pyinstaller .exe works locally but fails when called by C#? - c#

I have created a script using Python2.7 and compiled it using pyinstaller into an exe of the same name, in this case "GeneralStats.py" turns into "GeneralStats.exe" using --onefile and -w arguments.
When called with C# I use:
var pythonDirectory = (Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());
var filePathExe1 = Path.Combine(pythonDirectory + "\\Python\\GeneralStats.exe");
Process.Start(filePathExe1);
When called outside of C#, so in my local files I can run the .exe and the result is a text file with lots of values in (Running correctly).
However, when ran with C# in this format, I get an error that "GeneralStats returned -1!"
Which I have had issues with before, but it was a simple python error that when I returned to my code and ran it, I would receive an error that I overlooked.
This time my python code returns no errors and works outside of C#.
Any ideas of why this could be? I can provide any code or file directories necessary, please just ask if you feel it would help with debugging.
EDIT:
Solved by removing:
var filePathExe1 = Path.Combine(pythonDirectory + "\\Python\\GeneralStats.exe");
Process.Start(filePathExe1);
And replacing with:
ProcessStartInfo _processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
_processStartInfo.WorkingDirectory = Path.Combine(pythonDirectory + "\\Python");
_processStartInfo.FileName = #"GeneralStats.exe";
_processStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
Process myProcess = Process.Start(_processStartInfo);

You need to set the working directory for the Process - it is probably trying to load files from its working directory but isn't finding them.
See, e.g. this:
Use the ProcessStartInfo.WorkingDirectory property to set it prior to starting the process. If the property is not set, the default working directory is %SYSTEMROOT%\system32.
Set it to the path where GeneralStats.exe is.

Related

Stand alone ".exe" matlab file not saving images

I'm trying to create an ".exe" file that will read some sort of data(for a known path), and will plot it one time as "bplot" and the other time as "histogram".
The code works fine as I run it from the editor, and even after I've made an ".exe" file. The problem begins when I try to run it from a "C#" code with the command "Process.Start(#"my_path.exe")". It seems like it runs the code and I can see the figures that are made, but it doesn't save the pictures.
My matlab code is:
clear
clc
P = csvread('my_path\test_csv.csv');
SP = bplot(P);
pause (3);
saveas(figure(1),[pwd '\picture1.jpeg']);
pause (3)
B = csvread('my_path\test2_csv.csv');
histogram(B);
pause (3)
saveas(figure(1),[pwd '\picture2.jpeg']);
pause (3)
close
clear
clc
The "bplot" is an external function that I downloaded.
Any ideas how to save it in other way so the stand alone application will save the images when I call it from C# code?
Try using the syntax with ProcessStartInfo parameter (see here), rather than syntax with the path the file directly.
Indeed if not setting ProcessStartInfo.WorkingDirectory, it will be considered to be %SYSTEMROOT%\System32 (for which you don't have write access as normal user)
var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(#"my_path.exe");
startInfo.WorkingDirectory= .... you exe dir or something else....;
Process.Start(startInfo);

Running remote batch file with PsExec and C#

I'm trying to run a remote batch file - already located on the remote machine - using PsExec, called via Process in C#. I've confirmed that all required files already exist, but believe I may have a problem with my syntax, as the redirected output indicates that it can't find the file specified.
The machine against which PsExec runs is dynamic, which is the myArray[0].MachineName value (this pulls in without issue).
wsStopProcess.StartInfo.FileName = #"C:\Windows\system32\PsExec.exe";
wsStopProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = #" \\" + myArray[0].MachineName + #"D:\stopprofile.bat";
wsStopProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
wsStopProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
wsStopProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
wsStopProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
wsStopProcess.Start();
Any ideas on what appears to be formatted incorrectly? I'm guessing it's too many backslashes (or not enough!) somewhere.
I think the main problem is you do not have a space between the two arguments.
Try this:
wsStopProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = #"\\" + myArray[0].MachineName + #" D:\stopprofile.bat";
I would also warn you that I could not get psexec to work 100%, despite trying many different things.
Try this:
wsStopProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = #"\\" + myArray[0].MachineName + #" D$\stopprofile.bat";
So instead of using : try $ sign. Also setting breakpoint on the above line while debugging will help you to see the exact path.

Error in Process.Start() -- The system cannot find the file specified

I am using the following code to fire the iexplore process. This is done in a simple console app.
public static void StartIExplorer()
{
var info = new ProcessStartInfo("iexplore");
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.RedirectStandardInput = true;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
info.RedirectStandardError = true;
string password = "password";
SecureString securePassword = new SecureString();
for (int i = 0; i < password.Length; i++)
securePassword.AppendChar(Convert.ToChar(password[i]));
info.UserName = "userName";
info.Password = securePassword;
info.Domain = "domain";
try
{
Process.Start(info);
}
catch (System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
The above code is throwing the error The system cannot find the file specified. The same code when run without specifying the user credentials works fine. I am not sure why it is throwing this error.
Can someone please explain?
Try to replace your initialization code with:
ProcessStartInfo info
= new ProcessStartInfo(#"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe");
Using non full filepath on Process.Start only works if the file is found in System32 folder.
You can't use a filename like iexplore by itself because the path to internet explorer isn't listed in the PATH environment variable for the system or user.
However any path entered into the PATH environment variable allows you to use just the file name to execute it.
System32 isn't special in this regard as any directory can be added to the PATH variable. Each path is simply delimited by a semi-colon.
For example I have c:\ffmpeg\bin\ and c:\nmap\bin\ in my path environment variable, so I can do things like new ProcessStartInfo("nmap", "-foo") or new ProcessStartInfo("ffplay", "-bar")
The actual PATH variable looks like this on my machine.
%SystemRoot%\system32;C:\FFPlay\bin;C:\nmap\bin;
As you can see you can use other system variables, such as %SystemRoot% to build and construct paths in the environment variable.
So - if you add a path like "%PROGRAMFILES%\Internet Explorer;" to your PATH variable you will be able to use ProcessStartInfo("iexplore");
If you don't want to alter your PATH then simply use a system variable such as %PROGRAMFILES% or %SystemRoot% and then expand it when needed in code. i.e.
string path = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(
#"%PROGRAMFILES%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe");
var info = new ProcessStartInfo(path);
Also, if your PATH's dir is enclosed in quotes, it will work from the command prompt but you'll get the same error message
I.e. this causes an issue with Process.Start() not finding your exe:
PATH="C:\my program\bin";c:\windows\system32
Maybe it helps someone.
I had the same problem, but none of the solutions worked for me, because the message The system cannot find the file specified can be misleading in some special cases.
In my case, I use Notepad++ in combination with the registry redirect for notepad.exe. Unfortunately my path to Notepad++ in the registry was wrong.
So in fact the message The system cannot find the file specified was telling me, that it cannot find the application (Notepad++) associated with the file type(*.txt), not the file itself.
I know it's a bit old and although this question have accepted an answer, but I think its not quite answer.
Assume we want to run a process here C:\Program Files\SomeWhere\SomeProcess.exe.
One way could be to hard code absolute path:
new ProcessStartInfo(#"C:\Program Files\SomeWhere\SomeProcess.exe")
Another way (recommended one) is to use only process name:
new ProcessStartInfo("SomeProcess.exe")
The second way needs the process directory to be registered in Environment Variable Path variable. Make sure to add it in System Variables instead of Current User Variables, this allows your app to access this variable.
You can use the folowing to get the full path to your program like this:
Environment.CurrentDirectory

Getting output from one executable in an other one

I'm currently trying to get the output of an executable console-app into an other one. To be exact, a little overview of what I'm trying to do:
I have one executable which I cannot edit and neither see it's code. It writes some (quite a bunch to be honest) lines into the console when executed.
Now I want to write another executable that starts the one above and reads the things it writes.
Seems simple to me, so I started coding but ended up with an error message saying that StandardOut has not been redirected or the process hasn't started yet.
I tried it using this kinda structure (C#):
Process MyApp = Process.Start(#"C:\some\dirs\foo.exe", "someargs");
MyApp.Start();
StreamReader _Out = MyApp.StandardOutput;
string _Line = "";
while ((_Line = _Out.ReadLine()) != null)
Console.WriteLine("Read: " + _Line);
MyApp.Close();
I can open the executable and it also does open the one inside, but as soon as it comes to reading the returned values, the app crashes.
What am I doing wrong?!
Take a look at the documentation for the Process.StandardOutput property. You will need to set a boolean indicating that you want the stream redirected as well as disabling shell execute.
Note from the documentation:
To use StandardOutput, you must set ProcessStartInfo..::.UseShellExecute to false, and you must set ProcessStartInfo..::.RedirectStandardOutput to true. Otherwise, reading from the StandardOutput stream throws an exception
You would need to change your code a little bit to adjust for the changes:
Process myApp = new Process(#"C:\some\dirs\foo.exe", "someargs");
myApp.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
myApp.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = false;
myApp.Start();
string output = myApp.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
you could try setting processStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
As noted above, you can use RedirectStandardOutput as here.
Another, dirtier way is something like
using (Process child = Process.Start
("cmd", #"/c C:\some\dirs\foo.exe someargs > somefilename"))
{
exeProcess.WaitForExit();
}
And then read its output from somefilename

Perl Script Output Capture Problem using C#

I was following one of the thread to run perl scripts from my c# program.
My c# code is like this:
private void RunScript(ArrayList selectedScriptFileList)
{
foreach (var curScriptFileName in selectedScriptFileList)
{
ProcessStartInfo myProcessStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("perl.exe");
myProcessStartInfo.Arguments = (string)(curScriptFileName);
myProcessStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
myProcessStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
myProcessStartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
myProcessStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
myProcess.StartInfo = myProcessStartInfo;
myProcess.Start();
myProcess.WaitForExit();
string output = myProcess.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
this.ScriptTestResultTextBox.AppendText(output);
}
}
And my perl script requires XML parsing. I can read the print statement before the XML parsing, but not after the parsing starts. The script runs find on DoS shell.
Here is part of my script:
print("\n");
print("****************** test1.pl ***********************\n");
print("\n");
print("1");
print("2");
my $scriptName = 'test1.pl';
my $file = '../../ScriptParamLib.xml';
my $parser = XML::LibXML->new();
my $tree = $parser->parse_file($file);
my $root = $tree->getDocumentElement;
my #species = $root->getElementsByTagName('test_node');
print("Accessing XML Data Base...\n");
The c# testbox only shows the first three print statement but not the last one.
Does anybody knows why?
Thanks
You could add more debugging print statements (e.g. one between every other line of your code) to see how far the execution gets. However, I'm going to go on a hunch and suggest that adding these three lines to your script will either solve the problem outright or lead you closer to a solution:
use strict;
use warnings;
use XML::LibXML;
Please update your question indicating how far execution gets and what errors you see!
I figured I should roll my comments into an answer since they proved to be helpful:
Since using an absolute path for $file in the Perl script works, the issue most likely has something to do with the working directory of the process that gets spawned from the C# program. You can use the Cwd module in the Perl script to see what the working directory actually is. If it's not what you expect, try setting it via the WorkingDirectory property of ProcessStartInfo in your C# program. Relative paths should work just fine after that.

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