Running and Closing applications using C#

August 27, 2008 in C# by Michael Chrisman 0 Comments

Sometimes you need to run an external command. This is usually when there is no API for the application. An example is to use Adobe Acrobat reader to print a PDF file.

The class we will use to open the application is the Process class. It is in the System.Diagnostics namespace. So the first step is to include the namespace.

   1:  using System.Diagnostics;

Now we have to create our application variable.

   1:  Process AcroReader = new Process();

Of course we have only created an empty application container. It needs to know a couple of things before we can start it. The file name to run and any startup parameters come to mind.

   1:  AcroReader.StartInfo.FileName = "C:\program files\Adobe\Reader\bin\acrord32.exe";

   2:  AcroReader.StartInfo.Arguments = "/t myfile.pdf \\servername\printername";

For the filename, be sure to include the full path if the command is not on the command path. FYI, the arguments I have listed will print the file named 'myfile.pdf' to a printer share.

Now all we have to do is run the command. This is done by invoking the start() method.

   1:  ArcoReader.Start();

Of course, once the command is done, it might be useful to close the application window. To do this, we use the CloseMainWindow() method.

   1:  ArcoReader.CloseMainWindow();

So let's put is all together.

   1:  using System;

   2:  using System.Diagnostics;

   3:   

   4:  namespace demo

   5:  {

   6:      class ProcessDemo

   7:      {

   8:          static void Main(string[] args)

   9:          {

  10:              Process AcroReader = new Process();

  11:   

  12:              AcroReader.StartInfo.FileName = "C:\program files\Adobe\Reader\bin\acrord32.exe";

  13:              AcroReader.StartInfo.Arguments = "/t myfile.pdf \\servername\printername";

  14:   

  15:              AcroReader.Start();

  16:              

  17:              // wait for app to finish

  18:              

  19:              AcroReader.CloseMainWindow();

  20:          }

  21:      }

  22:  }