[Feature Request]: non-blocking implementation of nativeImage.createThumbnailFromPath() for Windows

[RaisinTen]

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Problem Description

nativeImage.createThumbnailFromPath() is implemented in a blocking way for Windows

electron/shell/common/api/electron_api_native_image_win.cc

Line 25 in efa7013

v8::Local<v8::Promise> NativeImage::CreateThumbnailFromPath(

Proposed Solution

This and all other asynchronous functions should be implemented in a non-blocking way

Alternatives Considered

None

Additional Information

No response

[codebytere]

@RaisinTen can you elaborate on this?

This and all other asynchronous functions should be implemented in a non-blocking way

Do you mean windows functions? On macOS for example this is non-blocking.

[RaisinTen]

Yes @codebytere that is right, for the nativeImage.createThumbnailFromPath() function, I was only talking about the Windows implementation. However, if we find out more such async functions that block the current thread, we should consider dispatching the task to some other thread.

[sebastianrath]

@RaisinTen Can you elaborate on this? I am planning on using this function. Is this blocking the main thread despite being async?

[RaisinTen]

@seb-mtl yes, that's right! When you call this function, it would run the sequence of function calls inside NativeImage::CreateThumbnailFromPath() synchronously, which blocks the current thread. It's only the resolution/rejection of the promise that takes place as a microtask. We need to dispatch these calls to a different thread (in Chromium's thread pool) to make this non-blocking. For reference, I had sent #31023 earlier to create a non-blocking version of a pre-existing function! ;)

[sebastianrath]

@RaisinTen Thanks for the explanation! You just saved me from hours of debugging.😉