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POIs it possible to build a Console app that does not display a console Window when double-clicked?
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copied!<blockquote> <p>Related:<br> <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1117275/should-i-include-a-command-line-mode-in-my-applications">Should I include a command line mode in my applications?</a><br> <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/377911/how-to-grab-parent-process-standard-output">How to grab parent process standard output?</a><br> <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/510805">Can a console application detect if it has been run from Explorer?</a></p> </blockquote> <p>I want to build a console app, that is normally run from the command line. </p> <p>But, when it is double clicked from within Explorer (as opposed to being run from a cmd.exe prompt) then I'd like the program to NOT display a console window. </p> <p>I want to avoid this: </p> <p><a href="http://i36.tinypic.com/1088p5s.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">alt text http://i36.tinypic.com/1088p5s.jpg</a></p> <p>Is it possible? </p> <p><strong>EDIT</strong> I guess another way to ask it is, <em>is it possible for a program to know how it was invoked - whether by double-click or by command line</em> ? </p> <p>I'm working in .NET, on Windows. </p> <p><strong>EDIT 2:</strong> From <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2009/01/01/9259142.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this <em>Old New Thing</em> blog post</a> I learned some good stuff. Here's what I know now...</p> <p>In Windows, EXE files are marked as either GUI or non-GUI. With csc.exe, this is selected with <code>/target:winexe</code> or <code>/target:exe</code>. Before the first instruction in the process executes, the Windows kernel sets up the execution environment. At that moment, if the EXE is marked GUI, the kernel sets the stdin/stdout for the process to NULL, and if non-GUI (command-line) the kernel creates a console and sets the stdin/stdout for the process to that console. </p> <p>When launching the process, if there is no stdin/stdout (== <code>/target:winexe</code>), then the call immediately returns. So, launching a gui app from a cmd.exe, you will immediately get your cmd prompt back. If there is a stdin/stdout, and if run from cmd.exe, then the parent cmd.exe waits for process exit. </p> <p>The "immediate return" is important because if you code a GUI app to attach to its parent's console, you will be able to do console.writeline, etc. But the cmd.exe prompt is active. The user can type new commands, start a new process, and so on. In other words, from a winexe, simply attaching to the parent console with <code>AttachConsole(-1)</code> will not "turn it into" a console app. </p> <hr> <p>At this point I think the only way to allow an app to use the console if it is invoked from cmd.exe, and NOT use it if it is double-clicked, is to define the exe as a regular console exe (<code>/target:exe</code>), and <em>hide the window</em> on startup if appropriate. You still get a console window appearing briefly. </p> <p>I still haven't figured how to know whether it was launched from explorer or cmd.exe, but I'm getting closer.. </p> <hr> <p><strong>ANSWERS</strong></p> <p>It is not possible to build a console app that does not display a console window. </p> <p>It <em>is possible</em> to build a console app that hides its window very quickly, but not so quickly that it is as if the window never appears. </p> <p>Now, to determine whether a console app was launched from explorer, some have suggested to look at the console it is running in<br> (from <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1528152/is-it-possible-to-build-a-console-app-that-does-not-display-a-console-window-when/1528271#1528271">mgb's answer</a>, and <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/99115" rel="nofollow noreferrer">KB article 99115</a>) :</p> <pre><code> int left = Console.CursorLeft; int top = Console.CursorTop; bool ProcessWasRunFromExplorer = (left==0 && top==0); </code></pre> <p>This tells you if the process was launched in its own console, but not whether it was explorer. A double click in explorer would do this, but also a Start.Process() from within an app would do the same thing. </p> <p>If you want to treat those situations differently, use this to learn the name of the parent process:</p> <pre><code> System.Console.WriteLine("Process id: {0}", Process.GetCurrentProcess().Id); string name = Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName ; System.Console.WriteLine("Process name: {0}", name); PerformanceCounter pc = new PerformanceCounter("Process", "Creating Process Id", name); Process p = Process.GetProcessById((int)pc.RawValue); System.Console.WriteLine("Parent Process id: {0}", p.Id); System.Console.WriteLine("Parent Process name: {0}", p.ProcessName); // p.ProcessName == "cmd" or "Explorer" etc </code></pre> <p>To hide the window quickly after the process is launched, use this: </p> <pre><code> private static readonly int SW_HIDE= 0; [System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll")] private static extern Boolean ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 nCmdShow); .... { IntPtr myHandle = Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle; ShowWindow(myHandle, SW_HIDE); } </code></pre> <p>If you produce a <code>winexe</code> (a WinForms app), and optionally attach to the parent console when appropriate with <code>AttachConsole(-1)</code>, you do not get the equivalent of a regular console app. For a winexe, the parent process (like cmd.exe) will return to the command prompt immediately after starting a GUI application. In other words, the command prompt is active and ready for input while the just-launched process may be emitting output. This is confusing and is probably useful only for debugging winforms apps. </p> <p>This worked for me. </p>

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