Restart Windows App using .NET

Is there a way to restart a windows application written in .NET using .NET code

I mean the application should exit and r开发者_如何学运维estart itself, on click of a button.

Application.Restart() is your method :)

Here is another StackOverflow answer that points out a couple of "watch-out-for's" with using this method.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.application.restart.aspx

I had a similar problem, but mine was related to unmanageable memory leak that I couldn't find on an app that has to run 24/7. With the customer I agreed that safe time to restart the app was 03:00AM if the memory consumption was over the defined value.

I tried Application.Restart, but since it seems to use some mechanism that starts new instance while it is already running, I went for another scheme. I used the trick that file system handles persist until process that created them dies. So, from The Application, i dropped the file to the disk, and didn't Dispose() the handle. I used the file to send 'myself' executable and starting directory also (to add flexibility).

Code:

_restartInProgress = true;
string dropFilename = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "restart.dat");
StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(new FileStream(dropFilename, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.ReadWrite));
sw.WriteLine(Application.ExecutablePath);
sw.WriteLine(Application.StartupPath);
sw.Flush();
Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo
{
    FileName = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "VideoPhill.Restarter.exe"),
    WorkingDirectory = Application.StartupPath,
    Arguments = string.Format("\"{0}\"", dropFilename)
});
Close();

Close() at the end would initiate app shutdown, and file handle I used for StreamWriter here would be held open until process really dies. Then...

Restarter.exe comes into action. It TRIES to read the file in exclusive mode, preventing it to gain access until main app wasn't dead, then starts main app, deletes the file and exists. I guess that it can't be simpler:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    string filename = args[0];
    DateTime start = DateTime.Now;
    bool done = false;
    while ((DateTime.Now - start).TotalSeconds < 30 && !done)
    {
        try
        {
            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.ReadWrite));
            string[] runData = new string[2];
            runData[0] = sr.ReadLine();
            runData[1] = sr.ReadLine();
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo { FileName = runData[0], WorkingDirectory = runData[1] });
            sr.Dispose();
            File.Delete(filename);
            done = true;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
        }
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
    }
}