Wait until a process ends

Question

I've an application which does

Process.Start()

to start another application 'ABC'. I want to wait till that application ends (process dies) and continue my execution. How can I do it?

There may be multiple instances of the application 'ABC' running at the same time.

Answer 1

I think you just want this:

var process = Process.Start(...);
process.WaitForExit();

See the MSDN page for the method. It also has an overload where you can specify the timeout, so you're not potentially waiting forever.

Answer 2

Use Process.WaitForExit? Or subscribe to the Process.Exited event if you don't want to block? If that doesn't do what you want, please give us more information about your requirements.

Answer 3

I do the following in my application:

Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo.FileName = executable;
process.StartInfo.Arguments = arguments;
process.StartInfo.ErrorDialog = true;
process.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized;
process.Start();
process.WaitForExit(1000 * 60 * 5);    // Wait up to five minutes.

There are a few extra features in there which you might find useful...

Answer 4

You could use wait for exit or you can catch the HasExited property and update your UI to keep the user "informed" (expectation management):

System.Diagnostics.Process process = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("cmd.exe");
while (!process.HasExited)
{
    //update UI
}
//done

Answer 5

I had a case where Process.HasExited didn't change after closing the window belonging to the process. So Process.WaitForExit() also didn't work. I had to monitor Process.Responding that went to false after closing the window like that:

while (!_process.HasExited && _process.Responding) {
  Thread.Sleep(100);
}
...

Perhaps this helps someone.

Answer 6

Process.WaitForExit should be just what you're looking for I think.

Answer 7

Referring to the Microsoft example: [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.diagnostics.process.enableraisingevents?view=netframework-4.8]

Best would be to set:

myProcess.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

otherwiese the Code will be blocked. Also no additional properties needed.

// Start a process and raise an event when done.
myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = fileName;
// Allows to raise event when the process is finished
myProcess.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
// Eventhandler wich fires when exited
myProcess.Exited += new EventHandler(myProcess_Exited);
// Starts the process
myProcess.Start();

// Handle Exited event and display process information.
private void myProcess_Exited(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine(
                  $"Exit time    : {myProcess.ExitTime}\n" +
                  $"Exit code    : {myProcess.ExitCode}\n" +
                  $"Elapsed time : {elapsedTime}");
}

Answer 8

Like Jon Skeet says, use the Process.Exited:

proc.StartInfo.FileName = exportPath + @"\" + fileExe;
proc.Exited += new EventHandler(myProcess_Exited);
proc.Start();
inProcess = true;

while (inProcess)
{
    proc.Refresh();
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10);
    if (proc.HasExited)
    {
        inProcess = false;
    }
}

private void myProcess_Exited(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    inProcess = false;
    Console.WriteLine("Exit time:    {0}\r\n" +
      "Exit code:    {1}\r\n", proc.ExitTime, proc.ExitCode);
}

Answer 9

Try this:

string command = "...";
var process = Process.Start(command);
process.WaitForExit();