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This example shows some simple usage of ecore_pipe. We are going to create a pipe, fork our process, and then the child is going to communicate to the parent the result of its processing through the pipe.

As always we start with our includes, nothing special:

#include <unistd.h>
#include <Ecore.h>

The first thing we are going to define in our example is the function we are going to run on the child process, which, as mentioned, will do some processing and then will write the result to the pipe:

static void
do_lengthy_task(Ecore_Pipe *pipe)
{
int i, j;
char *buffer;
for (i = 0; i < 20; i++)
{
sleep(1);
buffer = malloc(sizeof(char) * i);
for (j = 0; j < i; j++)
buffer[j] = 'a' + j;
ecore_pipe_write(pipe, buffer, i);
free(buffer);
}
Ecore_Pipe
struct _Ecore_Pipe Ecore_Pipe
A handle for pipes.
Definition: Ecore_Common.h:2402
ecore_pipe_write
Eina_Bool ecore_pipe_write(Ecore_Pipe *p, const void *buffer, unsigned int nbytes)
Writes on the file descriptor the data passed as parameter.
Definition: ecore_pipe.c:199
ecore_pipe_write(pipe, "close", 5);
}

Note
  The sleep was added so the parent process would think the child process was doing something interesting...

Next up is our function for handling data arriving in the pipe. It copies the data to another buffer, adds a terminating NULL and prints it. Also if it receives a certain string it stops the main loop(effectively ending the program):

static void
handler(void *data EINA_UNUSED, void *buf, unsigned int len)
{
char *str = malloc(sizeof(char) * len + 1);
memcpy(str, buf, len);
str[len] = '\0';
printf("received %u bytes\n", len);
printf("content: %s\n", (const char *)str);
free(str);
if (len && !strncmp(buf, "close", len < 5 ? len : 5))
{
printf("close requested\n");
ecore_main_loop_quit();
}
ecore_main_loop_quit
void ecore_main_loop_quit(void)
Quits the main loop once all the events currently on the queue have been processed.
Definition: ecore_main.c:1321
EINA_UNUSED
#define EINA_UNUSED
Used to indicate that a function parameter is purposely unused.
Definition: eina_types.h:339
}

And now on to our main function, we start by declaring some variables and initializing ecore:

int
main(void)
{
Ecore_Pipe *pipe;
pid_t child_pid;
ecore_init();
ecore_init
EAPI int ecore_init(void)
Sets up connections, signal handlers, sockets etc.
Definition: ecore.c:230

And since we are talking about pipes let's create one:

pipe = ecore_pipe_add(handler, NULL);
ecore_pipe_add
Ecore_Pipe * ecore_pipe_add(Ecore_Pipe_Cb handler, const void *data)
Creates two file descriptors (sockets on Windows).
Definition: ecore_pipe.c:93

Now we are going to fork:

child_pid = fork();

Note
  duh...

The child process is going to do the our fancy processing:

if (!child_pid)
{
ecore_pipe_read_close(pipe);
do_lengthy_task(pipe);
}
ecore_pipe_read_close
void ecore_pipe_read_close(Ecore_Pipe *p)
Closes the read end of an Ecore_Pipe object created with ecore_pipe_add().
Definition: ecore_pipe.c:108

Note
  It's very important to call ecore_pipe_read_close() here so that the child process won't read what it is writing to the pipe itself.

And the parent is going to run ecore's main loop waiting for some data:

else
{
ecore_pipe_write_close(pipe);
ecore_main_loop_begin();
}
ecore_main_loop_begin
void ecore_main_loop_begin(void)
Runs the application main loop.
Definition: ecore_main.c:1311
ecore_pipe_write_close
void ecore_pipe_write_close(Ecore_Pipe *p)
Closes the write end of an Ecore_Pipe object created with ecore_pipe_add().
Definition: ecore_pipe.c:176

Note
  Calling ecore_pipe_write_close() here isn't important but since we aren't going to write in the pipe it is good practice.

And finally when done processing(the child) or done receiving(the parent) we delete the pipe and shutdown ecore:

ecore_pipe_del(pipe);
ecore_shutdown();
return 0;
}
ecore_shutdown
EAPI int ecore_shutdown(void)
Shuts down connections, signal handlers sockets etc.
Definition: ecore.c:371
ecore_pipe_del
void * ecore_pipe_del(Ecore_Pipe *p)
Frees an Ecore_Pipe object created with ecore_pipe_add().
Definition: ecore_pipe.c:100