What is the correct way to create a single-instance WPF application?

Question

Using C# and WPF under .NET (rather than Windows Forms or console), what is the correct way to create an application that can only be run as a single instance?

I kno

Answer 1

MSDN actually has a sample application for both C# and VB to do exactly this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms771662(v=VS.90).aspx

The most common and reliable technique for developing single-instance detection is to use the Microsoft .NET Framework remoting infrastructure (System.Remoting). The Microsoft .NET Framework (version 2.0) includes a type, WindowsFormsApplicationBase, which encapsulates the required remoting functionality. To incorporate this type into a WPF application, a type needs to derive from it, and be used as a shim between the application static entry point method, Main, and the WPF application's Application type. The shim detects when an application is first launched, and when subsequent launches are attempted, and yields control the WPF Application type to determine how to process the launches.

• For C# people just take a deep breath and forget about the whole 'I don't wanna include VisualBasic DLL'. Because of this and what Scott Hanselman says and the fact that this pretty much is the cleanest solution to the problem and is designed by people who know a lot more about the framework than you do.
• From a usability standpoint the fact is if your user is loading an application and it is already open and you're giving them an error message like 'Another instance of the app is running. Bye' then they're not gonna be a very happy user. You simply MUST (in a GUI application) switch to that application and pass in the arguments provided - or if command line parameters have no meaning then you must pop up the application which may have been minimized.

The framework already has support for this - its just that some idiot named the DLL Microsoft.VisualBasic and it didn't get put into Microsoft.ApplicationUtils or something like that. Get over it - or open up Reflector.

Tip: If you use this approach exactly as is, and you already have an App.xaml with resources etc. you'll want to take a look at this too.