LISTING 5. A single threaded example of WaitForSingleObject(...).
// INCLUDES ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN  // make sure certain headers are included correctly

#include <windows.h>         // include the standard windows stuff
#include <windowsx.h>        // include the 32 bit stuff
#include <conio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdarg.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <io.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

// DEFINES /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// PROTOTYPES //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

DWORD WINAPI Printer_Thread(LPVOID data);

// GLOBALS /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// FUNCTIONS ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

DWORD WINAPI Printer_Thread(LPVOID data)
{
// this thread function simply prints out data 50 times with a slight delay

for (int index=0; index<50; index++)
	{
	printf("%d ",data); // output a single character
	Sleep(100);         // sleep a little to slow things down
	} // end for index

// just return the data sent to the thread function

return((DWORD)data);

} // end Printer_Thread

// MAIN ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void main(void)
{
HANDLE thread_handle;  // this is the handle to the thread
DWORD  thread_id;      // this is the id of the thread

// start with a blank line

printf("\nStarting threads...\n");

// create the thread, IRL we would check for errors

thread_handle = CreateThread(NULL,          	 // default security
		          0,		 // default stack 
		          Printer_Thread, 	// use this thread function
		          (LPVOID)1,	// user data sent to thread
		          0,		// creation flags, 0=start now.
		          &thread_id);	// send id back in this var

// now enter into printing loop, make sure this is shorter than the thread,
// so thread finishes last

for (int index=0; index<25; index++)
	{
	printf("2 ");
	Sleep(100);
	} // end for index

// note that this print statement may get interspliced with the output of the 
// thread, very key!

printf("\nWaiting for thread to terminate\n");

// at this point the secondary thread so still be working, now we will wait for it

WaitForSingleObject(thread_handle, INFINITE);

// at this point the thread should be dead

CloseHandle(thread_handle);

// end with a blank line

printf("\nAll threads terminated.\n");

} // end main

Sample output:

Starting threads...
2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 
Waiting for thread to terminate
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
All threads terminated.