Process.BasePriority Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Diagnostics

Assemblies:

netstandard.dll, System.Diagnostics.Process.dll

Source:

Process.cs

Gets the base priority of the associated process.

C#

public int BasePriority { get; }

Property Value

Int32

The base priority, which is computed from the PriorityClass of the associated process.

Exceptions

InvalidOperationException

The process has exited.

-or-

The process has not started, so there is no process ID.

Examples

The following example starts an instance of Notepad. The example then retrieves and displays various properties of the associated process. The example detects when the process exits, and displays the process's exit code.

C#

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace ProcessSample
{
    class ProcessMonitorSample
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            // Define variables to track the peak
            // memory usage of the process.
            long peakPagedMem   = 0,
                 peakWorkingSet = 0,
                 peakVirtualMem = 0;

            // Start the process.
            using (Process myProcess = Process.Start("NotePad.exe"))
            {
                // Display the process statistics until
                // the user closes the program.
                do
                {
                    if (!myProcess.HasExited)
                    {
                        // Refresh the current process property values.
                        myProcess.Refresh();

                        Console.WriteLine();

                        // Display current process statistics.

                        Console.WriteLine($"{myProcess} -");
                        Console.WriteLine("-------------------------------------");

                        Console.WriteLine($"  Physical memory usage     : {myProcess.WorkingSet64}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"  Base priority             : {myProcess.BasePriority}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"  Priority class            : {myProcess.PriorityClass}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"  User processor time       : {myProcess.UserProcessorTime}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"  Privileged processor time : {myProcess.PrivilegedProcessorTime}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"  Total processor time      : {myProcess.TotalProcessorTime}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"  Paged system memory size  : {myProcess.PagedSystemMemorySize64}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"  Paged memory size         : {myProcess.PagedMemorySize64}");

                        // Update the values for the overall peak memory statistics.
                        peakPagedMem   = myProcess.PeakPagedMemorySize64;
                        peakVirtualMem = myProcess.PeakVirtualMemorySize64;
                        peakWorkingSet = myProcess.PeakWorkingSet64;

                        if (myProcess.Responding)
                        {
                            Console.WriteLine("Status = Running");
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            Console.WriteLine("Status = Not Responding");
                        }
                    }
                }
                while (!myProcess.WaitForExit(1000));

                Console.WriteLine();
                Console.WriteLine($"  Process exit code          : {myProcess.ExitCode}");

                // Display peak memory statistics for the process.
                Console.WriteLine($"  Peak physical memory usage : {peakWorkingSet}");
                Console.WriteLine($"  Peak paged memory usage    : {peakPagedMem}");
                Console.WriteLine($"  Peak virtual memory usage  : {peakVirtualMem}");
            }
        }
    }
}

Remarks

The value returned by this property represents the most recently refreshed base priority of the process. To get the most up to date base priority, you need to call Refresh() method first.

The BasePriority of the process is the starting priority for threads created within the associated process. You can view information about the base priority through the System Monitor's Priority Base counter.

Based on the time elapsed or other boosts, the operating system can change the base priority when a process should be placed ahead of others.

The BasePriority property lets you view the starting priority assigned to a process. However, because it is read-only, you cannot use the BasePriority to set the priority of the process. To change the priority, use the PriorityClass property. The BasePriority is viewable using the System Monitor, while the PriorityClass is not. Both the BasePriority and the PriorityClass can be viewed programmatically. The following table shows the relationship between BasePriority values and PriorityClass values.

BasePriority	PriorityClass
4	Idle
8	Normal
13	High
24	RealTime

Applies to

See also

• PriorityClass
• ProcessPriorityClass
• ThreadPriorityLevel