[RESOLVED]process.start and process.waitforexit

[bsanders]

this is probably pretty simple but i'm not seeing it. i'm doing the following

 Process.Start("C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z", "x" & " " & G.StagingDirectory & " " & "-o" & G.StagingDirectory)
            'goes through directory and deletes the .mdoc files after they have been extracted
            Dim filecount As Integer = 0
            For Each filename As String In IO.Directory.GetFiles(G.StagingDirectory, "*.mdoc")
                IO.File.Delete(filename)
                filecount = filecount + 1
            Next

the problem is it deletes the files before they can be extracted. i tried to use system.threading.thread.sleep(lots o seconds)


how can i make the program wait for the process to finish?

as always any help is welcomed.

[jmcilhinney]

You've answered your own question: by calling Process.WaitForExit. As the name suggests, Process.Start just starts a new process. Your code will then carry on while that process executes. If you don't want your code to carry on until the process finishes executing then you call Process.WaitForExit. You need to call it on the Process object returned by Process.Start though. That might look like this:

Dim proc = Process.Start(fileName, arguments)

proc.WaitForExit()

or, more succinctly, like this:

Process.Start(fileName, arguments).WaitForExit()

Note that WaitForExit is a blocking call, which means that your UI, if you have one, will freeze. If you want to avoid that then handle the Exited event of the Process instead and put the rest of your code in the event handler.

[bsanders]

yeah, thank you! i had to re-work my proc start but now it's working perfectly.

i tried to change this to a resolved thread but i'm a n00b and i'm not seeing that anywhere.

[dday9]

i tried to change this to a resolved thread but i'm a n00b and i'm not seeing that anywhere.

At the top of this webpage, you should see thread tools with a down arrow to the right of it, click on that. At the bottom of that menu, you should see Mark Thread As Resolved.