class QSharedMemory#

The QSharedMemory class provides access to a shared memory segment. More…

Synopsis#

Methods#

def __init__()
def attach()
def constData()
def create()
def detach()
def error()
def errorString()
def isAttached()
def key()
def lock()
def nativeIpcKey()
def nativeKey()
def setKey()
def setNativeKey()
def size()
def unlock()

Note

This documentation may contain snippets that were automatically translated from C++ to Python. We always welcome contributions to the snippet translation. If you see an issue with the translation, you can also let us know by creating a ticket on https:/bugreports.qt.io/projects/PYSIDE

Detailed Description#

QSharedMemory provides access to a shared memory segment by multiple threads and processes. Shared memory segments are identified by a key, represented by QNativeIpcKey . A key can be created in a cross-platform manner by using platformSafeKey().

One QSharedMemory object must create() the segment and this call specifies the size of the segment. All other processes simply attach() to the segment that must already exist. After either operation is successful, the application may call data() to obtain a pointer to the data.

To support non-atomic operations, QSharedMemory provides API to gain exclusive access: you may lock the shared memory with lock() before reading from or writing to the shared memory, but remember to release the lock with unlock() after you are done.

By default, QSharedMemory automatically destroys the shared memory segment when the last instance of QSharedMemory is detached from the segment, and no references to the segment remain.

For details on the key types, platform-specific limitations, and interoperability with older or non-Qt applications, see the Native IPC Keys documentation. That includes important information for sandboxed applications on Apple platforms, including all apps obtained via the Apple App Store.

See also

Inter-Process Communication QSystemSemaphore

class AccessMode#

Constant	Description
QSharedMemory.ReadOnly	The shared memory segment is read-only. Writing to the shared memory segment is not allowed. An attempt to write to a shared memory segment created with ReadOnly causes the program to abort.
QSharedMemory.ReadWrite	Reading and writing the shared memory segment are both allowed.

class SharedMemoryError#

Constant	Description
QSharedMemory.NoError	No error occurred.
QSharedMemory.PermissionDenied	The operation failed because the caller didn’t have the required permissions.
QSharedMemory.InvalidSize	A create operation failed because the requested size was invalid.
QSharedMemory.KeyError	The operation failed because of an invalid key.
QSharedMemory.AlreadyExists	A `create()` operation failed because a shared memory segment with the specified key already existed.
QSharedMemory.NotFound	An `attach()` failed because a shared memory segment with the specified key could not be found.
QSharedMemory.LockError	The attempt to `lock()` the shared memory segment failed because `create()` or `attach()` failed and returned false, or because a system error occurred in `acquire()` .
QSharedMemory.OutOfResources	A `create()` operation failed because there was not enough memory available to fill the request.
QSharedMemory.UnknownError	Something else happened and it was bad.

__init__(key[, parent=None])#

Parameters:

key – QNativeIpcKey
parent – QObject

This is an overloaded function.

Constructs a shared memory object with the given parent and with its key set to key. Because its key is set, its create() and attach() functions can be called.

See also

setNativeKey() create() attach()

__init__(key[, parent=None])

Parameters:

key – str
parent – QObject

Constructs a shared memory object with the given parent and with the legacy key set to key. Because its key is set, its create() and attach() functions can be called.

See also

setKey() create() attach()

__init__([parent=None])

Parameters:: parent – QObject

This function overloads QSharedMemory() .

Constructs a shared memory object with the given parent. The shared memory object’s key is not set by the constructor, so the shared memory object does not have an underlying shared memory segment attached. The key must be set with setNativeKey() before create() or attach() can be used.

See also

setNativeKey()

attach([mode=QSharedMemory.AccessMode.ReadWrite])#

Parameters:: mode – AccessMode
Return type:: bool

Attempts to attach the process to the shared memory segment identified by the key that was passed to the constructor or to a call to setNativeKey() . The access mode is ReadWrite by default. It can also be ReadOnly . Returns true if the attach operation is successful. If false is returned, call error() to determine which error occurred. After attaching the shared memory segment, a pointer to the shared memory can be obtained by calling data() .

See also

isAttached() detach() create()

constData()#

Return type:: void

Returns a const pointer to the contents of the shared memory segment, if one is attached. Otherwise it returns null. The value returned by this function will not change until a detach happens, so it is safe to store this pointer.

If the memory operations are not atomic, you may lock the shared memory with lock() before reading from or writing, but remember to release the lock with unlock() after you are done.

See also

attach() create()

create(size[, mode=QSharedMemory.AccessMode.ReadWrite])#

Parameters:

size – int
mode – AccessMode

Return type:

bool

Creates a shared memory segment of size bytes with the key passed to the constructor or set with setNativeKey() , then attaches to the new shared memory segment with the given access mode and returns true. If a shared memory segment identified by the key already exists, the attach operation is not performed and false is returned. When the return value is false, call error() to determine which error occurred.

See also

error()

detach()#

Return type:: bool

Detaches the process from the shared memory segment. If this was the last process attached to the shared memory segment, then the shared memory segment is released by the system, i.e., the contents are destroyed. The function returns true if it detaches the shared memory segment. If it returns false, it usually means the segment either isn’t attached, or it is locked by another process.

See also

attach() isAttached()

error()#

Return type:: SharedMemoryError

Returns a value indicating whether an error occurred, and, if so, which error it was.

See also

errorString()

errorString()#

Return type:: str

Returns a text description of the last error that occurred. If error() returns an error value , call this function to get a text string that describes the error.

See also

error()

isAttached()#

Return type:: bool

Returns true if this process is attached to the shared memory segment.

See also

attach() detach()

static isKeyTypeSupported(type)#

Parameters:: type – Type
Return type:: bool

key()#

Return type:: str

Returns the legacy key assigned with setKey() to this shared memory, or a null key if no key has been assigned, or if the segment is using a nativeKey() . The key is the identifier used by Qt applications to identify the shared memory segment.

You can find the native, platform specific, key used by the operating system by calling nativeKey() .

See also

setKey() setNativeKey()

static legacyNativeKey(key[, type=QNativeIpcKey.legacyDefaultTypeForOs()])#

Parameters:

key – str
type – Type

Return type:

QNativeIpcKey

lock()#

Return type:: bool

This is a semaphore that locks the shared memory segment for access by this process and returns true. If another process has locked the segment, this function blocks until the lock is released. Then it acquires the lock and returns true. If this function returns false, it means that you have ignored a false return from create() or attach() , that you have set the key with setNativeKey() or that acquire() failed due to an unknown system error.

See also

unlock() data() acquire()

nativeIpcKey()#

Return type:: QNativeIpcKey

Returns the key type for this shared memory object. The key type complements the nativeKey() as the identifier used by the operating system to identify the shared memory segment.

You can use the native key to access shared memory segments that have not been created by Qt, or to grant shared memory access to non-Qt applications. See Native IPC Keys for more information.

See also

nativeKey() setNativeKey()

nativeKey()#

Return type:: str

Returns the native, platform specific, key for this shared memory object. The native key is the identifier used by the operating system to identify the shared memory segment.

You can use the native key to access shared memory segments that have not been created by Qt, or to grant shared memory access to non-Qt applications. See Native IPC Keys for more information.

See also

setNativeKey() nativeIpcKey()

static platformSafeKey(key[, type=QNativeIpcKey.DefaultTypeForOs])#

Parameters:

key – str
type – Type

Return type:

QNativeIpcKey

setKey(key)#

Parameters:: key – str

This is an overloaded function.

Sets the legacy key for this shared memory object. If key is the same as the current key, the function returns without doing anything. Otherwise, if the shared memory object is attached to an underlying shared memory segment, it will detach from it before setting the new key. This function does not do an attach() .

You can call key() to retrieve the legacy key. This function is mostly the same as:

shm.setNativeKey(QSharedMemory::legacyNativeKey(key));

except that it enables obtaining the legacy key using key() .

See also

key() nativeKey() isAttached()

setNativeKey(key)#

Parameters:: key – QNativeIpcKey

Sets the native, platform specific, key for this shared memory object. If key is the same as the current native key, the function returns without doing anything. Otherwise, if the shared memory object is attached to an underlying shared memory segment, it will detach from it before setting the new key. This function does not do an attach() .

This function is useful if the native key was shared from another process. See Native IPC Keys for more information.

Portable native keys can be obtained using platformSafeKey().

You can call nativeKey() to retrieve the native key.

See also

nativeKey() nativeIpcKey() isAttached()

setNativeKey(key[, type=QNativeIpcKey.legacyDefaultTypeForOs()])

Parameters:

key – str
type – Type

Sets the native, platform specific, key for this shared memory object of type type (the type parameter has been available since Qt 6.6). If key is the same as the current native key, the function returns without doing anything. Otherwise, if the shared memory object is attached to an underlying shared memory segment, it will detach from it before setting the new key. This function does not do an attach() .

This function is useful if the native key was shared from another process, though the application must take care to ensure the key type matches what the other process expects. See Native IPC Keys for more information.

Portable native keys can be obtained using platformSafeKey().

You can call nativeKey() to retrieve the native key.

See also

nativeKey() nativeIpcKey() isAttached()

size()#

Return type:: int

Returns the size of the attached shared memory segment. If no shared memory segment is attached, 0 is returned.

Note

The size of the segment may be larger than the requested size that was passed to create() .