Develop Reference

How to close a file in Autocad using C# keeping acad.exe running?

I am using visual studio 2010 and I am having a .DWG file which I want to open in autocad. Till now I have used this.
Process p = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo s = new ProcessStartInfo("D:/Test File/" + fileName);
p.StartInfo = s;
p.Start();
But what I want is to close the file inside the Autocad but not the autocad itself. (Means atocad.exe should be kept running).
Till now I hve used this but its closing the acad.exe not the file.
foreach (Process Proc in Process.GetProcesses())
{
if (Proc.ProcessName.Equals("acad"))
{
Proc.CloseMainWindow();
Proc.Kill();
}
}

Take the Autocad .NET libraries from Autodesk Sites (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=773204&siteID=123112)
Then you will be able to use Application and Document classes.
They will give you full control over opening and closing documents within the application.
You can find many articles on that, and can ask further questions.

AutoCAD does have an api. there are 4 assemblys. Two for in-process and two for COM.
inprocess :
acdbmgd.dll
acmgd.dll
COMInterop :
Autodesk.Autocad.Interop.dll
Autodesk.Autocad.Interop.Common.dll
this is a method that will open a new instance of AutoCAD or it will connect to an existing running instance of AutoCAD.
you will need to load these .dlls into your project references.
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop.Common;
namespace YourNameSpace {
public class YourClass {
AcadApplication AcApp;
private const string progID = "AutoCAD.Application.18.2";// this is AutoCAD 2012 program id
private string profileName = "<<Unnamed Profile>>";
private const string acadPath = #"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012 - English\acad.exe";
public void GetAcApp()
{
try
{
AcApp = (AcadApplication)Marshal.GetActiveObject(progID);
} catch {
try {
var acadProcess = new Process();
acadProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = string.Format("/nologo /p \"{0}\"", profileName);
acadProcess.StartInfo.FileName = (#acadPath);
acadProcess.Start();
while(AcApp == null)
{
try { AcApp = (AcadApplication)Marshal.GetActiveObject(progID); }
catch { }
}
} catch(COMException) {
MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Cannot create object of type \"{0}\"",progID));
}
}
try {
int i = 0;
var appState = AcApp.GetAcadState();
while (!appState.IsQuiescent)
{
if(i == 120)
{
Application.Exit();
}
// Wait .25s
Thread.Sleep(250);
i++;
}
if(AcApp != null){
// set visibility
AcApp.Visible = true;
}
} catch (COMException err) {
if(err.ErrorCode.ToString() == "-2147417846"){
Thread.Sleep(5000);
}
}
}
}
}
closeing it is as simple as
Application.Exit();
and forgive the code. its atrocious, this was one of my first methods when i just started developing...

I doubt you will be able to do this unless AutoCAD has an API that you can hook into and ask it to close the file for you.
Your c# app can only do things to the process (acad.exe) , it doesn't have access to the internal operations of that process.

Also, you shouldn't use Kill unless the process has become unresponsive and certainly not immediately after CloseMainWindow.
CloseMainWindow is the polite way to ask an application to close itself. Kill is like pulling the power lead from the socket. You aren't giving it the chance to clean up after itself and exit cleanly.

There is one other possibility - this will only work if your C# code is running on the same machine as the AutoCAD process and it is not really recommended, but, if you are really stuck and are prepared to put up with the hassle of window switching you can send key strokes to an application using the SendKeys command.
MSDN articles here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/ms171548(v=VS.110,d=hv.2).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.sendkeys.send.aspx
Using this you could send the key strokes to simulate the user using the menu commands to close the file.

To perform the closing of file, best way out is to follow the steps at this ObjectARX SDK for c# and change the following code with the below code.
[CommandMethod("CD", CommandFlags.Session)]
static public void CloseDocuments()
{
DocumentCollection docs = Application.DocumentManager;
foreach (Document doc in docs)
{
// First cancel any running command
if (doc.CommandInProgress != "" &&
doc.CommandInProgress != "CD")
{
AcadDocument oDoc =
(AcadDocument)doc.AcadDocument;
oDoc.SendCommand("\x03\x03");
}
if (doc.IsReadOnly)
{
doc.CloseAndDiscard();
}
else
{
// Activate the document, so we can check DBMOD
if (docs.MdiActiveDocument != doc)
{
docs.MdiActiveDocument = doc;
}
int isModified =
System.Convert.ToInt32(
Application.GetSystemVariable("DBMOD")
);
// No need to save if not modified
if (isModified == 0)
{
doc.CloseAndDiscard();
}
else
{
// This may create documents in strange places
doc.CloseAndSave(doc.Name);
}
}
}

How to open a process and make the steam read/writers available for the entire class

I am currently writing an application that manipulates an existing Console app that has already been built. Currently I am able to launch the existing application and then write to the console and receive the output. But I need my app to basically keep the console app running behind the scenes and keep the app open and ready to write a new command to the window to receive more information back. Below is the current code I am using. I am wondering if there is a way to call this code on launch to start the console application.
Code:
private void Button_Click_1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
string ApplicationPath = "python";
string ApplicationArguments = "Console/dummy.py";
string returnValue;
//Process PyObj = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo PyObjStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
PyObjStartInfo.FileName = ApplicationPath;
PyObjStartInfo.Arguments = ApplicationArguments;
PyObjStartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
PyObjStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
PyObjStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
//PyObjStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
//PyObj.StartInfo = PyObjStartInfo;
Thread.Sleep(5000);
using (Process process = Process.Start(PyObjStartInfo))
{
StreamWriter sw = process.StandardInput;
StreamReader sr = process.StandardOutput;
if (sw.BaseStream.CanWrite)
{
sw.WriteLine("auth");
}
sw.Close();
sw.Close();
returnValue = sr.ReadToEnd();
MessageBox.Show(returnValue.ToString());
}
//Thread.Sleep(5000);
//PyObj.WaitForExit();
//PyObj.Close();
}
As you can see this utilizes a button click currently, but I would like the code to run off the bat as soon as my application starts up. Then keep the console app running and in memory so that I can interact with it. Is there any way to do this in C#.net?
For reference. The console application I cam calling is blank and just returns dummy answers for the time being.. here is the Python code below.
python code:
import os, pprint
def main():
keepGoing = True
while keepGoing:
response = menu()
if response == "0":
keepGoing = False
elif response == "auth":
print StartAuthProcess()
elif response == "verify":
print VerifyKey(raw_input(""))
elif response == "get":
print Info()
else:
print "I don't know what you want to do..."
def menu():
'''
print "MENU"
print "0) Quit"
print "1) Start Autentication Process"
print "2) Verify Key"
print "3) Get Output"
return raw_input("What would you like to do? ")
'''
return raw_input();
def StartAuthProcess():
return 1;
def VerifyKey(key):
if(key):
return 1;
else:
return 0;
def Info():
info = "{dummy:stuff}";
return info;
main()

There are a few places you can put code that will run right away. First of all, you'll see a Program.cs that has your static void Main function. That is where your application starts executing. The Form isn't even shown until the call to Application.Run(). This is a good place to put very early initialization stuff.
If you want things to happen when your Form is first opened, you can override the virtual Form.OnShown method:
protected override void OnShown(EventArgs e) {
base.OwnShown(e);
// Call whatever functions you want here.
}
Note that you really shouldn't use any blocking calls like Sleep in the GUI thread (aka your button click handler). This will cause your GUI to hang, and feel unresponsive. I'm not sure exactly how you plan on interacting with the background process (will it be automatic, or user-driven?) But any blocking calls (namely reads from stdout) should happen on a background thread. You can then use Control.Invoke to marshal calls back onto the UI thread to update controls, etc.

File is being used by another process

I am developing a c# application, backend as sqlite.In my application i have an option for clean databse.It means the curren .db file will delete using File.Delete method and again it create empty databse using File.create method.Now let me explain the problem.
To perform cleandatabse task, i have to stop all the process which is running ,after doing that if i click on clean database it is throwing an error that file cannot delete, it is being used by another process.i am able to stop all the thread which is running.
Somehow i am able to find which process is blocikng the file ,
foreach (var process in Process.GetProcesses()) {
var files = GetFilesLockedBy(process);
if (files.Contains(filePath))
{
procs.Add(process);
Console.WriteLine(process.ProcessName);
process.Kill();
File.Delete(filePath);
}
}
But in the above code i used process.Kill, which close the window form which i am running.
without using kill, i tried close and dispose which doesn't work for me.
Can you please help me to release the file from the process without closing the application and then yo delete the db file.
Thank you in advance
Best regards
Sangita.

You should make sure you close every stream you open it:
using (Stream str = File.Create("C:\\h.txt"))
{
// your code here
} // the stream will be automatically closed here
if you don't put this using statement, it will cause you a lot of bugs, even if you close it manually str.Close();

Streamss are disposable types, you must manage their lifetime manually, either by that using syntax, e.g.:
using (StreamReader f = new ...) {
}
... or by doing it more verbosely (this syntax is required if you allocate and delete the Stream in different code-blocks/functions):
try {
StreamReader f = new ...;
...
} finally {
if (null != f) f.Dispose();
}
... or by making the holding class an IDisposable by itself. See also What Your Mother Never Told You About Resource Deallocation.
Interestingly, this seems to be a practical incarnation of one of those https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2245196/c-urban-myths/2245382#2245382 :
0) In C++, you must mess around with pointers, that's old and dangerous, use C#
Gee, #include boost/shared_ptr> or one of the like. Actually, it is often easier to produce mess in your sowonderful C#:
static void Main () {
foo();
bar();
}
static void foo () {
var f = new StreamWriter ("hello.txt");
f.Write ("hello world");
}
static void bar () {
var f = new StreamReader ("hello.txt");
Console.WriteLine (f.ReadToEnd ());
}
"Unhandled IOException: The process cannot access the file 'hello.txt' because it is being used by another process."
Those claims, btw, are often made by those who happen to never have heard of RAII, and about how far you can get without even smart-pointers.

Not sure but you may be calling Kill on the current process.
EDIT : call Delte after the loop.
Try this :
int currentProcessId = Process.GetCurrentProcess().Id;
foreach (var process in Process.GetProcesses()) {
if (process.Id != currentProcessId)
{
var files = GetFilesLockedBy(process);
if (files.Contains(filePath))
{
procs.Add(process);
Console.WriteLine(process.ProcessName);
process.Kill();
}
}
}
File.Delete(filePath);
Moreover Close doesn't terminate the process, you have to call CloseMainWindow or Kill.

Capture output of process synchronously (i.e. "when it happens")

I am trying to start a process and capture the output, have come a far way, but am not quite at the solution I'd want.
Specifically, I am trying to reset the IIS on my development machine from a small utility application that I am writing. I have come to the conclusion, by experimenting, that the safe way to do this is by running iisreset.exe in a child process.
If you run iisreset.exe on a command prompt, you get feedback during the process. Running iisreset takes several seconds, and several lines of feedback is generated, with pauses in between.
I'd like to capture this feedback and present it in my Windows Forms application (in a ListBox), and I have succeeded with that. My remaining concern is that I dont get it until the child process finishes. I'd like to get the output from the child process, line by line, immediately when the lines are created.
I have tried to do my homework, reading/testing things from e.g. these:
How to spawn a process and capture its STDOUT in .NET?
Capturing console output from a .NET application (C#)
http://www.aspcode.net/ProcessStart-and-redirect-standard-output.aspx
and several more with similar content. Most (all?) get the output asynchronously (e.g. with Process.ReadToEnd()). I want the output synchonously, which acording to the MSDN documentation involves establishing an event handler etc and I've tried that. It works, but the event handler does not get called until the process exits. I get the output from iisreset.exe, but not until it has finished.
To rule out the possibility that this has something to do with iisreset.exe in particular, I wrote a small console application that generates some output, pausing in between:
namespace OutputGenerator
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
System.Console.WriteLine("OutputGenerator starting and pausing for 10 seconds..");
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10000);
System.Console.WriteLine("Pausing for another 10 seconds..");
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10000);
System.Console.WriteLine("Exiting!");
}
}
}
Testing with this it turns out that I get captured data diretly when I want. So, to some extent it seems that the way iisreset.exe outputs the data come into play here.
Here is the code of the program (a Windows Forms application) that does the capture:
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace OutputCapturer
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void btnRun_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Running this will show all output after the process has exited
//String path = #"C:\Windows\system32\iisreset.exe";
// Running this will show all output "when it happens"
String path = #"C:\OutputGenerator.exe";
var p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = path;
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false; // ShellExecute = true not allowed when output is redirected..
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.OutputDataReceived += OutputDataReceived;
p.Start();
p.BeginOutputReadLine();
}
private delegate void OutputDataToTextboxDelegate(String s);
void OutputDataToTextbox(String s)
{
tbxOutput.Text += s + Environment.NewLine;
tbxOutput.Refresh();
}
private void OutputDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Data != null && e.Data.ToString() != "")
{
// Must run the update of the textbox in the same thread that created it..
tbxOutput.Invoke(
new OutputDataToTextboxDelegate(OutputDataToTextbox),
DateTime.Now.ToString() + ": " + e.Data.ToString()
);
}
}
}
}
Thinking it was an EOL-encoding problem (the output of iisreset.exe apearing as one line to my app)), I ran a debug session. Nope. The event handler for StandardOutput gets called several times (one time for each output line from iisreset.exe), buth these calls come in one burst after the process exits.
I would LOVE if I could get the output from iisreset.exe "when it happens" so that I can show it as a progress indication.
I've seen one other thread with the same/similar problem, Asynchronous capture from a process output not working properly , but w/o a solution.
I'm sort of stumped.

To do autoflushing of printfs / stdouts
C equivalent of autoflush (flush stdout after each write)?
This saved my ass...

It seems that sixlettervariables is correct, and that this has something to do with iisreset.exe isn't flushing it's buffers for each line. (I still wonder what makes it work on a plain command line - i.e. what does cmd.exe do?)
Anyhow.. I tried what apacay suggested, and wrote this:
private void btnRun_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Running this will show the output after the process has finished
//String path = #"C:\Windows\system32\iisreset.exe";
// Running this will show all output "when it happens"
String path = #"C:\OutputGenerator.exe";
var p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = path;
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false; // ShellExecute = true not allowed when output is redirected..
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.Start();
StreamReader sr = p.StandardOutput;
while (!sr.EndOfStream)
{
String s = sr.ReadLine();
if (s != "")
{
tbxOutput.Text += DateTime.Now.ToString() + ": " + s + Environment.NewLine;
}
tbxOutput.Refresh();
}
}
Notice that I am timestamping when I get each line. For my OutputGenerator I get this:
2011-07-06 17:49:11: OutputGenerator starting and pausing for 10 seconds..
2011-07-06 17:49:21: Pausing for another 10 seconds..
2011-07-06 17:49:31: Exiting!
And for iisreset.exe I get this:
2011-07-06 17:57:11: Attempting stop...
2011-07-06 17:57:11: Internet services successfully stopped
2011-07-06 17:57:11: Attempting start...
2011-07-06 17:57:11: Internet services successfully restarted
Running iisreset.exe on the command line, those lines come with pauses in between, over a span of perhaps 10 seconds.
The case seems more or less closed now. Not that I am all that satisfied, but I'm at roads end it seems. I'll reluctantly live with it..
To summarise: In the general case, it is quite possible to capture output synchronously with when it is generated. This thread presents code for two ways to do that - by establishing an event handler, and by "polling" the stream. In my specific case there is something with how iisreset.exe generates output that prevents this.
Thanks to those who participated and contributed!

Well.... you could kick it old-school. Output can be redirected to the input of another program using old-school DOS commands (foo.exe | bar.exe). Write a program that reads from standard in, and you'll get it every time the stream flushes.
Edit
You could also redirect the ouput to a named pipe and read from that. That would also be "as it happens".

Well, I tried a helper class that I know works: http://csharptest.net/browse/src/Library/Processes/ProcessRunner.cs
ProcessRunner runner = new ProcessRunner("iisreset.exe");
runner.OutputReceived += OutputDataReceived;
runner.Start("/RESTART", "/STATUS");
However, this still doesn't solve the problem with this specific executable. It seems that iisreset was written in such a way that this is not possible. Even running the following from the command line:
iisreset.exe /RESTART /STATUS > temp.txt
Still nothing is written to the text file 'temp.txt' until after all services have been restarted.
As for your example code, I would recommend reading a post I wrote some time ago: How to use System.Diagnostics.Process correctly. Specifically you are not reading the std::err stream or redirecting and closing the std::in stream. This can cause very undesirable results in your program. You can look at the example wrapper class linked above for how to do it with the output events, or if you want to directly read the streams you need to use two of your own threads.
static void Main()
{
ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo(#"C:\Windows\system32\iisreset.exe", "/RESTART /STATUS");
psi.CreateNoWindow = true;
psi.UseShellExecute = false;
psi.RedirectStandardError = true;
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
psi.RedirectStandardInput = true;
ManualResetEvent output_complete = new ManualResetEvent(false);
ManualResetEvent error_complete = new ManualResetEvent(false);
Process p = Process.Start(psi);
new ReadOutput(p.StandardOutput, output_complete);
new ReadOutput(p.StandardError, error_complete);
p.StandardInput.Close();
p.WaitForExit();
output_complete.WaitOne();
error_complete.WaitOne();
}
private class ReadOutput
{
private StreamReader _reader;
private ManualResetEvent _complete;
public ReadOutput(StreamReader reader, ManualResetEvent complete)
{
_reader = reader;
_complete = complete;
Thread t = new Thread(new ThreadStart(ReadAll));
t.Start();
}
void ReadAll()
{
int ch;
while(-1 != (ch = _reader.Read()))
{
Console.Write((char) ch);
}
_complete.Set();
}
}
I wrote this just to see if anything was coming through. Still got nothing until the end, so I think your just SOL on getting asynchronous output from iisreset.

I've had that problem and had to solve it when my logs where too long to read in a single readtoend.
This is what I've done to solve it. It's been doing Ok so far.
myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = path;
myProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = args;
myProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
myProcess.StartInfo.ErrorDialog = false;
myProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
myProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
myProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = (stdIn != null);
myProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
myProcess.Start();
int index;
OpenLogFile(myLog); //LOGGGGGGGGGGGGG
if (myProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput)
{
StreamWriter sw = myProcess.StandardInput;
sw.Write(stdIn + Convert.ToChar(26));
}
StreamReader sr = myProcess.StandardOutput;
/*stdOut = new ArrayLi
*/
while (!sr.EndOfStream)
{ //LOGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Log(sr.ReadLine(), true);
}
Here's OpenLogFile
private void OpenLogFile(string fileName)
{
if (file == StreamWriter.Null)
{
file = new StreamWriter(fileName, true);
file.AutoFlush = true;
}
}
Of course that Log is a function that does something elsewhere. But the solution to you question lies here:
while (!sr.EndOfStream)
{ //LOGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Log(sr.ReadLine(), true);
}
while stream reader is still reading, you can be writing it down as the log comes out.

For my specific situation, the solution is what Mr Moses suggested in a comment above, i.e. run iisreset /stop followed by iisreset /start.
I need a proper answer, rather than a comment, in order to mark it as my "accepted answer", so this answer is more of administrativa than a new contribution. The cred should go to Mr Moses.. :-)

How to know the exe run by my application's process has completed its work

i have got a 2 exe (console)
first exe provides facility to convert video formats.
second exe provides facility to split video.
in my application i have got 2 buttons with which both process are working fine separately.
but now i wants to make it work on single click. means first it should convert video using first exe and then split that using second exe.
the problem is that how to find that first exe has finished its work so that i can start second exe to work on output's of first exe.
i am running both exe by creating process.
NOTE: my both exe gets close when they done their work, so may be we can check for existing of there process but i wants experts opinion for this.
Thanks

If you are using a GUI, it will halt if you use WaitForExit.
Here's an asynchronous example. You will have to adapt it to your needs:
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Threading;
class ConverterClass
{
private Process myProcess = new Process();
private bool finishedFlag = false;
/* converts a video asynchronously */
public void ConvertVideo(string fileName)
{
try
{
/* start the process */
myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "convert.exe"; /* change this */
/* if the convert.exe app accepts one argument containing
the video file, the line below does this */
myProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = fileName;
myProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
myProcess.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
myProcess.Exited += new EventHandler(myProcess_Exited);
myProcess.Start();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
/* handle exceptions here */
}
}
public bool finished()
{
return finishedFlag;
}
/* handle exited event (process closed) */
private void myProcess_Exited(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
finishedFlag = true;
}
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
ConverterClass converter = new ConverterClass();
converter.ConvertVideo("my_video.avi");
/* you should watch for when the finished method
returns true, and then act accordingly */
/* as we are in a console, the host application (we)
may finish before the guest application (convert.exe),
so we need to wait here */
while(!converter.finished()) {
/* wait */
Thread.Sleep(100);
}
/* video finished converting */
doActionsAfterConversion();
}
}
When the program exits, finishedFlag will be set to true, and the finished() method will start returning that. See Main for "how you should do it".

How about something like :
Process p1 = Process.Start("1.exe");
p1.WaitForExit();
Process p2 = Process.Start("2.exe");

if it is in windows just call WaitForSingleObject on the handle returned by CreateProcess