Give a custom name to a process started in VB.Net

Question

When starting a process in VB.Net, I would like to give it a custom name that can be accessed by any function I give this process to as a argument.

I launch my process this way :

Dim mainProcessHandler As New ProcessStartInfo()
Dim mainProcess As Process
mainProcessHandler.FileName = "something_01out18.bat"
mainProcessHandler.Arguments = "-d"
mainProcessHandler.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
mainProcess = Process.Start(mainProcessHandler)

If I do nothing more, when using

mainProcess.ProcessName

I will get "cmd" as it's a bat script run by cmd.

Can I do something like

mainProcess.myCustomName = "bat01out18"

And call it in a function

Sub doThingsWithProcess(ByVal usedForThingsProcess As Process) As Boolean
    infoConsoleDisplay("process " + usedForThingsProcess.myCustomName + " will be used to for things")
End Sub

I'm pretty sure there is a way to achieve such thing but maybe with a different approach. Do you have any idea ?

Possible duplicate of [Identify a process started in VB.Net to be able to kill it and all its children later](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52164926/identify-a-process-started-in-vb-net-to-be-able-to-kill-it-and-all-its-children) — Blackwood, Sep 04 '18 at 14:11
You can create a subclass that inherits `Process` and add all the custom properties you want. — 41686d6564 stands w. Palestine, Sep 04 '18 at 14:12
@Blackwood Just looked at the other question and it seems to be asking about something different. — 41686d6564 stands w. Palestine, Sep 04 '18 at 14:31
I mentioned on question 52164926 that using a custom name was a related concern but edited out **before** opening this question. There is no duplicate. — Julien D, Sep 05 '18 at 07:50

score -1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 04 '18 at 14:27

-1

You can create a subclass that inherits from Process, then you can add any custom properties you like to it. Here's an example:

Public Class CustomProcess
    Inherits Process

    Public Property DisplayName As String

End Class

Usage:

Dim pInfo As New ProcessStartInfo()
pInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe"
pInfo.Arguments = "/C ping 127.0.0.1"
pInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal
Dim mainProcess As New CustomProcess() With {.DisplayName = "MyProcess"}
mainProcess.StartInfo = pInfo
mainProcess.Start()

Console.WriteLine($"Process '{mainProcess.DisplayName}' will be doing so and so.")

Output:

Process 'MyProcess' will be doing so and so.

answered Sep 04 '18 at 14:27

41686d6564 stands w. Palestine

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That solved my issue. I set a mainProcess.DisplayName = "Process doing that" before each mainProcess.StartInfo = mainProcessStartInfo mainProcess.Start() – Julien D Sep 05 '18 at 07:52
@JulienD Exactly, or you can use object initializer (i.e., `With {.DisplayName = "MyProcess"}`) as shown in the answer. – 41686d6564 stands w. Palestine Sep 05 '18 at 15:10
Sure but as I use the same mainProcess instance several times for different bat scripts, I need to overwrite the DisplayName over time. Thank you. – Julien D Sep 06 '18 at 08:57

Give a custom name to a process started in VB.Net

1 Answers1