C# System.Diagnostics.Process: how to exit a process if it takes more than, say, 10 seconds?

Question

I tried the following code:

p = StartProcess("some_process.exe");
DateTime startTime = DateTime.Now;
p.Start();
while (!p.HasExited)
{
    executeTime = (DateTime.Now - startTime).Milliseconds;

    if (executeTime > 10000) // 10 seconds
    {
       Console.Write("Test \"" + inputTest + "\" failed: takes more than 10 seconds");
       break;
    }
}

but it doesn't work.

Is it possible to do that?

Answer 1

You could use the WaitForExit method:

if (!p.WaitForExit((int)TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10).TotalMilliseconds))
{
    // timeout exceeded while waiting for the process to exit
}

Answer 2

Call the Kill method on the process variable (p in you example), this will stop the process.

Note: The loop in your example is very CPU intensive. You should use the WaitForExit call to wait 10 seconds (as Darin Dimitrov suggests).

Answer 3

The WaitForExit answer is better, because it blocks, but the reason your code doesn't work is because you want TimeSpan.TotalMilliseconds rather than TimeSpan.Milliseconds. Milliseconds gives you something in the range [-999,999]: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timespan.milliseconds.aspx