QApplication::processEvents never returns - event-handling

Question

In my application I need to wait until external program (using QProcess) is finished. I want to keep the application responsible so blocking methods are unacceptable.
Also I need to disallow user input. I've tried to make QEventLoop and exec it with QEventLoop::ExcludeUserInputEvents flag, but as documentation says it only delays an event handling:
the events are not discarded; they will be delivered the next time processEvents() is called without the ExcludeUserInputEvents flag.
So I implemented simple event filter and install it on qApp (the idea is took from Qt Application: Simulating modal behaviour (enable/disable user input)). It works well, but sometimes QApplication::processEvents function never returns even if I specify the maximum timeout. Could anyone help me to understand for what reasons it periodically happens?
class UserInputEater : public QObject
{
public:
bool eventFilter(QObject *object, QEvent *event)
{
switch(event->type())
{
case QEvent::UpdateRequest:
case QEvent::UpdateLater:
case QEvent::Paint:
return QObject::eventFilter(object, event);
default:
return true;
}
}
};
-
UserInputEater eventEater;
qApp->installEventFilter(&eventEater);
QProcess prc;
prc.start("...");
while(!prc.waitForFinished(10))
{
if(qApp->hasPendingEvents())
{
// Sometimes it never returns from processEvents
qApp->processEvents(QEventLoop::AllEvents, 100);
}
}
qApp->removeEventFilter(&eventEater);
UPD: Seems like it depends of the timeout value for QProcess::waitForFinished.

Answer 1

I guess you are filtering some useful events (for example, QEvent::SockAct could be involved). Try to add some debug output and find out which event types you're actually filtering. Or it might be better to specify the black list of events you want to block instead of white list of events you want to allow. See this answer.
Also you shouldn't use return QObject::eventFilter(object, event);. You should use return false. All other event filters will be called automatically.
This solution however seems weird and unreasonable to me because you can just call setEnabled(false) for your top level widget to block user input, and then you can use QApplication::processEvents without any flags.