Use gio::spawn_blocking instead of thread::spawn

Author: Hofer-Julian

book/listings/main_event_loop/1/main.rs

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use std::thread;
 use std::time::Duration;
 
 use gtk::prelude::*;
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ fn build_ui(app: &Application) {
     button.connect_clicked(move |_| {
         // GUI is blocked for 5 seconds after the button is pressed
         let five_seconds = Duration::from_secs(5);
-        std::thread::sleep(five_seconds);
+        thread::sleep(five_seconds);
     });
 
     // Create a window

book/listings/main_event_loop/2/main.rs

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ use std::thread;
 use std::time::Duration;
 
 use gtk::prelude::*;
-use gtk::{self, glib, Application, ApplicationWindow, Button};
+use gtk::{self, gio, glib, Application, ApplicationWindow, Button};
 
 const APP_ID: &str = "org.gtk_rs.MainEventLoop2";
 
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ fn build_ui(app: &Application) {
     // Connect to "clicked" signal of `button`
     button.connect_clicked(move |_| {
         // The long running operation runs now in a separate thread
-        thread::spawn(move || {
+        gio::spawn_blocking(move || {
             let five_seconds = Duration::from_secs(5);
             thread::sleep(five_seconds);
         });

book/listings/main_event_loop/3/main.rs

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ use std::time::Duration;
 
 use glib::{clone, MainContext, Priority};
 use gtk::prelude::*;
-use gtk::{glib, Application, ApplicationWindow, Button};
+use gtk::{gio, glib, Application, ApplicationWindow, Button};
 
 const APP_ID: &str = "org.gtk_rs.MainEventLoop3";
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ fn build_ui(app: &Application) {
     button.connect_clicked(move |_| {
         let sender = sender.clone();
         // The long running operation runs now in a separate thread
-        thread::spawn(move || {
+        gio::spawn_blocking(move || {
             // Deactivate the button until the operation is done
             sender.send(false).expect("Could not send through channel");
             let ten_seconds = Duration::from_secs(10);

book/src/main_event_loop.md

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ but it is not unusual wanting to run a slightly longer operation in one go.
 
 ## How to Avoid Blocking the Main Loop
 
-In order to avoid blocking the main loop we can spawn a new thread and let the operation run there.
+In order to avoid blocking the main loop we can spawn a new thread with [`gio::spawn_blocking`](https://gtk-rs.org/gtk-rs-core/stable/latest/docs/gio/fn.spawn_blocking.html) and let the operation run there.
 
 Filename: <a class=file-link href="https://github.com/gtk-rs/gtk4-rs/blob/master/book/listings/main_event_loop/2/main.rs">listings/main_event_loop/2/main.rs</a>
 
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ But why did we not do the same thing with our multi-threaded example?
 # use std::{thread, time::Duration};
 # 
 # use glib::{clone, MainContext, PRIORITY_DEFAULT};
-# use gtk::glib;
+# use gtk::{glib, gio};
 # use gtk::prelude::*;
 # use gtk::{Application, ApplicationWindow, Button};
 # 
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ But why did we not do the same thing with our multi-threaded example?
     button.connect_clicked(move |button| {
         button.clone();
         // The long running operation runs now in a separate thread
-        thread::spawn(move || {
+        gio::spawn_blocking(move || {
             // Deactivate the button until the operation is done
             button.set_sensitive(false);
             let five_seconds = Duration::from_secs(5);