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How to make a process crash if it doesn't log anything for 5 minutes

I work at Ubisoft and we use a very old program to manipulate some files. Since it's legacy software, it's really bad and it may happen that the software has crashed and keeps on running. We sadly don't have access to the code, so we're unable to fix that. I was wondering, is it possible to use System.Diagnostics.Process with a "no log timeout"? Here's what I'm trying to achieve
var legacySoftwareProcess = new Process
{
StartInfo =
{
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
WorkingDirectory = localPackageFolder,
FileName = CiConfig.DataGeneration.RebuildUnstrippedBatName
}
};
legacySoftwareProcess.IdleLogTimeout = 5 * 60; // 5 minutes
legacySoftwareProcess.Start();
var output = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
legacySoftwareProcess.WaitForExit();
if (legacySoftwareProcess.ExitCode != 0)
{
Context.LogMessage(output);
Context.LogError("The process exited with non 0 code");
}

Rather than using:
var output = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
You can listen for the event when output data is received from the process:
proc.OutputDataReceived += ResetTimer;
proc.Start();
proc.BeginOutputReadLine(); // not sure that you should use that as it may read output synchronously (I will check that soon)
And in the handler method ResetTimer, as the method name implies, reset a 5-minute timer:
static void ResetTimer(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Data != null)
{
// reset the timer
}
}
If timer has elapsed, it means nothing has been outputed for 5 minutes, and you can take action accordingly, ie kill the process.

Handling Memory Limit on a Process in C#

I have a main application calling another console application through Process component. I have set a memory limit on the console app using through custom implementation of Job Objects(Class name as 'Job' in the code)
Whenever the memory limit is crossed OutofMemory exception is thrown or KERNELBASE.DLL faulting happens. But I am unable to catch this exception in the main app or in the console app.
What is the way to handle this ?
Handling through Global exception in console app did not work.
Main Application has following code
private void startProcess()
{
try
{
Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo.FileName = #"E:\App\console.exe";
proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
proc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
proc.OutputDataReceived += Proc_OutputDataReceived;
proc.ErrorDataReceived += Proc_ErrorDataReceived;
proc.BeginOutputReadLine();
proc.BeginErrorReadLine();
proc.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
proc.Start();
Job job = new Job(_maxmemory);//memory limit set for child process
job.AddProcess(proc.Id);//for the above console
proc.WaitForExit();//this is called on a thread.
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}
Console app has following code
static void Main(string[] args)
{
System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.UnhandledException += CatchUnhandledException;
}
static void CatchUnhandledException(object sender, UnhandledExceptionEventArgs e)
{
Console.Error.WriteLine(e.ExceptionObject.ToString());
}
How to handle this memory limit exception either in main app or console ?

Your main app code clearly will not catch that error. Process.Start() starts the other process asynchonously, so the method will end before the other process really does something. You'll have to call proc.WaitForExit() if you want to wait for the child process to terminate. After that, you can use the ExitCode property to find out whether your child process had an error. The value will be non-zero if your process died due to an exception.
Code such as this one in the child process should actually work:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
AllocateALotOfMemory();
}
catch (OutOfMemoryException e)
{
// Handle error
}
}

cant get process error output using process.ErrorDataReceived c#

I've built Form App that I use for some time , Now I want to Catch the StandardError of my process as well as its standartOutput
I've looked at answers in SO and MSDN and yet and cant get it right
My code :
public void RunProcess(string FileName, string Arguments,, bool IsPrintOutput = true)
{
process = new Process();
process.ErrorDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(OnDataReceivedEvent);
if (IsPrintOutput) process.OutputDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(OnDataReceivedEvent);
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.FileName = FileName;
process.StartInfo.Arguments = Arguments;
if (EventWhenExit)
{
process.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
process.Exited += new EventHandler(myprocess_Exited);
}
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
//run polling on stored logs to print them to screen
PollingService();
}
I've check it with Iperf and I see that when I run it with correct argument I get correct output
but when I just send it with out any argumnet I see that with cmd I get
C:\>iperf.exe
Usage: iperf [-s|-c host] [options]
Try `iperf --help' for more information.
And my App I get Nothing !
what am I missing here ?
Thanks
You can stop reading here ! If you want to see the details of inner method continue below :
private void OnDataReceivedEvent(object sender, DataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
string ProcessOutput = e.Data;
ProcessLog.Add(e.Data);
}
private void PollingService()
{
var T = new Thread (()=>
{
while (true /* ProcessRunning*/)
{
if (ProcessLogIndex < ProcessLog.Count)
{
lock (this)
{
var tempList = ProcessLog.GetRange(ProcessLogIndex, ProcessLog.Count - ProcessLogIndex);
ProcessLogIndex = ProcessLog.Count;
foreach (var ToSend in tempList)
{
onDataOutputFromProcess(this, ToSend, sProcessNameID.ToString());
}
}
}
Thread.Sleep(400);
}
});
T.IsBackground = true;
T.Start();
}

I don't see a call to BeginErrorReadLine() anywhere in the code you posted. If you don't call that method, then the Process class won't actually redirect the stderr to your event handler.
I believe the above is the issue, but if you are actually calling that somewhere (and just didn't show it), then it is worth considering that there are some strange console programs out there that don't actually used stderr (or stdout) for error output. Instead, they write directly to the console window or some other non-standard mechanism. In those cases, you won't be able to receive the error output by redirecting stderr.
You can identify those programs by redirecting their output at the command like with e.g. iperf.exe 2> foo.txt. The stderr file handle is 2, and so that syntax redirects that file handle to a file named foo.txt. If the file is empty and you see errors on the screen, then the program is one of those strange programs.
But really, I think you probably just forgot to call BeginErrorReadLine(). :)

.Exited event problems

The .Exited is not working for all cases, for example: to C:\foo.png when I close the responsible application that show the image, I don't get the MessageBox.Show("exited!");
here's my code:
public static void TryOpenFile(string filename)
{
Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(filename);
proc.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
proc.Exited += (a,b) => { MessageBox.Show("Exited!"); }
proc.Start();
}
how I call the function TryOpenFile(#"C:\foo.png");. How to fix this?

Is it possible that you already have your image editing program open? When you call proc.Start(), if the process is already running, then the existing process is reused. You should check the return value of proc.Start() to see if this is the case.
From MSDN:
Return Value
true if a process resource is started; false if no new
process resource is started (for example, if an existing process is
reused).
...
Remarks
...
If the process resource specified by the FileName member of the StartInfo property is
already running on the computer, no additional process resource is started. Instead, the
running process resource is reused and false is returned.

handle exit event of child process

I have a console application and in the Main method. I start a process like the code below, when process exists, the Exist event of the process is fired but it closed my console application too, I just want to start a process and then in exit event of that process start another process.
It is also wired that process output is reflecting in my main console application.
Process newCrawler = new Process();
newCrawler.StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
newCrawler.StartInfo.FileName = configSection.CrawlerPath;
newCrawler.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
newCrawler.Exited += new EventHandler(newCrawler_Exited);
newCrawler.StartInfo.Arguments = "someArg";
newCrawler.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
newCrawler.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
newCrawler.Start();

You have to call newCrawler.WaitForExit() in order to stay until the child process finish. Then you can use newCrawler.ExitCode to have the exit value.

Seems like the Process exit handling could have caused the application error. So the application could have terminated. Can you put a proper try..catch block and debugg to see what is going wrong. Or comment the
line
newCrawler.Exited += new EventHandler(newCrawler_Exited);
and see what happens.
Please try following code (This is from MSDN) , also don't forget to pass one argument (FileName)
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.VisualBasic;
class PrintProcessClass
{
private Process myProcess = new Process();
private int elapsedTime;
private bool eventHandled;
// Print a file with any known extension.
public void PrintDoc(string fileName)
{
elapsedTime = 0;
eventHandled = false;
try
{
// Start a process to print a file and raise an event when done.
myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = fileName;
myProcess.StartInfo.Verb = "Print";
myProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
myProcess.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
myProcess.Exited += new EventHandler(myProcess_Exited);
myProcess.Start();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("An error occurred trying to print \"{0}\":" + "\n" + ex.Message, fileName);
return;
}
// Wait for Exited event, but not more than 30 seconds.
const int SLEEP_AMOUNT = 100;
while (!eventHandled)
{
elapsedTime += SLEEP_AMOUNT;
if (elapsedTime > 30000)
{
break;
}
Thread.Sleep(SLEEP_AMOUNT);
}
}
// Handle Exited event and display process information.
private void myProcess_Exited(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
eventHandled = true;
Console.WriteLine("Exit time: {0}\r\n" +
"Exit code: {1}\r\nElapsed time: {2}", myProcess.ExitTime, myProcess.ExitCode, elapsedTime);
}
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Verify that an argument has been entered.
if (args.Length <= 0)
{
Console.WriteLine("Enter a file name.");
return;
}
// Create the process and print the document.
PrintProcessClass myPrintProcess = new PrintProcessClass();
myPrintProcess.PrintDoc(args[0]);
}
}
One thing I noticed is, if you are not passing the filename as parameter, that will lead the process to crash, but still the application is intact (Since the exception is handled inside the process).
If you are not passing the filename the above code will crash beacuse the
myPrintProcess.PrintDoc(args[0]);
will throw exception from main process itself.
I tried to create an exceptin inside the Exit handler, at that time the application (main process) also crashed.
can you try commenting the code inside Exit handler?