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

Here is what I use. It combined process enumeration to perform switching and mutex to safeguard from "active clickers":

public partial class App
{
    [DllImport("user32")]
    private static extern int OpenIcon(IntPtr hWnd);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern bool SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);

    protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnStartup(e);
        var p = Process
           .GetProcessesByName(Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName);
            foreach (var t in p.Where(t => t.MainWindowHandle != IntPtr.Zero))
            {
                OpenIcon(t.MainWindowHandle);
                SetForegroundWindow(t.MainWindowHandle);
                Current.Shutdown();
                return;
            }

            // there is a chance the user tries to click on the icon repeatedly
            // and the process cannot be discovered yet
            bool createdNew;
            var mutex = new Mutex(true, "MyAwesomeApp", 
               out createdNew);  // must be a variable, though it is unused - 
            // we just need a bit of time until the process shows up
            if (!createdNew)
            {
                Current.Shutdown();
                return;
            }

            new Bootstrapper().Run();
        }
    }

Answer 2

Here is an example that allows you to have a single instance of an application. When any new instances load, they pass their arguments to the main instance that is running.

public partial class App : Application
{
    private static Mutex SingleMutex;
    public static uint MessageId;

    private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
    {
        IntPtr Result;
        IntPtr SendOk;
        Win32.COPYDATASTRUCT CopyData;
        string[] Args;
        IntPtr CopyDataMem;
        bool AllowMultipleInstances = false;

        Args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();

        // TODO: Replace {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} with your application's GUID
        MessageId   = Win32.RegisterWindowMessage("{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}");
        SingleMutex = new Mutex(false, "AppName");

        if ((AllowMultipleInstances) || (!AllowMultipleInstances && SingleMutex.WaitOne(1, true)))
        {
            new Main();
        }
        else if (Args.Length > 1)
        {
            foreach (Process Proc in Process.GetProcesses())
            {
                SendOk = Win32.SendMessageTimeout(Proc.MainWindowHandle, MessageId, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero,
                    Win32.SendMessageTimeoutFlags.SMTO_BLOCK | Win32.SendMessageTimeoutFlags.SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG,
                    2000, out Result);

                if (SendOk == IntPtr.Zero)
                    continue;
                if ((uint)Result != MessageId)
                    continue;

                CopyDataMem = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(Win32.COPYDATASTRUCT)));

                CopyData.dwData = IntPtr.Zero;
                CopyData.cbData = Args[1].Length*2;
                CopyData.lpData = Marshal.StringToHGlobalUni(Args[1]);

                Marshal.StructureToPtr(CopyData, CopyDataMem, false);

                Win32.SendMessageTimeout(Proc.MainWindowHandle, Win32.WM_COPYDATA, IntPtr.Zero, CopyDataMem,
                    Win32.SendMessageTimeoutFlags.SMTO_BLOCK | Win32.SendMessageTimeoutFlags.SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG,
                    5000, out Result);

                Marshal.FreeHGlobal(CopyData.lpData);
                Marshal.FreeHGlobal(CopyDataMem);
            }

            Shutdown(0);
        }
    }
}

public partial class Main : Window
{
    private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        HwndSource Source;

        Source = HwndSource.FromHwnd(new WindowInteropHelper(this).Handle);
        Source.AddHook(new HwndSourceHook(Window_Proc));
    }

    private IntPtr Window_Proc(IntPtr hWnd, int Msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, ref bool Handled)
    {
        Win32.COPYDATASTRUCT CopyData;
        string Path;

        if (Msg == Win32.WM_COPYDATA)
        {
            CopyData = (Win32.COPYDATASTRUCT)Marshal.PtrToStructure(lParam, typeof(Win32.COPYDATASTRUCT));
            Path = Marshal.PtrToStringUni(CopyData.lpData, CopyData.cbData / 2);

            if (WindowState == WindowState.Minimized)
            {
                // Restore window from tray
            }

            // Do whatever we want with information

            Activate();
            Focus();
        }

        if (Msg == App.MessageId)
        {
            Handled = true;
            return new IntPtr(App.MessageId);
        }

        return IntPtr.Zero;
    }
}

public class Win32
{
    public const uint WM_COPYDATA = 0x004A;

    public struct COPYDATASTRUCT
    {
        public IntPtr dwData;
        public int    cbData;
        public IntPtr lpData;
    }

    [Flags]
    public enum SendMessageTimeoutFlags : uint
    {
        SMTO_NORMAL             = 0x0000,
        SMTO_BLOCK              = 0x0001,
        SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG        = 0x0002,
        SMTO_NOTIMEOUTIFNOTHUNG = 0x0008
    }

    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
    public static extern uint RegisterWindowMessage(string lpString);
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern IntPtr SendMessageTimeout(
        IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam,
        SendMessageTimeoutFlags fuFlags, uint uTimeout, out IntPtr lpdwResult);
}

Answer 3

So many answers to such a seemingly simple question. Just to shake things up a little bit here is my solution to this problem.

Creating a Mutex can be troublesome because the JIT-er only sees you using it for a small portion of your code and wants to mark it as ready for garbage collection. It pretty much wants to out-smart you thinking you are not going to be using that Mutex for that long. In reality you want to hang onto this Mutex for as long as your application is running. The best way to tell the garbage collector to leave you Mutex alone is to tell it to keep it alive though out the different generations of garage collection. Example:

var m = new Mutex(...);
...
GC.KeepAlive(m);

I lifted the idea from this page: http://www.ai.uga.edu/~mc/SingleInstance.html

Answer 4

It looks like there is a really good way to handle this:

WPF Single Instance Application

This provides a class you can add that manages all the mutex and messaging cruff to simplify the your implementation to the point where it's simply trivial.

Answer 5

You should never use a named mutex to implement a single-instance application (or at least not for production code). Malicious code can easily DoS (Denial of Service) your ass...

Answer 6

Here's the same thing implemented via Event.

public enum ApplicationSingleInstanceMode
{
    CurrentUserSession,
    AllSessionsOfCurrentUser,
    Pc
}

public class ApplicationSingleInstancePerUser: IDisposable
{
    private readonly EventWaitHandle _event;

    /// <summary>
    /// Shows if the current instance of ghost is the first
    /// </summary>
    public bool FirstInstance { get; private set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Initializes 
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="applicationName">The application name</param>
    /// <param name="mode">The single mode</param>
    public ApplicationSingleInstancePerUser(string applicationName, ApplicationSingleInstanceMode mode = ApplicationSingleInstanceMode.CurrentUserSession)
    {
        string name;
        if (mode == ApplicationSingleInstanceMode.CurrentUserSession)
            name = $"Local\\{applicationName}";
        else if (mode == ApplicationSingleInstanceMode.AllSessionsOfCurrentUser)
            name = $"Global\\{applicationName}{Environment.UserDomainName}";
        else
            name = $"Global\\{applicationName}";

        try
        {
            bool created;
            _event = new EventWaitHandle(false, EventResetMode.ManualReset, name, out created);
            FirstInstance = created;
        }
        catch
        {
        }
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        _event.Dispose();
    }
}