Interlocked functions synchronize access to a variable that is shared by multiple threads. Their purpose is to prevent a thread from being preempted when it is in the middle of incrementing or checking a variable. The threads of different processes can use these functions as long as their variables share memory. Windows CE supports three interlocked functions: InterlockedIncrement, InterlockedDecrement, and InterlockedExchange. The following table describes the tasks that you can perform with each function.
To |
Call |
| Increment a shared variable and check the resulting value | InterlockedIncrement |
| Decrement a shared variable and check the resulting value | InterlockedDecrement |
| Exchange the values of specified variables | InterlockedExchange |
| Exchange the values of specified variables only if one of the variables is equal to a specified value | InterlockedTestExchange |