How can I pause a C# Console application (only when being run by a user)

Question

How can I pause a C# console application only while being run by a user?

I've searched similar issues on stack overflow which recommend learning to debug properly, using readline, etc, but none of them cover the instance where your process might be being run by an automated system that needs to continue straight past (i.e. not pause, to let user read screen).

How can I determine whether the console is being run interactively or by a script?

If this were bash on a linux system, I could do something like

https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Is-this-Shell-Interactive_003f.html

What does "being run by an automated system that needs to continue straight past" mean? — Enigmativity, Nov 14 '17 at 05:11
e.g. a batch script in the background, another process, not being directly run by a user in a console. — Ryan Leach, Nov 14 '17 at 05:12
why do not you ask for input that only user can give? are you a user? for example. — Yahya Hussein, Nov 14 '17 at 05:16
Why basic piping output in shell with `| more` is not enough for your case? Really confusing what your requirements are... Usually if you making command line tools you just pass switches you like and don't guess. — Alexei Levenkov, Nov 14 '17 at 05:27

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 14 '17 at 05:27

Using some command line argument would be the easiest solution. For example if program is run with command line parameter "-automatic" it could just run without stopping. Without such parameter program would run in interactive mode and would expect user input.

It is pretty standard approach used by many command line utilities.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 14 '17 at 05:19

You need to check if someone is logged in as the interactive user, but this is mostly for usage with services. Some "automated" systems since you mention such a term may be faking a logged-in user.

There are some suggestions available at: Check if no user is currently logged on to Windows

Probably the easiest way (especially if you don't want to rely on WMI API) is to enumerate user sessions via P/Invoke call, as shown here: http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/wtsapi32/WTSEnumerateSessions.html

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 15 '17 at 05:10

Console.OpenStandardInput(1) will return Stream.Null if the console Application is not being ran interactively.

    private static void pause()
    {
        if (Console.OpenStandardInput(1) != Stream.Null)
        {
            Console.Out.WriteLine("Press any key to continue");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }

How can I pause a C# Console application (only when being run by a user)

3 Answers3