Restart an application by itself

Question

I want to build my application with the function to restart itself. I found on codeproject

ProcessStartInfo Info=new ProcessStartInfo();
Info.Arguments="/C choice /C Y /N /D Y /T 3 & Del "+
               Application.ExecutablePath;
Info.WindowStyle=ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
Info.CreateNoWindow=true;
Info.FileName="cmd.exe";
Process.Start(Info); 
Application.Exit();

This does not work at all... And the other problem is, how to start it again like this? Maybe there are also arguments to start applications.

Edit:

http://www.codeproject.com/script/Articles/ArticleVersion.aspx?aid=31454&av=58703

Answer 1

I use similar code to the code you tried when restarting apps. I send a timed cmd command to restart the app for me like this:

ProcessStartInfo Info = new ProcessStartInfo();
Info.Arguments = "/C ping 127.0.0.1 -n 2 && \"" + Application.ExecutablePath + "\"";
Info.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
Info.CreateNoWindow = true;
Info.FileName = "cmd.exe";
Process.Start(Info);
Application.Exit(); 

The command is sent to the OS, the ping pauses the script for 2-3 seconds, by which time the application has exited from Application.Exit(), then the next command after the ping starts it again.

Note: The \" puts quotes around the path, incase it has spaces, which cmd can't process without quotes.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Why not use

Application.Restart();

??

More on Restart

Answer 3

Why not just the following?

Process.Start(Application.ExecutablePath); 
Application.Exit();

If you want to be sure the app does not run twice either use Environment.Exit(-1) which kills the process instantaneously (not really the nice way) or something like starting a second app, which checks for the process of the main app and starts it again as soon as the process is gone.

Answer 4

You have the initial application A, you want to restart. So, When you want to kill A, a little application B is started, B kill A, then B start A, and kill B.

To start a process:

Process.Start("A.exe");

To kill a process, is something like this

Process[] procs = Process.GetProcessesByName("B");

foreach (Process proc in procs)
   proc.Kill();

Answer 5

Winforms has the Application.Restart() method, which does just that. If you're using WPF, you can simply add a reference to System.Windows.Forms and call it.

Answer 6

A lot of people are suggesting to use Application.Restart. In reality, this function rarely performs as expected. I have never had it shut down the application I am calling it from. I have always had to close the application through other methods such as closing the main form.

You have two ways of handling this. You either have an external program that closes the calling process and starts a new one,

or,

you have the start of your new software kill other instances of same application if an argument is passed as restart.

        private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                if (e.Args.Length > 0)
                {
                    foreach (string arg in e.Args)
                    {
                        if (arg == "-restart")
                        {
                            // WaitForConnection.exe
                            foreach (Process p in Process.GetProcesses())
                            {
                                // In case we get Access Denied
                                try
                                {
                                    if (p.MainModule.FileName.ToLower().EndsWith("yourapp.exe"))
                                    {
                                        p.Kill();
                                        p.WaitForExit();
                                        break;
                                    }
                                }
                                catch
                                { }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            catch
            {
            }
        }

Answer 7

Another way of doing this which feels a little cleaner than these solutions is to run a batch file which includes a specific delay to wait for the current application to terminate. This has the added benefit of preventing the two application instances from being open at the same time.

Example windows batch file ("restart.bat"):

sleep 5
start "" "C:\Dev\MyApplication.exe"

In the application, add this code:

// Launch the restart batch file
Process.Start(@"C:\Dev\restart.bat");

// Close the current application (for WPF case)
Application.Current.MainWindow.Close();

// Close the current application (for WinForms case)
Application.Exit();

Answer 8

My solution:

        private static bool _exiting;
    private static readonly object SynchObj = new object();

        public static void ApplicationRestart(params string[] commandLine)
    {
        lock (SynchObj)
        {
            if (Assembly.GetEntryAssembly() == null)
            {
                throw new NotSupportedException("RestartNotSupported");
            }

            if (_exiting)
            {
                return;
            }

            _exiting = true;

            if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major < 6)
            {
                return;
            }

            bool cancelExit = true;

            try
            {
                List<Form> openForms = Application.OpenForms.OfType<Form>().ToList();

                for (int i = openForms.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--)
                {
                    Form f = openForms[i];

                    if (f.InvokeRequired)
                    {
                        f.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(() =>
                        {
                            f.FormClosing += (sender, args) => cancelExit = args.Cancel;
                            f.Close();
                        }));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        f.FormClosing += (sender, args) => cancelExit = args.Cancel;
                        f.Close();
                    }

                    if (cancelExit) break;
                }

                if (cancelExit) return;

                Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo
                {
                    UseShellExecute = true,
                    WorkingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory,
                    FileName = Application.ExecutablePath,
                    Arguments = commandLine.Length > 0 ? string.Join(" ", commandLine) : string.Empty
                });

                Application.Exit();
            }
            finally
            {
                _exiting = false;
            }
        }
    }

Answer 9

For .Net application solution looks like this:

System.Web.HttpRuntime.UnloadAppDomain()

I used this to restart my web application after changing AppSettings in myconfig file.

System.Configuration.Configuration configuration = WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~");
configuration.AppSettings.Settings["SiteMode"].Value = model.SiteMode.ToString();
configuration.Save();