Even though the topic title explains most of the question, I'd like to sketch out the scenario so you understand in what context this question is put.
I have an application which is like an Outlook contacts list. It gets all the contacts from Outlook and the result is that they're displayed in a data grid view. Now, instead of starting Outlook every time my application opens and shutting it down, I want it not to open when it is already open and stay open when my application shuts down and the user already had Outlook running. Here's my usage:
Process[] pName = Process.GetProcessesByName("OUTLOOK");
if (pName.Length == 0)
{
MessageBox.Show("Outlook is not running."); // Open Outlook anew.
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("Outlook is running."); // Do not re-open Outlook.
}
Is this the best and safest way of doing it? Thank you in advance.