Process.CancelOutputRead Method

Definition

Namespace:

System.Diagnostics

Assemblies:

netstandard.dll, System.Diagnostics.Process.dll

Source:

Process.cs

Cancels the asynchronous read operation on the redirected StandardOutput stream of an application.

C#

public void CancelOutputRead();

Exceptions

InvalidOperationException

The StandardOutput stream is not enabled for asynchronous read operations.

Examples

The following example starts the nmake command with user supplied arguments. The error and output streams are read asynchronously; the collected text lines are displayed to the console as well as written to a log file. If the command output exceeds a specified number of lines, the asynchronous read operations are canceled.

C#

namespace ProcessAsyncStreamSamples
{
    class ProcessNMakeStreamRedirection
    {
        // Define static variables shared by class methods.
        private static StreamWriter buildLogStream =null;
        private static Mutex logMutex = new Mutex();
        private static int maxLogLines = 25;
        private static int currentLogLines = 0;

        public static void RedirectNMakeCommandStreams()
        {
            String nmakeArguments = null;
            Process nmakeProcess;

            // Get the input nmake command-line arguments.
            Console.WriteLine("Enter the NMake command line arguments " +
                "(@commandfile or /f makefile, etc):");
            String inputText = Console.ReadLine();
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(inputText))
            {
                nmakeArguments = inputText;
            }

            Console.WriteLine("Enter max line limit for log file (default is 25):");
            inputText = Console.ReadLine();
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(inputText))
            {
                if (!Int32.TryParse(inputText, out maxLogLines))
                {
                    maxLogLines = 25;
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Output beyond {0} lines will be ignored.",
                maxLogLines);

            // Initialize the process and its StartInfo properties.
            nmakeProcess = new Process();
            nmakeProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "NMake.exe";

            // Build the nmake command argument list.
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(nmakeArguments))
            {
                nmakeProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = nmakeArguments;
            }

            // Set UseShellExecute to false for redirection.
            nmakeProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;

            // Redirect the standard output of the nmake command.
            // Read the stream asynchronously using an event handler.
            nmakeProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
            nmakeProcess.OutputDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(NMakeOutputDataHandler);

            // Redirect the error output of the nmake command.
            nmakeProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
            nmakeProcess.ErrorDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(NMakeErrorDataHandler);

            logMutex.WaitOne();

            currentLogLines = 0;

            // Write a header to the log file.
            const String buildLogFile = "NmakeCmd.Txt";
            try
            {
                buildLogStream = new StreamWriter(buildLogFile, true);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Could not open output file {0}", buildLogFile);
                Console.WriteLine("Exception = {0}", e.ToString());
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);

                buildLogStream = null;
            }

            if (buildLogStream != null)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Nmake output logged to {0}",
                    buildLogFile);

                buildLogStream.WriteLine();
                buildLogStream.WriteLine(DateTime.Now.ToString());
                if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(nmakeArguments))
                {
                    buildLogStream.Write("Command line = NMake {0}",
                        nmakeArguments);
                }
                else
                {
                    buildLogStream.Write("Command line = Nmake");
                }
                buildLogStream.WriteLine();
                buildLogStream.Flush();

                logMutex.ReleaseMutex();

                // Start the process.
                Console.WriteLine();
                Console.WriteLine("\nStarting Nmake command...");
                Console.WriteLine();
                nmakeProcess.Start();

                // Start the asynchronous read of the error stream.
                nmakeProcess.BeginErrorReadLine();

                // Start the asynchronous read of the output stream.
                nmakeProcess.BeginOutputReadLine();

                // Let the nmake command run, collecting the output.
                nmakeProcess.WaitForExit();

                nmakeProcess.Close();
                buildLogStream.Close();
                logMutex.Dispose();
            }
        }

        private static void NMakeOutputDataHandler(object sendingProcess,
            DataReceivedEventArgs outLine)
        {
            // Collect the output, displaying it to the screen and
            // logging it to the output file.  Cancel the read
            // operation when the maximum line limit is reached.

            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(outLine.Data))
            {
                logMutex.WaitOne();

                currentLogLines++;
                if (currentLogLines > maxLogLines)
                {
                    // Display the line to the console.
                    // Skip writing the line to the log file.
                    Console.WriteLine("StdOut: {0}", outLine.Data);
                }
                else if (currentLogLines == maxLogLines)
                {
                    LogToFile("StdOut", "<Max build log limit reached!>",
                        true);

                    // Stop reading the output streams.
                    Process p = sendingProcess as Process;
                    if (p != null)
                    {
                        p.CancelOutputRead();
                        p.CancelErrorRead();
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    // Write the line to the log file.
                    LogToFile("StdOut", outLine.Data, true);
                }
                logMutex.ReleaseMutex();
            }
        }

        private static void NMakeErrorDataHandler(object sendingProcess,
            DataReceivedEventArgs errLine)
        {
            // Collect error output, displaying it to the screen and
            // logging it to the output file.  Cancel the error output
            // read operation when the maximum line limit is reached.

            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(errLine.Data))
            {
                logMutex.WaitOne();

                currentLogLines++;
                if (currentLogLines > maxLogLines)
                {
                    // Display the error line to the console.
                    // Skip writing the line to the log file.
                    Console.WriteLine("StdErr: {0}", errLine.Data);
                }
                else if (currentLogLines == maxLogLines)
                {
                    LogToFile("StdErr", "<Max build log limit reached!>",
                        true);

                    // Stop reading the output streams
                    Process p = sendingProcess as Process;
                    if (p != null)
                    {
                        p.CancelErrorRead();
                        p.CancelOutputRead();
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    // Write the line to the log file.
                    LogToFile("StdErr", errLine.Data, true);
                }

                logMutex.ReleaseMutex();
            }
        }

        private static void LogToFile(String logPrefix,
            String logText, bool echoToConsole)
        {
            // Write the specified line to the log file stream.
            StringBuilder logString = new StringBuilder();

            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(logPrefix))
            {
                logString.AppendFormat("{0}> ", logPrefix);
            }

            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(logText))
            {
                logString.Append(logText);
            }

            if (buildLogStream != null)
            {
                buildLogStream.WriteLine("[{0}] {1}",
                    DateTime.Now.ToString(), logString.ToString());
                buildLogStream.Flush();
            }

            if (echoToConsole)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(logString.ToString());
            }
        }
    }
}

Remarks

BeginOutputReadLine starts an asynchronous read operation on the StandardOutput stream. CancelOutputRead ends the asynchronous read operation.

After canceling, you can resume asynchronous read operations by calling BeginOutputReadLine again.

When you call CancelOutputRead, all in-progress read operations for StandardOutput are completed and then the event handler is disabled. All further redirected output to StandardOutput is saved in a buffer. If you re-enable the event handler with a call to BeginOutputReadLine, the saved output is sent to the event handler and asynchronous read operations resume. If you want to change the event handler before resuming asynchronous read operations, you must remove the existing event handler before adding the new event handler:

C#

// At this point the DataReceivedEventHandler(OutputHandler1)
// has executed a CancelOutputRead.

// Remove the prior event handler.
process.OutputDataReceived -=
    new DataReceivedEventHandler(OutputHandler1);

// Register a new event handler.
process.OutputDataReceived +=
    new DataReceivedEventHandler(OutputHandler2);

// Call the corresponding BeginOutputReadLine.
process.BeginOutputReadLine();

Note

You cannot mix asynchronous and synchronous read operations on the redirected StandardOutput stream. Once the redirected stream of a Process is opened in either asynchronous or synchronous mode, all further read operations on that stream must be in the same mode. If you cancel an asynchronous read operation on StandardOutput and then need to read from the stream again, you must use BeginOutputReadLine to resume asynchronous read operations. Do not follow CancelOutputRead with a call to the synchronous read methods of StandardOutput such as Read, ReadLine, or ReadToEnd.

Applies to

See also

• BeginOutputReadLine()
• RedirectStandardOutput
• StandardOutput
• OutputDataReceived
• DataReceivedEventHandler