Develop Reference

Run .bat file from cmd.exe in C# with various arguments

I've been trying all day to start process which would run the following code:
C:\bin\ant.bat -f=C:\build.xml -DinputFile=C:\Desktop\Book1.xml -DstartDate=2018-06-20 -DxslFile=ProcessingDate -DoutputFile=fff
and it works completely fine in cmd.
this is my last code in C# which I really hoped would work, but however it doesn't:
public void run() {
string antFile = #"C:\ant.bat";
string build = #"C:\build.xml";
string inputFile = #"C:\Book1.xml";
string startDate = "2018-05-23";
string outputFile = "ff";
ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/c" + #"C:bin\ant.bat -f=C:\build.xml -DinputFile=C:\Desktop\Book1.xml -DstartDate=2018-06-20 -DxslFile=ProcessingDate -DoutputFile=test0.xsl");
Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo = procStartInfo;
proc.Start();
ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo2 = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/c" + antFile + "-f=" + build + "-DinputFile=" + inputFile + "-DstartDate=" + startDate + "-DxslFile=" + startDate + "-DoutputFile=" + outputFile);
Process proc2 = new Process();
proc2.StartInfo = procStartInfo2;
proc2.Start();
}
Firstly, I've tried to just put everything from cmd to the process but it didn't work, after I tried to do what I actually have to: put all the string values as arguments but it didn't work either.
Instead I am getting bunch of exceptions
I'm literally out of options as I've sat all day doing this. Does anyone have idea what problem it could be?
UPDATE:
I've managed to run startInfo3 process. But startInfo4 still doesn't work. I've checked both lines seem to produce the same so what's wrong with it if they're are the same. Do I pass them incorrectly?
ProcessStartInfo startInfo3 = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo3.FileName = "cmd.exe";
startInfo3.Arguments = "/c" + #"C:\ant.bat -f=C:\build.xml -DinputFile=C:\Book1.xml -DstartDate=2018-06-20 -DxslFile=ProcessingDate -DoutputFile=fff";
Process.Start(startInfo3);
ProcessStartInfo startInfo4 = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo4.FileName = "cmd.exe";
startInfo4.Arguments = "/c" + antFile + "-f=" + build + "-DinputFile=" + inputFile + "-DstartDate=" + startDate + "-DxslFile=" + startDate + "-DoutputFile=" + outputFile;
Process.Start(startInfo4);

After digging a bit more I figured out an answer:
ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo5 = new ProcessStartInfo();
procStartInfo5.FileName = "cmd.exe";
procStartInfo5.Arguments = $"/c{antFile} -f={build} -DinputFile={inputFile} -DstartDate={startDate} -DxslFile=ProcessingDate -DoutputFile={outputFile}";
Process.Start(procStartInfo5);
Hope it helps someone!

cmd process won't execute correct command

I'm working on a project where you "send" a command to the cmd.exe and receive the output. For this command you need a file path -k and an url.
I have the following code (names and values changed):
string path = "C:\Users\program.exe"
string pathcustom = "\"" + path + "\""; //the path needs to be in quotation marks
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
string Address = "1.2.3"
string command = pathcustom + " " + "-k" + " " + "https://username:passwort#serveradress" + Address; //Serveradress is the URL
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/C " + command;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.Start();
string ReturnValue = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
This Code is working fine like I want it to be, but I need another methode thats exactly similar except that the Address looks different. In the code above it would look something like 1.2.3 but int the following method the Address has to look like this (including the backslashes and quotation marks) \"ab:cd:de\" so let's pretend this is
string path = "C:\Users\program.exe"
string pathcustom = "\"" + path + "\"";
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
string Address = #"\""ab:cd:de\""";
string command = pathcustom + " " + "-k" + " " + "https://username:passwort#serveradress" + Address;
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/C " + command;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.Start();
string ReturnValue = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
When I rewrite the code so that the cmd stays open, with the first method I get the ouput I want/expect. But with the second, not working, method, it sends the command to the cmd and executes it, but it writes as "message" that the command was either written wrong or it couldn't be found. But when i take exactly the same code (via streamwriter I write the command for the cmd into a textfile) and copy it into the cmd, it executes it like it should. So basically, it just doesn't work if I execute the command via c#. Please help

You have to wait for the application to exit
Use something like p.WaitForExit(milliseconds)
Or check p.HasExited

According to this MSDN Post, in order for an argument in StartInfo.Arguments to keep the quotes, you need to "triple escape it" , like this:
string Address = "\\\"\"\"ab:cd:de\\\"\"\";
string command = pathcustom + " " + "-k" + "https://username:passwort#serveradress" + Address;

How to send multiple files to the printer with one Process call

I need to print multiple PDF-files from the hard-drive. I have found this beautiful solution of how to send a file to the printer. The problem with this solution is that if you want to print multiple files you have to wait for each file for the process to finish.
in the command shell it is possible to use the same command with multiple filenames: print /D:printerName file1.pdf file2.pdf
and one call would print them all.
unfortunately simply just to put all the filenames into the ProcessStartInfo doesn't work
string filenames = #"file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf"
ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();
info.Verb = "print";
info.FileName = filenames;
neither does it to put the filenames as Arguments of the Process
info.Arguments = filename;
I always get the error: Cannot find the file!
How can I print a multitude of files with one process call?
Here is an example of how I use it now:
public void printWithPrinter(string filename, string printerName)
{
var procInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
// the file name is a string of multiple filenames separated by space
procInfo.FileName = filename;
procInfo.Verb = "printto";
procInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
procInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
// select the printer
procInfo.Arguments = "\"" + printerName + "\"";
// doesn't work
//procInfo.Arguments = "\"" + printerName + "\"" + " " + filename;
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo = procInfo;
p.Start();
p.WaitForInputIdle();
//Thread.Sleep(3000;)
if (!p.CloseMainWindow()) p.Kill();
}

Following should work:
public void PrintFiles(string printerName, params string[] fileNames)
{
var files = String.Join(" ", fileNames);
var command = String.Format("/C print /D:{0} {1}", printerName, files);
var process = new Process();
var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
{
WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
FileName = "cmd.exe",
Arguments = command
};
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();
}
//CALL
PrintFiles("YourPrinterName", "file1.pdf", "file2.pdf", "file3.pdf");

It's not necessarily a simple solution, but you could merge the pdfs first and then send then to acrobat.
For example, use PdfMerge
Example overload to your initial method:
public void printWithPrinter(string[] fileNames, string printerName)
{
var fileStreams = fileNames
.Select(fileName => (Stream)File.OpenRead(fileName)).ToList();
var bundleFileName = Path.GetTempPath();
try
{
try
{
var bundleBytes = new PdfMerge.PdfMerge().MergeFiles(fileStreams);
using (var bundleStream = File.OpenWrite(bundleFileName))
{
bundleStream.Write(bundleBytes, 0, bundleBytes.Length);
}
}
finally
{
fileStreams.ForEach(s => s.Dispose());
}
printWithPrinter(bundleFileName, printerName);
}
finally
{
if (File.Exists(bundleFileName))
File.Delete(bundleFileName);
}
}

Is it possible to retain Hyperlinks from PDF

string ghostScriptPath = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\gs\gs9.09\bin\gswin32.exe";
string inputFileName = Server.MapPath("pdf/myprofile.pdf");
string outputFileName = #"D:\";
string ars = "-dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=jpeg -r300 -o" + output + "-%d.jpg " + input;
Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo.FileName = ghostScriptPath;
proc.StartInfo.Arguments = ars;
proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
proc.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
proc.Start();
proc.WaitForExit();
I'm using asp.net application with c# language. I'm using the code above to convert the PDF to images using Ghost Script. Is it possible to retain Hyperlinks from PDF?

You can use PDFParser to read the PDF as text (into a string) and then parse the string yourself for "http".
Just for completeness:
// create an instance of the pdfparser class
PDFParser pdfParser = new PDFParser();
// extract the text
String result = pdfParser.ExtractText(pdfFile);
if(result.ToLower().Contains("http"))
{
//split the string on known factors like a "\n" and "/" for ending the url.
}

How to start kdiff from Console application?

UPDATED...
I want to call kdiff from Console application. So I'm building two files and want to compare they at the end of executing my program:
string diffCmd = string.Format("{0} {1}", Logging.FileNames[0], Logging.FileNames[1]);
// diffCmd = D:\vdenisenko\DbHelper\DbHelper\bin\Debug\Reports\16_Nov 06_30_46_DiscussionThreads_ORIGIN.txt D:\vdenisenko\DbHelper\DbHelper\bin\Debug\Reports\16_Nov 06_30_46_DiscussionThreads_ORIGIN.txt
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(#"C:\Program Files (x86)\KDiff3\kdiff3.exe", diffCmd);
//specification is here http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/doc/documentation.html
It runs kdiff3 tool, but something wrong with filenames or command... Could you please look on screenshot and say what is wrong?

You need to use Process.Start():
string kdiffPath = #"c:\Program Files\Kdiff3.exe"; // here is full path to kdiff utility
string fileName = #"d:\file1.txt";
string fileName2 = #"d:\file2.txt";
Process.Start(kdiffPath,String.Format("\"{0}\" \"{1}\"",fileName,fileName2));
Arguments as described in the docs: kdiff3 file1 file2

var args = String.Format("{0} {1}", fileName, fileName2);
Process.Start(kdiffPath, args);

string kdiffPath = #"c:\Program Files\Kdiff3.exe"; // here is full path to kdiff utility
string fileName = #"d:\file1.txt";
string fileName2 = #"d:\file2.txt";
ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo(kdiffPath);
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
psi.UseShellExecute = false;
psi.Arguments = fileName + " " + fileName2;
Process app = Process.Start(psi);
StreamReader reader = app.StandardOutput;
//get reponse from console app in your app
do
{
string line = reader.ReadLine();
}
while(!reader.EndOfStream);
app.WaitForExit();

This will run the program from your console app
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = kdiffPath;
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "\"" + fileName + "\" \"" + fileName2 + "\"";
p.Start();
Unless you are trying to do something else, in which case you need to provide more details.