Question about async methods (related to tdf#158965 "Find Record: Similarities dialog won't appear")

[Miklos Vajna]

Hi Julien,

On Wed, Jan 03, 2024 at 02:01:51PM +0100, Julien Nabet <serval2412 at yahoo.fr> wrote:
> I noticed several methods about async:
> 
> 1) from include/vcl/abstdlg.hxx:
> 
> StartExecuteAsync

I think this is the usual codepath for modal dialogs. Some uno command
decides to open a dialog, we call StartExecuteAsync() with a callback to
handle the dialog result and that handler will be executed at some stage
in the future, instead of right now.

> 2) from include/svtools/genericasyncunodialog.hxx
> 
> executedAsyncDialog which seems used only for PDF dialog
> 
> createAsyncDialog  used for PDF dialog but above all in startExecuteModal
> 
> startExecuteModal
> 
> runAsync
> 
> (perhaps I forgot some).
> 
> Is there some plan to unify them (or at least reduce the number of them) or
> each one has its useful role?

This looks like a special case for the situation when an import or
export action wants to show a dialog, as part of a synchronous filter()
API call. In this case you can't move the "rest of the code" to an async
callback, so that needs special handling. Luckily these dialogs are
rather rare.

I fear there is not much you can unify here. Perhaps it's useful to
document which one is the usual case and which one is some special
minority?

Regards,

Miklos