Thread Array Access

[tomkaczocha]

Hey guys,

I've got a struct array in a header file and at least two pieces of code that access that array.

How do I schedule access for read and write events to that array.
Where do I place my mutex_lock & unlock code?

Thanks for your help,

Tom

header file -> declaration

typedef struct alarm { // creating a alarm data type
  char alarm_name[20];
  char type[20];
  char status[20];
  int day;
  int month;
  int year;
  int hour;
  int minute;
  int second;
} alarm;

// arrays
alarm alarms[10];

write event

// Function saves alarm to file
int save_alarm(alarm *pAl) {
  FILE *pFile; // FILE pointer
  char *pbuff;
  
  pFile = fopen("Data/alarms.txt", "w"); // create/open file
  
  pthread_mutex_lock(&work_mutex); // lock access to array

  if (pFile != NULL) {
    pbuff = malloc(50);
    sprintf(pbuff, "%s %s %s %02d %02d %d %02d %02d 00", 
	    pAl->alarm_name, 
	    pAl->type, 
	    pAl->status, 
	    pAl->day, 
	    pAl->month, 
	    pAl->year, 
	    pAl->hour, 
	    pAl->minute
	    );
    
    fputs(pbuff, pFile);
    free(pbuff);
    fclose(pFile);
    pthread_mutex_unlock(&work_mutex);
    
    return 0;
  }
  else {
    printf("\n\tUnable to save alarm");
    return 1;
  }
}

read event

// Function reads alarms from file and activates them
void open_alarm() {
  FILE *pFile = 0;
  alCounter = 0;

  set_num_records();

  // open file in read mode
  pFile = fopen("Data/alarms.txt", "r");
  
  if (pFile != NULL) {
    
    for (alCounter = 0; alCounter < rec_num; alCounter++) {
      fscanf(pFile, "%s %s %s %02d %02d %d %02d %02d %02d", 
	     &alarms[alCounter].alarm_name, 
	     &alarms[alCounter].type, 
	     &alarms[alCounter].status, 
	     &alarms[alCounter].day, 
	     &alarms[alCounter].month, 
	     &alarms[alCounter].year, 
	     &alarms[alCounter].hour, 
	     &alarms[alCounter].minute, 
	     &alarms[alCounter].second);
    }
    fclose(pFile);
  }
}

[gerard4143]

It doesn't matter where you initialize the mutex...Just do it before you read or write to the shared resource and then set/unset(lock/unlock) the mutex with each read and write.

[tomkaczocha]

Thanks for your advice gerald.

I've initialised the mutex in a header file and put lock/unlock code around every single bit of code that accesses the shared array.

I'm getting a run-time error though, and I'm not sure if it has anything to do with my threads or not.

When my thread is created it runs this function:

void *run_time(void *ptr) {
  char *pbuff;
  int flag = 1;

  while (flag == 1) {
    pbuff = malloc(30);
    sleep(1);
    get_current_time(pbuff);
    alarm_val(pbuff);
    free(pbuff);
  }
  return NULL;
}

and I'm getting the following run-time error:

*** glibc detected *** ./LinuxAlarmClock: malloc(): memory corruption: 0xb6d004e0 ***

Any idea what's causing this error? Is it my threads or is it something to do with my dynamic memory allocation -> malloc?

Not sure if I should start a new thread for this.

Thanks in advance,

Tom