Breaking ReadFile() blocking - Named Pipe (Windows API)

Question

To simplify, this is a situation where a NamedPipe SERVER is waiting for a NamedPipe CLIENT to write to the pipe (using WriteFile())

The Windows API that is blocking

Answer 1

Try this before ReadFile :

BOOL WINAPI PeekNamedPipe(
  __in       HANDLE hNamedPipe,
  __out_opt  LPVOID lpBuffer,
  __in       DWORD nBufferSize,
  __out_opt  LPDWORD lpBytesRead,
  __out_opt  LPDWORD lpTotalBytesAvail,
  __out_opt  LPDWORD lpBytesLeftThisMessage
);

if(TotalBytesAvail > 0)
  ReadFile(....);

-AV-