The Workplace Process

When started, the Workplace process' first thread becomes the User-interface thread. The User-interface thread is the one responsible for monitoring the Workplace Shell's PM message queue and dispatching the appropriate actions based on which messages come through. The User-interface thread is the one that most noticeably affects the user's perception of response time. Therefore, it is mandatory that only the minimum amount of processing takes place on that thread. There are a set of other threads that are also started at different times during the lifetime of the Workplace process. There are divided into two major categories:

Mandatory threads which are always running
Transient threads which are started and stopped over time.

The following diagram shows the Shell and Workplace process and their threads. The asterisk (*) indicates the transient threads.

              Shell Process                ЪДДДДДД Workplace Process            ЪДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДї     і       ЪДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДї
            і                        і     і       і Mandatory Threads:       і
            і                        і  Launches   і  Object Thread           і
            і Starter Thread ДДДДДДДДЕДДДДДЩ       і  Lazy Writer Thread      і
            і Shutdown Thread*       і             і  Sleepy Time Thread      і
            і                        і             і  Wheel Watcher Thread    і
            і                        і             і  Process Queue Thread    і
            і                        і             і  Ager Thread             і
            і                        і             і                          і
            і                        і             і Transient Threads:       і
            і                        і             і  Populate Thread*        і
            і                        і             і  Asynch Refresh Thread*  і
            і                        і             і  Add First Child Thread* і
            і                        і             і  Vacate Folder Thread*   і
            і                        і             і  Tasking Thread*         і
            і                        і             і  Printer Thread*         і
            і                        і             і  Finder Thread*          і
            і                        і             і                          і
            і Specified by           і             і  Specified by            і
            і PROTSHELL              і             і  RUNWORKPLACE            і
            і (PMSHELL.EXE)          і             і  (PMSHELL.EXE)           і
            АДВДДДДДДДДДДВДДДДДДДДДДВЩ             АДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДЩ
              і          і          і
           Launches   Launches   Launches
              і          і          і
                                  
           Appl. 1    Appl. 2    Appl. n
           Process    Process    Process
          ЪДДДБДДДДї ЪДДДБДДДДї ЪДДДБДДДДї
          іAPP1.EXEі іAPP2.EXEі іAPPn.EXEі
          АДДДДДДДДЩ АДДДДДДДДЩ АДДДДДДДДЩ

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