The Main Event Loop

The main Views event loop, defined by the global function IlvMainLoop, does not work in the same way on X Window and on Microsoft Windows systems. While X Window servers operate in asynchronous mode, Microsoft Windows works in synchronous mode. Also, timer management varies depending on the system used.

• Synchronous vs. asynchronous mode:  On X Window, a request sent to the server is not immediately processed even if the function returns. It is processed only after it returns to the main loop. For example, a request for displaying a view is performed only when the X Window server sends back a map notify event and this event is processed by the Views API.

• Timers management:  On Microsoft Windows, a timer notification is a Windows event that can be processed in the event loop. On X Window, a timer notification is not an event.