Processes

[hitechoutlaw]

is there a way in VB.NET to kil processes if they exist in memory and then start them if they dont. i have some programs that i use alot and it is a pain in the *** to exit them when i dont need them and need the memory, i want a fast way to close them, like a program that does it for me.

 

Thx.:)

 

i'm new to vb.net, i programed in vb6 a little but i didnt learn much, only how to do make a simple dart game and some other little stuff. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jfackler]

kill an app

 

From inside the app you've written and running,

Application.exit

kills the app.

[jfackler]

GC then frees the memory automatically, no more memory leaks in .net.

[hitechoutlaw]

i dunno what u mean, will that kill another app or the one its run in?

[jfackler]

The app that the Application.exit method is called within. GC is Garbage Collector. You can actually call it up to free memory (I've read otherwise in this forum) by calling

GC.GetTotalMemory(True)

That call will force the garbage collector to perform a collection and returns the amount of heap space the program has allocated.

[hitechoutlaw]

that will come in handy later on, thx.

 

but i wanted to know if there was a way to kill another app.

[jfackler]

To start a process from within your program;

Process.Start(C:\someprogram.exe)

should do the trick.

[jfackler]

Ok to kill another app;

Process.GetCurrentProcess.Kill()

or

Process.GetCurrentProcessByID(id).Kill()

[hitechoutlaw]

what would be the syntax to kill an app that is running called "app.exe"?

[jfackler]

Want to get the process Id?

as in;

Process.GetCurrentProcessByID(Id).Kill()

Try this piece of code;

Module Module1

Sub Main()

Dim ProcessList as Process()

ProcessList = Process.GetProcesses()

Dim Proc As Process

For Each Proc In ProcessList

Console.Writeline("Name {0} ID {1}", Proc.ProcessName, Proc.Id)

Next

Console.ReadLine() ' Delay to view output

End Sub

End Module

 

 

Of course to call this in a program and assign the Proc.Id to a variable and then call the aforementioned Process.GetCurrentProcessByID(Idvariable).Kill()

would then kill the app you desire to kill.

[jfackler]

If the app.exe is running and has focus,

just call the

Process.GetCurrentProcess.Kill()

and it will die very nicely.

[jfackler]

But; you can't do that with a button control unless I suppose you give that app focus from the button click method before calling the process.getcurrentprocess.kill()

If you call that event with a button without changing the focus it will just kill your app that contains the button.

[hitechoutlaw]

maybe i'm not getting it or something. can it kill the app by the file name that is being run? i want this program to kill the app and then exit the program i just run. can this be done?

 

i'm new to vb.net and some ppl might call me stupid but in vb6 i learned better if i started a hard project and then i learned it alot better when i finaly got it to work and from there i learned alot more by experimenting with the code i have, then when i go back to the easy stuff its alot easier. this worked for me in vb6 but i havent been using that very long eighter so i dont know much in that.

 

thanks for your help

[jfackler]

Ok,

Say you start the app as we discussed;

Process.Start(C:\..\app.exe)

You can immediatly kill it (i.e. while it has focus) by calling Process.GetCurrentProcess.Kill()

[jfackler]

Since it has just been started, it will have the system focus and will therefore be the 'CurrentProcess' unless you move focus to another process.

[hitechoutlaw]

ok i understand the start app code and the kill app code.

 

say i have a program running in the background before i start the app i just made. i want to kill that app that was running with the one i just made, can this be done?

[jfackler]

If your ok with oop, try instantiating an instance of your process by creating a class of your app.exe. Once this is done, you should be able to reference the instance and give it focus before killing it with the Process.GetCurrentProcess.Kill()

Unfortunately, in answer to your question you cant just refer to a running app by name and kill it as far as I know. Any one else have thoughts?

[hitechoutlaw]

thanks for ur help

[divil]

Goodness, what a lot of misunderstandings :) Here's the code you're looking for, in this example it looks through all processes until it finds notepad.exe, and when it does, it closes it.

 

       Dim processes(), p As Process

       processes = Process.GetProcesses()
       For Each p In processes
           If Not (p.MainModule Is Nothing) Then
               If System.IO.Path.GetFileName(p.MainModule.FileName).ToLower() = "notepad.exe" Then
                   p.CloseMainWindow()
                   Exit For
               End If
           End If
       Next

[hitechoutlaw]

great thanks Devil

[neo_thefox]

Here is my bit of code i think that this is a bit cleaner... i modify and take a bit of all your samples coz any has worked for me until now. and this can be on a botton control without problems.

 

Dim pro As Integer

 

Dim ProcessList As Process()

ProcessList = Process.GetProcesses()

Dim Proc As Process

For Each Proc In ProcessList

If Proc.ProcessName = "Name of Process to be closed" Then pro = Proc.Id

Next

 

Process.GetProcessById(pro).Kill()

 

If you dont know how the process is called u can use this code to know how is the names of all the processes currently running on the machine. :cool:

 

 

Dim ProcessList As Process()

ProcessList = Process.GetProcesses()

Dim Proc As Process

For Each Proc In ProcessList

msgBox(Proc.ProcessName & " " & Proc.Id)

Next

 

 

This will show you one by one all the process currently running with their Id on a Message Box, you only has to write down the name of the app that u want to close. :p