Develop Reference

Installing bat files as windows services with NSSM and controlling them

I want to use nssm (Non-Sucking Service Manager) application to be able to install bat files as windows services and then control them. (start, stop, get status etc.). Note that I placed nssm.exe into C drive.
I tested my code and it works for a simple command like "ping localhost". But if I run nssm commands then it works weird. For example if I run:
C:\nssm.exe status WindowsServiceName
Then it gives me that output:
S\0E\0R\0V\0I\0C\0E\0_\0S\0T\0O\0P\0P\0E\0D\0\r\0\n\0
Actually the output is correct. It writes "SERVICE_STOPPED" but there are lots of weird characters and when I open it in Text Visualizer it shows just "S".
If I run this command:
C:\nssm.exe start WindowsServiceName
It gives empty output and service does not start. But if I manually open a command prompt and run these codes, everything works fine.
Here is my code:
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace NssmTestApplication
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string cmdCommand = #"C:\nssm.exe start WindowsServiceName";
string output = RunCmdCommand(cmdCommand);
}
private static string RunCmdCommand(string cmdCommand)
{
string output = "";
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = "/C " + cmdCommand;
startInfo.Verb = "runas";
startInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
startInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
startInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
Process process = Process.Start(startInfo);
while (!process.HasExited)
{
output += process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
}
return output;
}
}
}
How can I make this code work or is there a more efficient way for installing bat files as windows service and then starting, stopping them, getting their status etc.?

Run new process as admin and read standard output

I want to allow users to run a command line utility as administrator from within my non-admin program and for my program to get the output. The utility is third-party but is distributed with my programme.
I can redirect the output of a program and I can run a program as administrator but I can't do both at the same time.
The only thing that I can get to work at the moment is using cmd.exe to redirect the output to a file, e.g.:
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
string appDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
string utilityPath = Path.Combine(appDirectory, "tools", "utility.exe");
string tempFile = Path.GetTempFileName();
Process p = new Process();
// hide the command window
p.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
// run the tool, redirect the output to the temp file and then close.
p.StartInfo.Arguments = " /C \"\"" + utilityPath + "\" > \"" + tempFile + "\"\"";
p.StartInfo.Verb = "runas"; // run as administrator
p.Start();
p.WaitForExit();
// get the output, delete the file and show the output to the user
string output = File.ReadAllText(tempFile);
File.Delete(tempFile);
MessageBox.Show(output);
This has two problems: 1) it uses a temporary file and 2) the UAC is for cmd.exe rather then utility.exe. There must surely be a better way to do this?

Instead of executing through a new cmd, try executing the utility directly. And instead of redirecting to a file, redirect the standard output to read it from your program.
In order to run as admin, you'll need to use the admin username and password (taken from here). You'll need to set your method as unsafe:
unsafe public static void Main(string[] args){
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
// set admin user and password
p.StartInfo.UserName = "adminusername";
char[] chArray = "adminpassword".ToCharArray();
System.Security.SecureString str;
fixed (char* chRef = chArray) {
str = new System.Security.SecureString(chRef, chArray.Length);
}
p.StartInfo.Password = str;
// run and redirect as usual
p.StartInfo.FileName = utilityPath;
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.Start();
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
Console.WriteLine(output);
p.WaitForExit();
}

This does the magic, although I haven't tested it.
It's written in C++, but a wrapper API can easily be created to be called from C# by using DllImport.

Proccess info gives an error but a bat file does not

I try to start ilasm from C# using class ProcessInfo
string arguments = string.Format("\"{0}\" /exe /output:\"{1}\" /debug=IMPL", ilFullFileName, exeFileFullName);
ProcessStartInfo processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(CILCompiler, arguments);
processStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
processStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
processStartInfo.WorkingDirectory = #"c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\";
using (Process process = Process.Start(processStartInfo))
{
process.WaitForExit();
}
the arguments are:
"path_to_il.il" /exe /output:"path_to_exe.exe" /debug=IMPL
and then it gives me the error:
The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000007b). Click Ok to close the application.
The odd part of that is, when I do exactly the same actions manually using bat file
"c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ilasm.exe" "path_to_il.il" /exe /output:"path_to_exe.exe" /debug=IMPL
pause
it does work.
What did I miss?

I think you need to set the file name as well:
processStartInfo.FileName = "ilasm.exe";

Executing command-prompt command in C#

:)
I have a software which can be executed via command line, and now I want it to be executed directly from my C# app. Sadly, there is no error but I still can't do it. :(
The path of .exe file of the software is C:\program files\mysoftware.exe
The command I would like to input is
cd c:\program files\mysoftwareFolder
enter
mysoftware.exe d:\myfolder\file1.xxx d:\myfolder\file2.xxx -mycommand
enter
exit
The commands above work so well in the actual command prompt, but they just don't work from my C# code.
Here is the code:
Process cmdprocess = new Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startinfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startinfo.FileName = "cmd";
startinfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startinfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
startinfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
startinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startinfo.UseShellExecute = false;
cmdprocess.StartInfo = startinfo;
cmdprocess.Start();
System.IO.StreamReader sr = cmdprocess.StandardOutput;
System.IO.StreamWriter sw = cmdprocess.StandardInput;
sw.WriteLine(#"echo on");
sw.WriteLine(#"c:");
sw.WriteLine(#"cd" +#"program files\mysoftwarefolder");
sw.WriteLine(#"mysoftware.exe" +#"d:\myfolder\file1.xxx" +#"d:\myfolder\file2.xxx" +#"-mycommand");
sw.WriteLine(#"exit");
sw.Close();
sr.Close();
I guess the incorrect parts might be "startinfo.FileName = "cmd";" or the way I typed the command in the code, but I have no idea how to correct them. :(
Please tell me what I did wrong. I appreciate every answer from you! :)))
UPDATE Thank you for your helps! I tried writing the command in batch file, but it only works in debugging mode. (I forgot to tell you guys that I am developing a web service.) When I run my external project which will use this C# service, it won't work. I don't know whether I should add something to my code or not.
help meeeeee pleaseeeee (T___T)

Write these commands in a batch file and execute the batch file.
In batch file:
cd c:\program files\mysoftwareFolder
mysoftware.exe
d:\myfolder\file1.xxx
d:\myfolder\file2.xxx -mycommand
exit
Code:
Process cmdprocess = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo startinfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startinfo.FileName = "path to batchfile.bat";
startinfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startinfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
startinfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
startinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startinfo.UseShellExecute = false;
cmdprocess.StartInfo = startinfo;
cmdprocess.Start();

Instead of:
startinfo.FileName = "cmd";
Directly use
startinfo.FileName = #"c:\program files\mysoftwarefolder\mysoftware.exe";
Then pass the arguments to the start info as
startinfo.Arguments = #"d:\myfolder\file1.xxx " +#"d:\myfolder\file2.xxx " +#"-mycommand";
So the whole code looks like:
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = #"c:\program files\mysoftwarefolder\mysoftware.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = #"d:\myfolder\file1.xxx " +#"d:\myfolder\file2.xxx " +#"-mycommand";
p.Start();
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
If you need to see output from your program you can simply use the output string.

2 things: I think you have spacing problems and you're not reading the result of these commands. cmd is probably telling you ..."is not recognized as an internal or external command"
If you look at what you're throwing at cmd, it will be:
echo on
c:
cdprogram files\mysoftware folder
mysoftware.exed:\myfolder\file1.xxx
That won't work when you try it in cmd. CMD is almost certainly kicking back error messages at you, but you're never reading from sr so you'll never know it.
I'd add in some spaces and include all the paths in quotes internally like so:
sw.WriteLine(#"echo on");
sw.WriteLine(#"c:");
sw.WriteLine("cd \"program files\\mysoftwarefolder\"");
sw.WriteLine("mysoftware.exe \"d:\\myfolder\\file1.xxx\" d:\\myfolder\\file2.xxx\" -mycommand");
sw.WriteLine(#"exit");

Passing arguments to running process in C#

I've some troubles with running processes and passing args to them.
I know how to run process with some args
ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/c something");
Process p = Process.Start(psi)
The problem is that after script is executed process is terminated. That's why there is "/c"
But I'm running multiple scripts and I would like to run them in one process ("cmd.exe") not to start new process every time.
Is there some solutions for it ?
I hope somebody understand what I'm talking about ;)

I recommend you utilize a batch file to script the execution of your executables and call your batch file instead. Or, you can do this -
Process p = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();
info.FileName = "cmd.exe";
info.RedirectStandardInput = true;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo = info;
p.Start();
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(p.StandardInput))
{
if (sw.BaseStream.CanWrite)
{
sw.WriteLine("mysql -u root -p");
sw.WriteLine("mypassword");
sw.WriteLine("use mydb;");
}
}

It sounds like you ought to investigate redirecting the standard input - be sure to also set psi.UseShellExecute to false. You'll probably also want to redirect standard output, so you can have some way of knowing what your child process is doing.
Read more about redirection here.