careful about how it uses locks and other externally-visible resources, this allows you to make ‘GLib-friendly’ asynchronous and cancellable synchronous variants of blocking APIs.

Cancelling a task:

static void
bake_cake_thread (GTask         *task,
                  gpointer       source_object,
                  gpointer       task_data,
                  GCancellable  *cancellable)
{
  Baker *self = source_object;
  CakeData *cake_data = task_data;
  Cake *cake;
  GError *error = NULL;

  cake = bake_cake (baker, cake_data->radius, cake_data->flavor,
                    cake_data->frosting, cake_data->message,
                    &error);
  if (error)
    {
      g_task_return_error (task, error);
      return;
    }

  // If the task has already been cancelled, then we don’t want to add
  // the cake to the cake cache. Likewise, we don’t  want to have the
  // task get cancelled in the middle of updating the cache.
  // :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.Task.set_return_on_cancel` will return :const:`True` here if it managed
  // to disable return-on-cancel, or :const:`False` if the task was cancelled
  // before it could.
  if (g_task_set_return_on_cancel (task, FALSE))
    {
      // If the caller cancels at this point, their
      // GAsyncReadyCallback won’t be invoked until we return,
      // so we don’t have to worry that this code will run at
      // the same time as that code does. But if there were
      // other functions that might look at the cake cache,
      // then we’d probably need a GMutex here as well.
      baker_add_cake_to_cache (baker, cake);
      g_task_return_pointer (task, cake, g_object_unref);
    }
}

void
baker_bake_cake_async (Baker               *self,
                       guint                radius,
                       CakeFlavor           flavor,
                       CakeFrostingType     frosting,
                       const char          *message,
                       GCancellable        *cancellable,
                       GAsyncReadyCallback  callback,
                       gpointer             user_data)
{
  CakeData *cake_data;
  GTask *task;

  cake_data = g_slice_new (CakeData);

  ...

  task = g_task_new (self, cancellable, callback, user_data);
  g_task_set_task_data (task, cake_data, (GDestroyNotify) cake_data_free);
  g_task_set_return_on_cancel (task, TRUE);
  g_task_run_in_thread (task, bake_cake_thread);
}

Cake *
baker_bake_cake_sync (Baker               *self,
                      guint                radius,
                      CakeFlavor           flavor,
                      CakeFrostingType     frosting,
                      const char          *message,
                      GCancellable        *cancellable,
                      GError             **error)
{
  CakeData *cake_data;
  GTask *task;
  Cake *cake;

  cake_data = g_slice_new (CakeData);

  ...

  task = g_task_new (self, cancellable, NULL, NULL);
  g_task_set_task_data (task, cake_data, (GDestroyNotify) cake_data_free);
  g_task_set_return_on_cancel (task, TRUE);
  g_task_run_in_thread_sync (task, bake_cake_thread);

  cake = g_task_propagate_pointer (task, error);
  g_object_unref (task);
  return cake;
}

Porting from SimpleAsyncResult

GTask’s API attempts to be simpler than SimpleAsyncResult’s in several ways:

  • You can save task-specific data with set_task_data, and retrieve it later with get_task_data. This replaces the abuse of set_op_res_gpointer for the same purpose with SimpleAsyncResult.

  • In addition to the task data, GTask also keeps track of the priority, Cancellable, and MainContext associated with the task, so tasks that consist of a chain of simpler asynchronous operations will have easy access to those values when starting each sub-task.

  • return_error_if_cancelled provides simplified handling for cancellation. In addition, cancellation overrides any other GTask return value by default, like SimpleAsyncResult does when set_check_cancellable is called. (You can use set_check_cancellable to turn off that behavior.) On the other hand, run_in_thread guarantees that it will always run your task_func, even if the task’s Cancellable is already cancelled before the task gets a chance to run; you can start your task_func with a return_error_if_cancelled check if you need the old behavior.

  • The ‘return’ methods (eg, return_pointer) automatically cause the task to be ‘completed’ as well, and there is no need to worry about the ‘complete’ vs ‘complete in idle’ distinction. (GTask automatically figures out whether the task’s callback can be invoked directly, or if it needs to be sent to another MainContext, or delayed until the next iteration of the current MainContext.)

  • The ‘finish’ functions for GTask based operations are generally much simpler than SimpleAsyncResult ones, normally consisting of only a single call to propagate_pointer or the like. Since propagate_pointer ‘steals’ the return value from the GTask, it is not necessary to juggle pointers around to prevent it from being freed twice.

  • With SimpleAsyncResult, it was common to call propagate_error from the _finish() wrapper function, and have virtual method implementations only deal with successful returns. This behavior is deprecated, because it makes it difficult for a subclass to chain to a parent class’s async methods. Instead, the wrapper function should just be a simple wrapper, and the virtual method should call an appropriate `g_task_propagate_` function. Note that wrapper methods can now use legacy_propagate_error to do old-style SimpleAsyncResult error-returning behavior, and is_tagged to check if a result is tagged as having come from the _async() wrapper function (for ‘short-circuit’ results, such as when passing 0 to read_async).

Thread-safety considerations

Due to some infelicities in the API design, there is a thread-safety concern that users of GTask have to be aware of:

If the main thread drops its last reference to the source object or the task data before the task is finalized, then the finalizers of these objects may be called on the worker thread.

This is a problem if the finalizers use non-threadsafe API, and can lead to hard-to-debug crashes. Possible workarounds include:

  • Clear task data in a signal handler for notify::completed

  • Keep iterating a main context in the main thread and defer dropping the reference to the source object to that main context when the task is finalized

Constructors

class Task
classmethod new(source_object: Object | None = None, cancellable: Cancellable | None = None, callback: Callable[[...], None] | None = None, *callback_data: Any) Task

Creates a Task acting on source_object, which will eventually be used to invoke callback in the current [thread-default main context][g-main-context-push-thread-default].

Call this in the “start” method of your asynchronous method, and pass the Task around throughout the asynchronous operation. You can use set_task_data() to attach task-specific data to the object, which you can retrieve later via get_task_data().

By default, if cancellable is cancelled, then the return value of the task will always be CANCELLED, even if the task had already completed before the cancellation. This allows for simplified handling in cases where cancellation may imply that other objects that the task depends on have been destroyed. If you do not want this behavior, you can use set_check_cancellable() to change it.

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:
  • source_object – the Object that owns this task, or None.

  • cancellable – optional Cancellable object, None to ignore.

  • callback – a AsyncReadyCallback.

  • callback_data – user data passed to callback.

Methods

class Task
get_cancellable() Cancellable | None

Gets task’s Cancellable

Added in version 2.36.

get_check_cancellable() bool

Gets task’s check-cancellable flag. See set_check_cancellable() for more details.

Added in version 2.36.

get_completed() bool

Gets the value of Task:completed. This changes from False to True after the task’s callback is invoked, and will return False if called from inside the callback.

Added in version 2.44.

get_context() MainContext

Gets the MainContext that task will return its result in (that is, the context that was the [thread-default main context][g-main-context-push-thread-default] at the point when task was created).

This will always return a non-None value, even if the task’s context is the default MainContext.

Added in version 2.36.

get_name() str | None

Gets task’s name. See set_name().

Added in version 2.60.

get_priority() int

Gets task’s priority

Added in version 2.36.

get_return_on_cancel() bool

Gets task’s return-on-cancel flag. See set_return_on_cancel() for more details.

Added in version 2.36.

get_source_object() Object | None

Gets the source object from task. Like get_source_object(), but does not ref the object.

Added in version 2.36.

get_source_tag() None

Gets task’s source tag. See set_source_tag().

Added in version 2.36.

get_task_data() None

Gets task’s task_data.

Added in version 2.36.

had_error() bool

Tests if task resulted in an error.

Added in version 2.36.

is_valid(result: AsyncResult, source_object: Object | None = None) bool

Checks that result is a Task, and that source_object is its source object (or that source_object is None and result has no source object). This can be used in return_if_fail() checks.

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:
  • result – A AsyncResult

  • source_object – the source object expected to be associated with the task

propagate_boolean() bool

Gets the result of task as a gboolean.

If the task resulted in an error, or was cancelled, then this will instead return False and set error.

Since this method transfers ownership of the return value (or error) to the caller, you may only call it once.

Added in version 2.36.

propagate_int() int

Gets the result of task as an integer (gssize).

If the task resulted in an error, or was cancelled, then this will instead return -1 and set error.

Since this method transfers ownership of the return value (or error) to the caller, you may only call it once.

Added in version 2.36.

propagate_pointer() None

Gets the result of task as a pointer, and transfers ownership of that value to the caller.

If the task resulted in an error, or was cancelled, then this will instead return None and set error.

Since this method transfers ownership of the return value (or error) to the caller, you may only call it once.

Added in version 2.36.

propagate_value() tuple[bool, Any]

Gets the result of task as a Value, and transfers ownership of that value to the caller. As with return_value(), this is a generic low-level method; propagate_pointer() and the like will usually be more useful for C code.

If the task resulted in an error, or was cancelled, then this will instead set error and return False.

Since this method transfers ownership of the return value (or error) to the caller, you may only call it once.

Added in version 2.64.

report_error(source_object: Object | None, callback: Callable[[...], None] | None, source_tag: None, error: GError, *callback_data: Any) None

Creates a Task and then immediately calls return_error() on it. Use this in the wrapper function of an asynchronous method when you want to avoid even calling the virtual method. You can then use is_tagged() in the finish method wrapper to check if the result there is tagged as having been created by the wrapper method, and deal with it appropriately if so.

See also report_new_error().

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:
  • source_object – the Object that owns this task, or None.

  • callback – a AsyncReadyCallback.

  • source_tag – an opaque pointer indicating the source of this task

  • error – error to report

  • callback_data – user data passed to callback.

return_boolean(result: bool) None

Sets task’s result to result and completes the task (see return_pointer() for more discussion of exactly what this means).

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

result – the gboolean result of a task function.

return_error(error: GError) None

Sets task’s result to error (which task assumes ownership of) and completes the task (see return_pointer() for more discussion of exactly what this means).

Note that since the task takes ownership of error, and since the task may be completed before returning from return_error(), you cannot assume that error is still valid after calling this. Call copy() on the error if you need to keep a local copy as well.

See also return_new_error, return_new_error_literal.

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

error – the Error result of a task function.

return_error_if_cancelled() bool

Checks if task’s Cancellable has been cancelled, and if so, sets task’s error accordingly and completes the task (see return_pointer() for more discussion of exactly what this means).

Added in version 2.36.

return_int(result: int) None

Sets task’s result to result and completes the task (see return_pointer() for more discussion of exactly what this means).

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

result – the integer (gssize) result of a task function.

return_new_error_literal(domain: int, code: int, message: str) None

Sets task’s result to a new Error created from domain, code, message and completes the task.

See return_pointer for more discussion of exactly what ‘completing the task’ means.

See also return_new_error.

Added in version 2.80.

Parameters:
  • domain – a Quark.

  • code – an error code.

  • message – an error message

return_pointer(result: None, result_destroy: Callable[[None], None] | None = None) None

Sets task’s result to result and completes the task. If result is not None, then result_destroy will be used to free result if the caller does not take ownership of it with propagate_pointer().

“Completes the task” means that for an ordinary asynchronous task it will either invoke the task’s callback, or else queue that callback to be invoked in the proper MainContext, or in the next iteration of the current MainContext. For a task run via run_in_thread() or run_in_thread_sync(), calling this method will save result to be returned to the caller later, but the task will not actually be completed until the TaskThreadFunc exits.

Note that since the task may be completed before returning from return_pointer(), you cannot assume that result is still valid after calling this, unless you are still holding another reference on it.

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:
  • result – the pointer result of a task function

  • result_destroy – a DestroyNotify function.

return_value(result: Any | None = None) None

Sets task’s result to result (by copying it) and completes the task.

If result is None then a Value of type %G_TYPE_POINTER with a value of None will be used for the result.

This is a very generic low-level method intended primarily for use by language bindings; for C code, return_pointer() and the like will normally be much easier to use.

Added in version 2.64.

Parameters:

result – the Value result of a task function

run_in_thread(task_func: Callable[[Task, Object, None, Cancellable | None], None]) None

Runs task_func in another thread. When task_func returns, task’s AsyncReadyCallback will be invoked in task’s MainContext.

This takes a ref on task until the task completes.

See TaskThreadFunc for more details about how task_func is handled.

Although GLib currently rate-limits the tasks queued via run_in_thread(), you should not assume that it will always do this. If you have a very large number of tasks to run (several tens of tasks), but don’t want them to all run at once, you should only queue a limited number of them (around ten) at a time.

Be aware that if your task depends on other tasks to complete, use of this function could lead to a livelock if the other tasks also use this function and enough of them (around 10) execute in a dependency chain, as that will exhaust the thread pool. If this situation is possible, consider using a separate worker thread or thread pool explicitly, rather than using run_in_thread().

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

task_func – a TaskThreadFunc

run_in_thread_sync(task_func: Callable[[Task, Object, None, Cancellable | None], None]) None

Runs task_func in another thread, and waits for it to return or be cancelled. You can use propagate_pointer(), etc, afterward to get the result of task_func.

See TaskThreadFunc for more details about how task_func is handled.

Normally this is used with tasks created with a None callback, but note that even if the task does have a callback, it will not be invoked when task_func returns. Task:completed will be set to True just before this function returns.

Although GLib currently rate-limits the tasks queued via run_in_thread_sync(), you should not assume that it will always do this. If you have a very large number of tasks to run, but don’t want them to all run at once, you should only queue a limited number of them at a time.

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

task_func – a TaskThreadFunc

set_check_cancellable(check_cancellable: bool) None

Sets or clears task’s check-cancellable flag. If this is True (the default), then propagate_pointer(), etc, and had_error() will check the task’s Cancellable first, and if it has been cancelled, then they will consider the task to have returned an “Operation was cancelled” error (CANCELLED), regardless of any other error or return value the task may have had.

If check_cancellable is False, then the Task will not check the cancellable itself, and it is up to task’s owner to do this (eg, via return_error_if_cancelled()).

If you are using set_return_on_cancel() as well, then you must leave check-cancellable set True.

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

check_cancellable – whether Task will check the state of its Cancellable for you.

set_name(name: str | None = None) None

Sets task’s name, used in debugging and profiling. The name defaults to None.

The task name should describe in a human readable way what the task does. For example, ‘Open file’ or ‘Connect to network host’. It is used to set the name of the Source used for idle completion of the task.

This function may only be called before the task is first used in a thread other than the one it was constructed in. It is called automatically by set_source_tag() if not called already.

Added in version 2.60.

Parameters:

name – a human readable name for the task, or None to unset it

set_priority(priority: int) None

Sets task’s priority. If you do not call this, it will default to %G_PRIORITY_DEFAULT.

This will affect the priority of Source created with attach_source() and the scheduling of tasks run in threads, and can also be explicitly retrieved later via get_priority().

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

priority

the priority of the request

set_return_on_cancel(return_on_cancel: bool) bool

Sets or clears task’s return-on-cancel flag. This is only meaningful for tasks run via run_in_thread() or run_in_thread_sync().

If return_on_cancel is True, then cancelling task’s Cancellable will immediately cause it to return, as though the task’s TaskThreadFunc had called return_error_if_cancelled() and then returned.

This allows you to create a cancellable wrapper around an uninterruptible function. The TaskThreadFunc just needs to be careful that it does not modify any externally-visible state after it has been cancelled. To do that, the thread should call set_return_on_cancel() again to (atomically) set return-on-cancel False before making externally-visible changes; if the task gets cancelled before the return-on-cancel flag could be changed, set_return_on_cancel() will indicate this by returning False.

You can disable and re-enable this flag multiple times if you wish. If the task’s Cancellable is cancelled while return-on-cancel is False, then calling set_return_on_cancel() to set it True again will cause the task to be cancelled at that point.

If the task’s Cancellable is already cancelled before you call run_in_thread()/run_in_thread_sync(), then the TaskThreadFunc will still be run (for consistency), but the task will also be completed right away.

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

return_on_cancel – whether the task returns automatically when it is cancelled.

set_source_tag(source_tag: None) None

Sets task’s source tag.

You can use this to tag a task return value with a particular pointer (usually a pointer to the function doing the tagging) and then later check it using get_source_tag() (or is_tagged()) in the task’s “finish” function, to figure out if the response came from a particular place.

A macro wrapper around this function will automatically set the task’s name to the string form of source_tag if it’s not already set, for convenience.

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:

source_tag – an opaque pointer indicating the source of this task

set_static_name(name: str | None = None) None

Sets task’s name, used in debugging and profiling.

This is a variant of set_name() that avoids copying name.

Added in version 2.76.

Parameters:

name – a human readable name for the task. Must be a string literal

set_task_data(task_data: None, task_data_destroy: Callable[[None], None] | None = None) None

Sets task’s task data (freeing the existing task data, if any).

Added in version 2.36.

Parameters:
  • task_data – task-specific data

  • task_data_destroyDestroyNotify for task_data

Properties

class Task
props.completed: bool

Whether the task has completed, meaning its callback (if set) has been invoked.

This can only happen after return_pointer(), return_error() or one of the other return functions have been called on the task. However, it is not guaranteed to happen immediately after those functions are called, as the task’s callback may need to be scheduled to run in a different thread.

That means it is not safe to use this property to track whether a return function has been called on the Task. Callers must do that tracking themselves, typically by linking the lifetime of the Task to the control flow of their code.

This property is guaranteed to change from False to True exactly once.

The Object::notify signal for this change is emitted in the same main context as the task’s callback, immediately after that callback is invoked.

Added in version 2.44.