What is the correct way to create a single-instanc

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 know it has something to do with some mythical thing called a mutex, rarely can I find someone that bothers to stop and explain what one of these are.

The code needs to also inform the already-running instance that the user tried to start a second one, and maybe also pass any command-line arguments if any existed.

Answer 1

This code should go to the main method. Look at here for more information about the main method in WPF.

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern Boolean ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 nCmdShow);

private const int SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3;

static void Main() 
{
    Process currentProcess = Process.GetCurrentProcess();
    var runningProcess = (from process in Process.GetProcesses()
                          where
                            process.Id != currentProcess.Id &&
                            process.ProcessName.Equals(
                              currentProcess.ProcessName,
                              StringComparison.Ordinal)
                          select process).FirstOrDefault();
    if (runningProcess != null)
    {
        ShowWindow(runningProcess.MainWindowHandle, SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED);
       return; 
    }
}

Method 2

static void Main()
{
    string procName = Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName;
    // get the list of all processes by that name

    Process[] processes=Process.GetProcessesByName(procName);

    if (processes.Length > 1)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(procName + " already running");  
        return;
    } 
    else
    {
        // Application.Run(...);
    }
}

Note : Above methods assumes your process/application has a unique name. Because it uses process name to find if any existing processors. So, if your application has a very common name (ie: Notepad), above approach won't work.

Answer 2

You can also use the CodeFluent Runtime which is free set of tools. It provides a SingleInstance class to implement a single instance application.

Answer 3

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 4

Just some thoughts: There are cases when requiring that only one instance of an application is not "lame" as some would have you believe. Database apps, etc. are an order of magnitude more difficult if one allows multiple instances of the app for a single user to access a database (you know, all that updating all the records that are open in multiple instances of the app on the users machine, etc.). First, for the "name collision thing, don't use a human readable name - use a GUID instead or, even better a GUID + the human readable name. Chances of name collision just dropped off the radar and the Mutex doesn't care. As someone pointed out, a DOS attack would suck, but if the malicious person has gone to the trouble of getting the mutex name and incorporating it into their app, you are pretty much a target anyway and will have to do MUCH more to protect yourself than just fiddle a mutex name. Also, if one uses the variant of: new Mutex(true, "some GUID plus Name", out AIsFirstInstance), you already have your indicator as to whether or not the Mutex is the first instance.

Answer 5

The following code is my WCF named pipes solution to register a single-instance application. It's nice because it also raises an event when another instance attempts to start, and receives the command line of the other instance.

It's geared toward WPF because it uses the System.Windows.StartupEventHandler class, but this could be easily modified.

This code requires a reference to PresentationFramework, and System.ServiceModel.

Usage:

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var applicationId = new Guid("b54f7b0d-87f9-4df9-9686-4d8fd76066dc");

        if (SingleInstanceManager.VerifySingleInstance(applicationId))
        {
            SingleInstanceManager.OtherInstanceStarted += OnOtherInstanceStarted;

            // Start the application
        }
    }

    static void OnOtherInstanceStarted(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
    {
        // Do something in response to another instance starting up.
    }
}

Source Code:

/// <summary>
/// A class to use for single-instance applications.
/// </summary>
public static class SingleInstanceManager
{
  /// <summary>
  /// Raised when another instance attempts to start up.
  /// </summary>
  public static event StartupEventHandler OtherInstanceStarted;

  /// <summary>
  /// Checks to see if this instance is the first instance running on this machine.  If it is not, this method will
  /// send the main instance this instance's startup information.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="guid">The application's unique identifier.</param>
  /// <returns>True if this instance is the main instance.</returns>
  public static bool VerifySingleInstace(Guid guid)
  {
    if (!AttemptPublishService(guid))
    {
      NotifyMainInstance(guid);

      return false;
    }

    return true;
  }

  /// <summary>
  /// Attempts to publish the service.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="guid">The application's unique identifier.</param>
  /// <returns>True if the service was published successfully.</returns>
  private static bool AttemptPublishService(Guid guid)
  {
    try
    {
      ServiceHost serviceHost = new ServiceHost(typeof(SingleInstance));
      NetNamedPipeBinding binding = new NetNamedPipeBinding(NetNamedPipeSecurityMode.None);
      serviceHost.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(ISingleInstance), binding, CreateAddress(guid));
      serviceHost.Open();

      return true;
    }
    catch
    {
      return false;
    }
  }

  /// <summary>
  /// Notifies the main instance that this instance is attempting to start up.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="guid">The application's unique identifier.</param>
  private static void NotifyMainInstance(Guid guid)
  {
    NetNamedPipeBinding binding = new NetNamedPipeBinding(NetNamedPipeSecurityMode.None);
    EndpointAddress remoteAddress = new EndpointAddress(CreateAddress(guid));
    using (ChannelFactory<ISingleInstance> factory = new ChannelFactory<ISingleInstance>(binding, remoteAddress))
    {
      ISingleInstance singleInstance = factory.CreateChannel();
      singleInstance.NotifyMainInstance(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs());
    }
  }

  /// <summary>
  /// Creates an address to publish/contact the service at based on a globally unique identifier.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="guid">The identifier for the application.</param>
  /// <returns>The address to publish/contact the service.</returns>
  private static string CreateAddress(Guid guid)
  {
    return string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "net.pipe://localhost/{0}", guid);
  }

  /// <summary>
  /// The interface that describes the single instance service.
  /// </summary>
  [ServiceContract]
  private interface ISingleInstance
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// Notifies the main instance that another instance of the application attempted to start.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="args">The other instance's command-line arguments.</param>
    [OperationContract]
    void NotifyMainInstance(string[] args);
  }

  /// <summary>
  /// The implementation of the single instance service interface.
  /// </summary>
  private class SingleInstance : ISingleInstance
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// Notifies the main instance that another instance of the application attempted to start.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="args">The other instance's command-line arguments.</param>
    public void NotifyMainInstance(string[] args)
    {
      if (OtherInstanceStarted != null)
      {
        Type type = typeof(StartupEventArgs);
        ConstructorInfo constructor = type.GetConstructor(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic, null, Type.EmptyTypes, null);
        StartupEventArgs e = (StartupEventArgs)constructor.Invoke(null);
        FieldInfo argsField = type.GetField("_args", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
        Debug.Assert(argsField != null);
        argsField.SetValue(e, args);

        OtherInstanceStarted(null, e);
      }
    }
  }
}

Answer 6

Here's a lightweight solution I use which allows the application to bring an already existing window to the foreground without resorting to custom windows messages or blindly searching process names.

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

static readonly string guid = "<Application Guid>";

static void Main()
{
    Mutex mutex = null;
    if (!CreateMutex(out mutex))
        return;

    // Application startup code.

    Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable(guid, null, EnvironmentVariableTarget.User);
}

static bool CreateMutex(out Mutex mutex)
{
    bool createdNew = false;
    mutex = new Mutex(false, guid, out createdNew);

    if (createdNew)
    {
        Process process = Process.GetCurrentProcess();
        string value = process.Id.ToString();

        Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable(guid, value, EnvironmentVariableTarget.User);
    }
    else
    {
        string value = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(guid, EnvironmentVariableTarget.User);
        Process process = null;
        int processId = -1;

        if (int.TryParse(value, out processId))
            process = Process.GetProcessById(processId);

        if (process == null || !SetForegroundWindow(process.MainWindowHandle))
            MessageBox.Show("Unable to start application. An instance of this application is already running.");
    }

    return createdNew;
}

Edit: You can also store and initialize mutex and createdNew statically, but you'll need to explicitly dispose/release the mutex once you're done with it. Personally, I prefer keeping the mutex local as it will be automatically disposed of even if the application closes without ever reaching the end of Main.