Process.start: how to get the output?

Question

I would like to run an external command line program from my Mono/.NET app. For example, I would like to run mencoder. Is it possible:

1. To get

Answer 1

When you create your Process object set StartInfo appropriately:

var proc = new Process 
{
    StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
    {
        FileName = "program.exe",
        Arguments = "command line arguments to your executable",
        UseShellExecute = false,
        RedirectStandardOutput = true,
        CreateNoWindow = true
    }
};

then start the process and read from it:

proc.Start();
while (!proc.StandardOutput.EndOfStream)
{
    string line = proc.StandardOutput.ReadLine();
    // do something with line
}

You can use int.Parse() or int.TryParse() to convert the strings to numeric values. You may have to do some string manipulation first if there are invalid numeric characters in the strings you read.

Answer 2

Alright, for anyone who wants both Errors and Outputs read, but gets deadlocks with any of the solutions, provided in other answers (like me), here is a solution that I built after reading MSDN explanation for StandardOutput property.

Answer is based on T30's code:

static void runCommand()
{
    //* Create your Process
    Process process = new Process();
    process.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
    process.StartInfo.Arguments = "/c DIR";
    process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
    process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
    process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
    //* Set ONLY ONE handler here.
    process.ErrorDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(ErrorOutputHandler);
    //* Start process
    process.Start();
    //* Read one element asynchronously
    process.BeginErrorReadLine();
    //* Read the other one synchronously
    string output = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
    Console.WriteLine(output);
    process.WaitForExit();
}

static void ErrorOutputHandler(object sendingProcess, DataReceivedEventArgs outLine) 
{
    //* Do your stuff with the output (write to console/log/StringBuilder)
    Console.WriteLine(outLine.Data);
}

Answer 3

1. It is possible to get the command line shell output of a process as described here : http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/edwinlima/SystemDiagnosticProcess12052005035444AM/SystemDiagnosticProcess.aspx

2. This depends on mencoder. If it ouputs this status on the command line then yes :)