[Contents] [Index] [Help] [Retrace] [Browse <] [Browse >]


   NAME
	CreateTask -- Create task with given name, priority, stacksize

   SYNOPSIS
	task = CreateTask(name,pri,initPC,stackSize)

	struct Task *CreateTask(STRPTR,LONG,funcEntry,ULONG);

   FUNCTION
	This function simplifies program creation of sub-tasks by
	dynamically allocating and initializing required structures
	and stack space, and adding the task to Exec's task list
	with the given name and priority. A tc_MemEntry list is provided
	so that all stack and structure memory allocated by CreateTask()
	is automatically deallocated when the task is removed.

	An Exec task may not call dos.library functions or any function
	which might cause the loading of a disk-resident library, device,
	or file (since such functions are indirectly calls to dos.library).
	Only AmigaDOS Processes may call AmigaDOS; see the
	dos.library/CreateProc() or the dos.library/CreateNewProc()
	functions for more information.

	If other tasks or processes will need to find this task by name,
	provide a complex and unique name to avoid conflicts.

	If your compiler provides automatic insertion of stack-checking
	code, you may need to disable this feature when compiling sub-task
	code since the stack for the subtask is at a dynamically allocated
	location.  If your compiler requires 68000 registers to contain
	particular values for base relative addressing, you may need to
	save these registers from your main process, and restore them
	in your initial subtask code.

	The function entry initPC is generally provided as follows:

	In C:
	extern void functionName();
	char *tname = "unique name";
	task = CreateTask(tname, 0L, functionName, 4000L);

	In assembler:
		PEA	startLabel

   INPUTS
	name - a null-terminated name string
	pri - an Exec task priority between -128 and 127, normally 0
	funcEntry - the address of the first executable instruction
		    of the subtask code
	stackSize - size in bytes of stack for the subtask. Don't cut it
		    too close - system function stack usage may change.

   RESULT
	task - a pointer to the newly created task, or NULL if there was not
	       enough memory.

   BUGS
	Under exec.library V37 or beyond, the AddTask() function used
	internally by CreateTask() can fail whereas it couldn't fail in
	previous versions of Exec. Prior to amiga.lib V37.14, this function
	did not check for failure of AddTask() and thus might return a
	pointer to a task structure even though the task was not actually
	added to the system.

	Prior to amiga.lib V40.20 low memory conditions could cause
	CreateTask() to malfunction. The implementation checked whether the
	initial AllocEntry() call would fail, but would use an inappropriate
	test condition.

   SEE ALSO
	DeleteTask(), exec/FindTask()