Using Processes

The sections that follow describe how processes run in the RTSS and Win32 environments.

Processes in the RTSS Environment

An executable process running in the RTSS environment consists of a set of handles to objects, process address space, and at least one thread. When a process is created, RTSS performs the following tasks:

Loads the executable
Allocates process heap from the non-paged pool
Creates the primary thread

A process can be started by one of these methods:

Configuring it as a boot process (using the RtssRun /b utility)
Running the RTSS executable from the command line (using the RTSSrun utility)
Running the RTSS executable from the Task Manager Utility
Double-clicking the executable
Starting the RTSS process from within a Win32 application (using RtCreateProcess)

A process exits under one of these conditions:

The last thread has exited
One thread calls ExitProcess
The process is killed with the RtssKill utility or the RTSS Task Manager

The maximum number of processes that can exist concurrently in the RTSS environment is equal to the number of RTSS process slots (the default is 10).

Processes in the Windows Environment

A process running in the Win32 environment starts interacting with RTX when it makes an RTAPI call. RTX may then allocate resources for this process, alter its priorities or perform other operations related to its Win32 process status. The number of Win32 processes that can interact with RTX is dynamic; it depends on your system's configuration and resources. Windows processes must use the RTAPI functions to interact with RTSS applications.