I am using the Process class to run an exe.
The exe is a 3rd party console application that I do not control.
I wish to know whether the process is waiting for input on the command line.
Should it make any difference, I intend to kill the application should it be waiting for input.
There are suitable events for when there is output from the program waiting to be read, but I cannot see anything similar for when the process is waiting patiently for input.
ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();
info.FileName = "myapp.exe";
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.RedirectStandardError = true;
info.RedirectStandardInput = true;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo = info;
process.OutputDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(process_OutputDataReceived);
process.ErrorDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(process_ErrorDataReceived);
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.BeginErrorReadLine();
process.WaitForExit();
How do I detect that my process is waiting for input?
Depending on what the 3rd party process is doing exactly you could try polling its threads' states:
foreach(ProcessThread thread in process.Threads)
if (thread.ThreadState == ThreadState.Wait
&& thread.WaitReason == ThreadWaitReason.UserRequest)
process.Kill();
Failing that... you can try to
process.StandardInput.Close();
after calling Start(), I conjecture that an exception will be raised in the child process if it's trying to read from standard input.
If the console application has some sort of prompt waiting for input, you could periodically parse out the console output text using the Process.StandardOutput property of the process and wait for said prompt. Once the proper string is detected, you know that it's waiting for input. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.process.standardoutput.aspx.
Use process.StandardInput.writrLine("input");
for sending input to consol in c#
Related
I am trying to automate HandbrakeCLI using C# via the System.Diagnostics.Process class. However, as long as my program is trying to run the process, it seems like the process never advances.
Here is my process setup:
Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
startInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
startInfo.FileName = parameters.HandbrakeLocation;
startInfo.Arguments = arguments;
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();
string output = string.Empty;
while ((output = process.StandardOutput.ReadLine()) != null)
{
Debug.WriteLine(output);
}
process.WaitForExit();
HandbrakeCLI.exe does appear in my processes list. The Debug.WriteLine(output); line continually prints out "Encoding: task 1 of 1, 0.00 %" and the process never completes. If I kill my C# app then HandbrakeCLI instantly shoots up from 7,000k in memory to 145,000k and then does the encoding that I want it to do. Its like my C# app is holding it back.
I have tried to use Read() instead of ReadLine() and I have tried flushing the StandardOutput stream before and after the read with no success. I have a suspicion that since HandbrakeCLI overwrites stdout when it writes the encoding progress, that it won't act like a normal process when automated via C#.
I figured it out. I was redirecting stderr to my C# application, but not consuming it. The process was hanging until stderr was consumed.
using this Code
Process process = new Process();
// p.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
process.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
process.OutputDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(p_OutputDataReceived);
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.StartInfo.LoadUserProfile = false;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.FileName = #"C:\putty.exe"; ; // Gets or sets the application or document to start.
process.StartInfo.Arguments = "-serial com31 -sercfg 9600,8,n,1,N";//Gets or sets the set of command-line arguments to use when starting the application
Thread.Sleep(1000);
process.Start();//Starts (or reuses) the process resource that is specified by the StartInfo property of this Process component and associates it with the component.
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.WaitForExit(); // wait forever with ping
I'm trying to open putty in console application , but any timr I use it it opens in New windows and I cant get to output of the process using process.OutputDataReceived event
I'm using code very similar to this to open Iperf and it works fine
What am I missing here ?
Putty is not a console application and therefore does not provide output on it's stdout and stderr streams.
And since it is a windowed application it does not care whether you start it with the CreateNoWindow flag. Try and start notepad.exe with that flag, you will see it appearing obviously.
There is however a programm by the creators of Putty that provides the functionality you need.
It's called Plink.exe and you can download it on their homepage
I have a complete command line application in c# which has different modules and depends on multiple dlls etc.
Now, i want to call that CLI app with an another UI app. But the issue is that the Thread part of the CLI applicaiton is not working and the control just jumps to the end. So, is there any way I can handle this scenario?
For example: I have app CLI.exe which i want to call so i have written following code:
Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo.FileName = CLI.exe;
proc.StartInfo.Arguments = args;
proc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
proc.Start();
proc.WaitForExit();
Now this calls the app i want to call. The following code is there in my app CLI.exe
System.Console.WriteLine("Start app {0}", args);
do
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
} while (model.Exited == false);
System.Console.WriteLine("Finish app");
Now, in between the do while loop, I do a lot pf processing while the model.exit don't get false.
But it starts the app, writes the Start app message and just after that it writes the Finish app and the processing in between never happened.
model.Exit also went true without processing.
Also, if I run the CLI.exe with the batch command or run the CLI.exe on cmd it runs perfectly.
So, any idea as how to manage this?
proc.WaitForExit(); freezes your process until child process is finished. Remove that and handle process exit in another way, for example, using events:
proc.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
proc.Exited += OnExit;
I am having a Java batch process which I used in C# to run process. I want to have a testcase to check whether the batch process is running or not.
I used the batch process as:
void batch_process(string process)
{
try
{
string strFilePath = Path.Combine(batch_process_path, process);
ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo(strFilePath);
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
psi.RedirectStandardError = true;
psi.WorkingDirectory = batch_process_path;
psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
psi.UseShellExecute = false;
psi.ErrorDialog = true;
}
}
How can this test be done?
I want to write an unit test case to check whether the process will start or not.
when you Start your new process you need to capture the returned Process, that provides access to newly started process, useful for starting, stopping, controlling, and monitoring applications.
Process exe = Process.Start(psi);
....
if exe.HasExited() ....
You could start the process using
Process process = new Process();
string strFilePath = Path.Combine(batch_process_path, process);
process.StartInfo.FileName = strFilePath;
//this line will hold this thread until the process is done.
process.WaitForExit();
then start the process on a different thread and let that thread fire an event after process.WaitForExit(); is done.
You should first start the process using the ProcessStartInfo you've just created like:
Process process = Process.Start(psi);
then you can use process.HasExited to check if the process has exited. Often, you don't need to do this, as process.WaitForExit() blocks the code until process exits.
I'm a bit unsure of the scenario from your question... but 4 techniques you can use are:
if you have started the process using var process = Process.Start(psi); then:
you can periodically check process.HasExited - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.process.hasexited.aspx
or you can subscribe to Process.Exited - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.process.exited.aspx
or you can block on Process.WaitForExit - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.process.waitforexit.aspx
if your process is started in some other way and has some unique name, then you can inspect the enumeration returned by System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcesses() to determine if your batch process is currently running.
In general... I'd prefer to use Process.Exited, but the other methods all have their place too!
I want to use shell executable in order to respect user preferences of application to be started, but I also need to know when that particular application is closed.
Process editProcess = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.FileName = filename;
startInfo.Verb = "edit";
startInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
editProcess.StartInfo = startInfo;
// start the default editor
editProcess.Start();
editProcess.WaitForExit();
WaitForExit seems to return when the shell process exits and not when the real process exits.
Is there a better way of knowing when started application is exited than manually parsing registry, finding correct application to start and explicitly start that app without shell execute?
Handle the process exited event:
editProcess.Exited += process_Exited;