Uncover QB's non-blocking, event-driven I/O model powered by qb-io and its integration with actors.

Core Concept: Asynchronous I/O Model in QB

The QB framework's ability to handle numerous concurrent operations efficiently, especially network and file interactions, stems from its powerful asynchronous I/O model. This model, provided by the qb-io library, ensures that your application remains responsive and scalable.

The Non-Blocking Principle: Never Wait for I/O

Traditional I/O operations are often blocking: when your code tries to read from a network socket or a file, it pauses (blocks) until the data is available or the operation completes. In a high-concurrency environment, this leads to idle threads and wasted CPU cycles.

QB champions a non-blocking approach:

Initiate Operation: Your code requests an I/O operation (e.g., start reading from a socket).
Register Interest: The QB framework, through qb-io, tells the operating system (via efficient mechanisms like epoll, kqueue, or IOCP, abstracted by the internal libev library) that it's interested in knowing when this operation is ready (e.g., when data arrives).
Return Immediately: The calling thread (typically a VirtualCore executing an actor) does not wait. It immediately returns to its event loop, free to process other events for other actors or perform other tasks.
OS Notification: When the I/O operation can proceed without blocking (e.g., data is available for reading, or a socket is ready for writing), the operating system notifies QB's event loop.
Dispatch to Handler: The event loop identifies which operation is ready and dispatches this readiness notification. In the context of actors using qb-io features, this usually means invoking an appropriate on() handler (e.g., on(MyProtocol::Message&) when data forms a complete message, or on(qb::io::async::event::disconnected&) if a connection drops).

This non-blocking philosophy is key to maximizing CPU utilization and enabling QB applications to handle thousands of concurrent connections or operations with high throughput.

The Event Loop: qb::io::async::listener

At the core of QB's asynchronous I/O is the event loop, managed by the qb::io::async::listener class (defined in qb/io/async/listener.h).

Engine: It wraps the libev library, a mature and high-performance C event loop.
Thread-Local Instance: Each VirtualCore (worker thread managed by qb::Main) runs its own dedicated listener instance. This instance is accessible within that thread via qb::io::async::listener::current.
Monitoring Event Sources: The listener diligently monitors various event sources:
- File Descriptors: For read/write readiness on sockets, files (leading to qb::io::async::event::io).
- Timers: For scheduled, delayed, or periodic execution of code (leading to qb::io::async::event::timer).
- System Signals: For handling OS signals like SIGINT, SIGTERM asynchronously (qb::io::async::event::signal).
- File System Changes: For watching directories or files for modifications (qb::io::async::event::file).
Dispatching: When an event source becomes active, the listener determines the registered handler (often an I/O component within an actor or a dedicated callback mechanism) and invokes its corresponding method (e.g., on(qb::io::async::event::timer&)).

(See also: QB-IO: Asynchronous System (qb::io::async)**)**

Driving the Event Loop: Who Runs run()?

The event loop must be actively "run" to process pending events.

Actors & qb::Main: If you're using qb-core and actors, you generally do not need to call qb::io::async::run() manually. The qb::Main engine ensures that each VirtualCore continuously runs its associated listener event loop as part of its main actor-processing cycle (VirtualCore::__workflow__).
Standalone qb-io: If you are using the qb-io library without the qb-core actor system, your application is responsible for driving the event loop in its main thread or any worker threads that use qb-io's asynchronous features. This is done by calling qb::io::async::run(flag), where flag can be EVRUN_NOWAIT (check once and return) or EVRUN_ONCE (wait for and process one block of events), or 0 (default, runs until break_loop() is called or no active watchers remain).

Scheduling Asynchronous Callbacks: qb::io::async::callback

One of the most direct ways for an actor (or any code running on a VirtualCore thread) to perform actions asynchronously or after a delay is using qb::io::async::callback (from qb/io/async/io.h).

Purpose: Executes a provided callable (lambda, function pointer, functor) after a specified delay within the event loop of the calling thread.
Usage Example (within an Actor): ```cpp #include <qb/actor.h> // For qb::Actor, qb::ActorId #include <qb/io/async.h> // For qb::io::async::callback #include <qb/io.h> // For qb::io::cout #include <chrono> // For std::chrono::seconds

struct MyDelayedTaskEvent : qb::Event {};

class MyActor : public qb::Actor { public: bool onInit() override { registerEvent<MyDelayedTaskEvent>(*this);

qb::io::cout() << "Actor [" << id() << "]: Scheduling immediate task.\n"; // Schedule a lambda to execute in the next event loop iteration on this core qb::io::async::callback([self_id = id()]() { // This lambda runs on the same VirtualCore as MyActor // Best practice: send an event back to the actor to handle the logic if (VirtualCore::_handler) { // Ensure VirtualCore handler is accessible VirtualCore::_handler->push<MyDelayedTaskEvent>(self_id, self_id); } });

qb::io::cout() << "Actor [" << id() << "]: Scheduling task in 2.5 seconds.\n"; double delay_seconds = 2.5; qb::io::async::callback([self_id = id()]() { qb::io::cout() << "Actor [" << self_id << "]: Delayed task (2.5s) executing!\n"; VirtualCore::_handler->push<MyDelayedTaskEvent>(self_id, self_id); }, delay_seconds);

return true; }

void on(const MyDelayedTaskEvent& /*event*/) { if (!is_alive()) return; // Good practice if callback might outlive actor qb::io::cout() << "Actor [" << id() << "]: Processed a MyDelayedTaskEvent.\n"; } // ... other handlers, including qb::KillEvent ... }; ``
**Self-Managing Lifetime:** The underlying mechanism for qb::io::async::callback (an internal qb::io::async::Timeout object) manages its own lifetime, registering with the listener and automatically cleaning up after the callback executes.
**Actor Safety:** When capturing this or id() in a callback lambda, always check is_alive()` at the beginning of the lambda if there's a chance the actor might be terminated before the callback runs.
Common Use Cases for Actors:
- Implementing timeouts for operations.
- Scheduling retries for failed operations (e.g., network connection attempts).
- Breaking down long-running, non-blocking tasks into smaller chunks to yield control back to the event loop periodically.
- Simulating processing delays in examples or tests.

(Reference: example1_async_io.cpp, test-actor-delayed-events.cpp, file_processor/file_worker.h for wrapping blocking calls**)**

Managing Timeouts with qb::io::async::with_timeout

For classes (including actors, though async::callback is often more idiomatic for actor-specific timeouts) that need more explicit timeout management or recurring timer events, the qb::io::async::with_timeout<Derived> CRTP base class (qb/io/async/io.h) is available.

Inheritance: Your class inherits from with_timeout<MyClass>.
Handler: Implement void on(qb::io::async::event::timer const&) to be called when the timer expires.
Control:
- The constructor with_timeout(timeout_seconds) sets and starts the initial timer.
- updateTimeout(): Call this upon relevant activity to reset the timeout countdown.
- setTimeout(new_duration_seconds): Changes the timeout interval. Use 0.0 to disable.

// Example: An actor session that times out due to inactivity
class InactiveSession : public qb::Actor, 
                        public qb::io::async::with_timeout<InactiveSession> {
public:
    InactiveSession() : with_timeout(60.0) { /* 60-second inactivity timeout */ }
 
    bool onInit() override {
        registerEvent<ClientActivityEvent>(*this);
        registerEvent<qb::KillEvent>(*this);
        updateTimeout(); // Start the initial countdown
        return true;
    }
 
    void on(const ClientActivityEvent& /*event*/) {
        qb::io::cout() << "Session [" << id() << "]: Activity detected, resetting timeout.\n";
        updateTimeout(); // Reset the timer on client activity
    }
 
    // Called by with_timeout if updateTimeout() isn't called within 60s
    void on(qb::io::async::event::timer const& /*event*/) {
        qb::io::cout() << "Session [" << id() << "]: Inactivity timeout! Terminating.\n";
        kill();
    }
 
    void on(const qb::KillEvent& /*event*/) { setTimeout(0.0); kill(); }
};

(Reference: test-async-io.cpp::TimerHandler, chat_tcp/server/ChatSession.h uses this for client inactivity.)**

QB-IO Asynchronous Event Types (qb::io::async::event::*)

When actors use qb-io components for networking or file watching (often via qb::io::use<> helper templates), they receive notifications about I/O status changes through specific event types derived from qb::io::async::event::base.

Common events handled by I/O-enabled actors include:

qb::io::async::event::disconnected: Signals that a network connection has been closed or lost.
qb::io::async::event::eof (End-Of-File): Indicates no more data is available for reading from an input stream.
qb::io::async::event::eos (End-Of-Stream): Signals that all buffered output data has been successfully written to the transport.
qb::io::async::event::file: Used by file_watcher or directory_watcher to notify about changes to a monitored file or directory.

These events are delivered to the actor's corresponding on(EventType&) handlers, allowing the actor to react to I/O state changes asynchronously.

(Reference: The qb/io/async/event/all.h header includes all standard I/O event types. See specific examples like chat_tcp for their usage.**)

By leveraging this asynchronous I/O model, QB actors can efficiently manage numerous concurrent operations, making the framework well-suited for building high-performance, responsive applications.

(Next: Core Concepts: Concurrency and Parallelism in QB**) (See also: Core & IO Integration Overview**)**