Develop Reference

Redirect output from Start.Process

I am trying to redirect the output of my command line program when it is called with Process.Start(). I've tried all permutations of RedirectStandardOutput, UseShellExecute and CreateNowWindow and had no luck.
I know there are other ways of accomplishing this such as reading StandardOutput after this but I would prefer to redirect it with arguments if possible into a file. I only care about the return code and only need the output of myprog.exe to go to a file. My program doesn't need to know what the output is.
var p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = #"myprog.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = " " + InputFilename + " > " + OutputFilename;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = false;
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.Start();
p.WaitForExit();
var result = p.ExitCode;

This will work for my issue. Get the output with p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd() and write it to a file.

Cannot access the file because it is being used by another process using ffmpeg

I am getting the error:
Cannot access the file because it is being used by another process
I have a C# desktop app.
I am using the Process class to convert images to a video file by using FFMPEG.
This is my code:
using (Process serverBuild = new Process())
{
serverBuild.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
string args = " -f image2 -i " + {path} + "\\img%05d.jpg -s 352x288 -filter:v \"setpts=5.0*PTS\" -y " + {path}\\File.mp4;
serverBuild.StartInfo.Arguments = args;
serverBuild.StartInfo.FileName = "ffmpeg.exe";
serverBuild.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
serverBuild.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
serverBuild.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
serverBuild.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
serverBuild.Start();
// string output = serverBuild.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
//Log.Instance.Debug(serverBuild.StandardError.ReadToEnd());
serverBuild.WaitForExit();
serverBuild.Close();
}
Directory.Delete(ExportRoute + FFMPEGPacket.LicenseKey + "\\" + FFMPEGPacket.Guid, true);
//which raise the error..
The images are all deleted but the File.Mp4 is not and that is the error. The error says that the newly created MP4 file cannot be deleted.
NB
This is partial code to illustrate the error

You may try the following code to create the file (it worked for me):
ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
psi.FileName = exe_path;
// replace your arguments here
psi.Arguments = string.Format(#" arguments ")
psi.CreateNoWindow = true;
psi.ErrorDialog = true;
psi.UseShellExecute = false;
psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
psi.RedirectStandardInput = false;
psi.RedirectStandardError = true;
Process exeProcess = Process.Start(psi);
exeProcess.PriorityClass = ProcessPriorityClass.High;
string outString = string.Empty;
exeProcess.OutputDataReceived += (s, e) =>
{
outString += e.Data;
};
exeProcess.BeginOutputReadLine();
string errString = exeProcess.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
Trace.WriteLine(outString);
Trace.TraceError(errString);
exeProcess.WaitForExit();
exeProcess.Close();
exeProcess.Dispose();

FFMPEG might still be rendering the creation of video from images after it closes, so it might be worth if you place a Threading.Thead.Sleep(5000) 5 secs; before delete.

Try that:
File.WriteAllBytes(path, new byte[0]);
File.Delete(path);

C# run batch file with argument with spaces

I need to run batch file, which has path (can contains spaces) as argument.
Batch file is really simple:
echo off
echo %1 > echotest.txt
Csharp code I am using to run this batch file:
ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();
info.UserName = KIM_USER;
info.Password = ConvertToSecureString(KIM_USER_PASSWORD);
info.FileName = theTask.Path;
info.Arguments = "\"" + TranslateParameter(theTask.Parameter) + "\"";
info.Domain = Environment.MachineName;
info.WorkingDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(theTask.Path);
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
Process batProcess = Process.Start(info);
batProcess.WaitForExit();
Basically in parameter comes e.g {Test_Path} and this is in TranslateParameter converted to real path, e.g: D:\Test Path\ (contains spaces)
This does not work for me, it returns me exit code 1 everytime.
If i remove \" from info.Arguments, it works, but in output file is just D:\Test
Any suggestions?
Regards

Can you try this if that works:
ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();
info.UserName = KIM_USER;
info.Password = ConvertToSecureString(KIM_USER_PASSWORD);
info.FileName = theTask.Path + " \"" + TranslateParameter(theTask.Parameter) + "\"";
//info.Arguments = "\"" + TranslateParameter(theTask.Parameter) + "\"";
info.Domain = Environment.MachineName;
info.WorkingDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(theTask.Path);
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
Process batProcess = Process.Start(info);
batProcess.WaitForExit();

Executing pdftk.exe with arguments in process

Currently struggling to get this process working:
const string pdfkPath = "pdftk.exe";
var paths = new List<string>();
paths.Add(#"C:\test.pdf");
paths.Add(#"C:\testje.pdf");
var cmd = String.Join(" ", paths) + " cat output " + #"C:\lel.pdf";
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
p.StartInfo.FileName = pdfkPath;
p.StartInfo.Arguments = cmd;
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.Start();
p.WaitForExit();
Executing the exe file with the arguments using command line works, so what am I doing wrong here?
Thanks!

Found it ourselves! The problem was the output being directly on the C:\, folder between fixed it

Execute command line using C#

All I am trying to do is send a command that opens a model with the program.exe
Supposed to be super simple!
Ex:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\River Logic\Enterprise Optimizer 7.4 Developer\EO74.exe" "C:\PauloXLS\Constraint Sets_1.cor"
The line above works well if pasted on the command prompt window.
However, when trying to pass the same exact string on my code it gets stuck on C:\Program
string EXE = "\"" + #tbx_base_exe.Text.Trim() + "\"";
string Model = "\"" + #mdl_path.Trim()+ "\"";
string ExeModel = EXE + " " + Model;
MessageBox.Show(ExeModel);
ExecuteCommand(ExeModel);
ExeModel is showing te following line on Visual Studio:
"\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\River Logic\\Enterprise Optimizer 7.4 Developer\\EO74.exe\" \"C:\\PauloXLS\\Constraint Sets_1.cor\""
To me looks like it is the string I need to send in to the following method:
public int ExecuteCommand(string Command)
{
int ExitCode;
ProcessStartInfo ProcessInfo;
Process Process;
ProcessInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/K " + Command);
ProcessInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
ProcessInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
Process = Process.Start(ProcessInfo);
Process.WaitForExit();
ExitCode = Process.ExitCode;
Process.Close();
return ExitCode;
}
Things I've tried:
Pass only one command at a time (works as expected), but not an option since the model file will open with another version of the software.
Tried to Trim
Tried with # with \"
Can anyone see any obvious mistake? Thanks.

It's pretty straightforward. You just create a command line object then write to it, then to execute it you read back from it using SR.ReadToEnd():
private string GETCMD()
{
string tempGETCMD = null;
Process CMDprocess = new Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo StartInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
StartInfo.FileName = "cmd"; //starts cmd window
StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false; //required to redirect
CMDprocess.StartInfo = StartInfo;
CMDprocess.Start();
System.IO.StreamReader SR = CMDprocess.StandardOutput;
System.IO.StreamWriter SW = CMDprocess.StandardInput;
SW.WriteLine("#echo on");
SW.WriteLine("cd\\"); //the command you wish to run.....
SW.WriteLine("cd C:\\Program Files");
//insert your other commands here
SW.WriteLine("exit"); //exits command prompt window
tempGETCMD = SR.ReadToEnd(); //returns results of the command window
SW.Close();
SR.Close();
return tempGETCMD;
}

Why are you opening a command prompt (cmd.exe)? Just pass the name of the executable.