How would I go about modifying my c# console application to retrieve values or have methods or events triggered by a shell command.
Basically after the applications loads I want the ability to be able to execute functions in the application as well as pass data to those functions.
Any Direction?
.NET 3.5 Adds Named Pipes Support, I think it can be a solution.
EDIT: better link.
You may use SingleInstance pattern - C# : how to - single instance application that accepts new parameters? .
you should accept input from the console using something like:
Console.ReadLine();
it would work, then the user types a command and clicks enter and you parse the command and execute the actions you need to execute.
it's a bit old fashion like DOS programs, and keep in mind that depending on your design the Console application you are writing would hang until the user enters value and presses ENTER key, means cannot execute anything else because the thread which callls Console.ReadLine waits that command to come from the user.
Related
Here is my problem, i have a currently running program that runs in the background and is only accessible via a cmd window in which you pass commands to control said program. What im trying to do is send a command from my c# winform to the cmd which then executes the command. Im basicly trying to code a gui for this program.
Cheers.
Well, it's a little more involved, but this can be done by using the Windows Api.
Which means, you need to import some native libraries via P/Invoke.
First you need to get a handle to the console window. You can do this via FindWindow (P/Invoke signature).
Next to send some key-strokes there's multiple options. The most pretty one I guess is to use SendMessage (P/Invoke signature) with the WM_KEYDOWN and WM_KEYUP messages and the VK_ key as lParam argument.
Yes it is running -- You aren't going to be able to send commands to a running app unless it's designed to accept them somehow.. It either needs to have an open port or some way to 'send the command' to the running app.
Most apps that "you can't modify" can only be called with specific parameters at startup, unless they were designed to take input at runtime.
I have an AutoUpdater application that launches another application. Is there anyway to force that second application to ONLY run if it was started by the AutoUpdater?
The problem is, some end-users will create a shortcut to the main app file on their desktop. This becomes a problem because it's supposed to check for updates to the app before it launches, and they don't receive our updates.
One thought I had was to create an IPC channel via WCF and issue a very simple command from the AutoUpdater to the other application. If the other app doesn't receive that command within 2 or 3 seconds it would close itself.
This seems like more code/overhead than what should be needed though. Is there an easier way?
Thanks!
Windows forms applications also have a main method, which can take parameters. You could read some parameter, and if it doesn't conform to your rules, you can either keep the form from opening (therefore the user wouldn't see a thing), or you can chastise the user, I mean, give a message that they shouldn't open your app that way. I think this is simpler than using WCF.
You can run your App by using
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("", "TestString");
The first string is the path of App you want to start, something like "C:/AppName.exe" and the second string is any text you want but it must be the same string that you check in the 'if' below.
In the App you need to check the text given trough the second string.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
if(!args.Length == 1 || !args[0]=="TestString") Environment.Exit(0);
//↑ lenght check to avoid exception, then check for the string itself
//the OS gives the string to args, you don't need to take care about that
//rest of your code
}
I hope I helped to solve it.
I'm not going to go into details why am trying to do this, instead of making the main application do the work. I think it's currently easier for me. But I'm not going to use this technique in the future.
In my case, the main form has a button that opens another form. In the second one for you can adjust the amount, pause, resume and stop the work of the console application (sound totally useless (and maybe stupid), but, like I said, I'm not going to go into details why). This means that the application must have access to all the variables and resources of the whole program and vise versa.
I know how to launch a new form trough a main form, but I don't know how to launch a console application.
EDIT:
I forgot to mention, that the console application is a part of the solution.
Your requirement is a bit vague; "the application must have access to all the variables and resources of the whole program and vise versa". 'Variables and resources' cannot be shared across processes, you will instead need interprocess communication of some form.
If your console app merely needs to communicate back to the calling forms app that a RPC has succeeded then use exit codes in the console app, see: How do I return a value from a console application to a service in .NET?
Otherwise this has been answered before: Getting the ouput from Console window into Winform application
You'll need to either create a console emulator (time consuming and difficult to get right), or fire up cmd.exe in another process and use remote procedure calls (or another inter process communication method) to communicate between the two processes
If you want to communicate between the two processes, take a look at this library here:
https://github.com/TheCodeKing/XDMessaging.Net
It allows you to send messages from one app to the other. For example, App1 sends a message "stop" on the channel "randomkey" to ConsoleApp1, ConsoleApp1 can listen on the channel "randomkey" and intercept the "stop" message and stop its current processing.
If you wanted to just open the console window, just use System.Diagnostics.Process.Start();
You can just call Main directly. Beware of doing this on the UI thread directly though!
SomeConsoleApp.Main(new string[]{"-O", "File 1.txt", "-some-parameter"});
Or if you only have an exe, you can do:
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("someconsoleapp.exe");
I have a simple Windows application which has two text boxes and one button called "Run". Currently, I have to manually enter the values in text boxes and click on Run button every week. I want to automate this process, so that no user interaction should be required. Can I write a script to do this?
I assume you have the source of your Windows application as you've tagged your question with C#. If so, then it's fairly straightforward to pass your text box values on the command line via something like Windows Task Scheduler, parse the command line parameters in your application, and pass them on to whatever you call when Run is pressed.
Kicking it off at every X interval is one thing. I would suggest the Windows Task Scheduler. However, it sounds like you need to interact with the GUI application after it's been launched. For that, all I can do is point you in the right direction. The only thing that comes to mind is to use a third-party GUI testing suite. Check out this list. You can script any of these suites to interact with the GUI, that is, input some data and click on the Run button.
How can I make my already running C# Windows Form Application be able to receive commands from the command line while it is already running?
For example: if my application is playing a video now then I want to be able to type on the command line "MyApp /stop" so that while the application is still running it stops the playing the video without exiting from current session.
From your question it seems that your first process is still running and you start a second instance of it, and you wish that instance to communicate with the first.
What you are looking for is called inter-process communication (IPC). The standard way of doing this in .NET is to use Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).
One way would be to make your app a singleton, and whenever another instance is run, it will pass arguments to the already running process.
Example: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/SingletonApplication.aspx
By sending a command like that, you'd be firing up another process. Certain command line arguments could do some kind of IPC to signal the "main" instance of the running app.
Without changing your design structure and assuming your application is a standalone application (running on a local PC),
One method is to make one thread of your application wait (WaitOne()) for a named mutex or semaphore (link text).
When you start your application (your second instance), you parse your commandline (via the args arguments). If the args[0] contains your "/stop" command, you "Release()" the named mutex/semaphore. Then your thread (in the first instance) will be waken to stop the playing the video.
Then again (having said all the above), a more simple solution is to have a STOP button in your application where the user can click on it.