Constantly monitor processes

Question

I've written some code which monitors the running windows processes. I wish to know when a certain process starts and when it ends. The code works just like I want it to.

Now, I wish to implement it in a windows form server application - so it will run in loop as long as the form is alive. I guess I should make it run asynchronously maybe using a BackgroundWorker. I'm just not sure what's the best way to do it and how.

Here is my monitor code:

using System;
using System.Management;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;

class ProcessMonitor
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        Dictionary<string, Process> newProcs= new Dictionary<string, Process> ();
        while (true) 
        {
            foreach (Process process in Process.GetProcesses())
            {
                if (process.ProcessName.CompareTo("Someprocess") == 0)
                {
                    if (!searchForProcess(newProcs, process.Id))
                    {
                        ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT CommandLine FROM Win32_Process WHERE ProcessId = " + process.Id);
                        foreach (ManagementObject @object in searcher.Get())
                        {
                            Console.Write("Adding new Process: ");
                            Console.WriteLine(@object["CommandLine"] + " ");
                            newProcs.Add(@object["CommandLine"] + " ", process);
                        }   
                    }
                }
            }
            checkProcesses(newProcs);
        } 
        Console.WriteLine("Done");
    }

    private static bool searchForProcess(Dictionary<string, Process> newProcs, int newKey)
    {
        foreach (Process process in newProcs.Values)
        {
            if (process.Id == newKey)
                return true;
        }

        return false;
    }
    private static void checkProcesses(Dictionary<string, Process> newProcs)
    {
        foreach (string currProc in newProcs.Keys)
        {
            bool processExists = false;
            foreach (Process process in Process.GetProcesses())
            {
                if (process.Id == newProcs[currProc].Id)
                {
                    processExists = true;
                    break;
                }

            }
            if (!processExists)
            {
                Console.Write("Process Finished: ");
                Console.WriteLine(currProc);
                newProcs.Remove(currProc);
                if (newProcs.Count == 0)
                    break;
            }
        }
    }
}

Any ideas?

You could use a timer. Do you have any spec for how it should work? — Jocke, Feb 06 '13 at 10:25
My server side is a windows form application, not a console application. Basically, my client sends command requests to the server, and the server runs them. I wish to track those commands, and send the client a notification when each of them finish. — Idanis, Feb 06 '13 at 11:57

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 01 '16 at 12:32

This can be achieved using Subscription or Polling .

Polling (for Process loop)

BackgroundWorker

if you have a single task that runs in the background and needs to interact with the UI.
ThreadPool thread

When efficiency is desired. It avoid the overhead associated with creating, starting, and stopping threads. Not for long running tasks.
Thread class

For long-running tasks and when you require fine-grained control over thread execution,etc.

Subscripton

ManagementEventWatcher (what stuartd mentioned)

In this scenario subscription is probably more efficient than polling.

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

As you're already using WMI, I would recommend using a temporary event subscription to watch for changes to the processes. The process can be synchronous, asynchronous, or semi-synchronous (usually the recommended choice) and you can specify a polling interval with a WITHIN clause.

This query watches for process creation events:

SELECT TargetInstance FROM __InstanceCreationEvent 
  WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Process" -- or Win32_ProcessStartTrace

This one watches for process end events:

SELECT TargetInstance FROM __InstanceDeletionEvent 
  WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Process" -- or Win32_ProcessStopTrace

This question has an example of how to use the ManagementEventWatcher class in C#.

score -1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 06 '13 at 11:47

-1

u can create a method like this

 public static void Thread1() {
           //paste your main code hear
            }

copy and past all your code, written in the main to this new method.

change the main to some like this

 public static void Main() {
            Console.WriteLine("Before start thread");
            Thread tid1 = new Thread(new ThreadStart(Thread1 ) );
            tid1.Start();                
    }

answered Feb 06 '13 at 11:47

Mohsen Heydari

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Ok, I did that on ther server. The problem now is that if I use `tid1.Start();` then for some reason, the form doesn't shutdown when I click the "x" button to close it..Any ideas? – Idanis Feb 06 '13 at 13:02
1

on the form closing event you have to call 'tid1.Stop();' – Mohsen Heydari Feb 07 '13 at 06:13

Constantly monitor processes

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