Multithreaded COM server problem...

[Mark Hammond]

John Lull wrote:
> Now I'm *really* confused.
> 
> Perhaps I need to clarify a bit. The sleep() method in my sample
> server is a perhaps-too-simplified substitute for what the real server
> is doing. It provides a variety of high-level operations on a piece of
> hardware. Some of the operations take as long as several dozen
> seconds, others take a millisecond or so. I need the client to block
> waiting for completion of each operation, regardless of how long the
> operation takes. I cannot break one of the long operations up into a
> series of calls from the client -- it must be implemented as a single
> call. My example would, perhaps, have been clearer if I'd named the
> method someLongRunningMethod() instead of sleep().

Is there any way you can do it asynchronously?  The main thread spawns a 
second thread to do the work.  The main thread then spins around a 
MsgWaitForMultipleObjects, with an object set by the second thread.  The 
main thread will then be able to run a message pump, but also detect 
when the second thread is done.

Apart from that, I am afraid I am out of ideas.  I believe however that 
you are hitting pure COM issues, and nothing related to Python.  Looking 
for the answer beyond the Python world may be fruitful.

Mark.