🚀 go-pugleaf

I have a function which talks to some remote hardware through a serial port:



int talk_to_hardware(void)



Because it uses the serial port, this function is not re-entrant.  It takes
anywhere from 10 msec to several seconds to execute.  Calling this function
from a ButtonClick event handler means a user can click faster than the
function executes.  It is required that the extra overlapping calls be
executed eventually and not simply discarded.



There is also a requirement to add an abort function to terminate the serial
communication:



void abort_talking(void)      // typically called from AbortButtonClick



This should halt the currently executing talk_to_hardware and abort any
pending calls.



Is there a simple way to meet all these requirements?



If abort_talking sets a global bool flag, then calling
Application->ProcessMessages from inside talk_to_hardware can detect an
AbortButtonClick but will also try to execute pending ButtonClicks.  More
complicated approaches using threads and/or Windows messaging also haven't
worked.  Any suggestions?



Thanks in advance,



Robert L. Smith