Using the EAServer Thread Manager

The Thread Manager is a built-in EAServer component that allows you to run EAServer component instances in threads that execute independently of client method invocations. You can use threads spawned by the Thread Manager to perform any processing that must occur asynchronously with respect to user interaction.

For example, you might have a component method that begins a lengthy file indexing operation. The method could call the Thread Manager to start the processing in a new thread, then return immediately.

Since each instance of a PowerBuilder component executes in its own session, and each session can support only one thread of execution, you cannot develop a service that can be stopped or refreshed without using the Thread Manager. In the service’s start or run method, spawn threads that do the service’s processing. In the service’s stop method, call the Thread Manager stop method to halt the threads.

For a more complete description of the Thread Manager, see the EAServer documentation.