Determining if a Macro is already running

[jbas]

. I plan to distribute a compiled macro that contains several OnEvent commands. I need to ensure that the macro is not called iteratively. I was unable to find a better way to determine if the macro was already running so I'm writing a 'pulse' date / time to a .Ini file and and then checking to see if it is current.
. Is there a way to do this that does not require disk writes / reads?

[DreamTheater]

Have you tried something like this?

Code: Select all

ProcessExists>Process_Name.exe,res

If>res=True
    MDL>Process is already running.
    Exit>0
EndIf>

[jbas]

If I distribute a macro with that code in it wouldn't is always just detect itself running? I'm not sure how that would help me see if a previous iteration of the macro was running. Thanks for the idea though!

[Grovkillen]

I usually add a ini file which will have a timestamp and a pid section. I post to this file and can easily check it upon start to see if another instance of the macro is already running. (Just check and see if the pid is running).

[jbas]

That's it! Thank-you!

[jbas]

Your suggestion definitely works for a compiled macro
Is there a way to get the process id for a macro running within macro scheduler in 'developer mode'?

[Grovkillen]

See this thread here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10528

[JRL]

I like to use a dialog. If a dialog block is encountered the dialog becomes an existing window that can be detected. Put this code at the start of your script, if the window specified in the code already exists, a consecutive start of your executable will stop. If the running executable stops, the process test dialog window ceases to exist and the executable can then be started again.

Bottom line: Only one instance of your program can run on a given computer.

Code: Select all

GetWindowProcess>UnmistakablyUniqueName202002040649,ProcID,ProcName

If>ProcID<>0
  MDL>%Command_Line% is already running
  Exit>0
EndIf

Dialog>DialogProcExistTest
object DialogProcExistTest: TForm
  Caption = 'UnmistakablyUniqueName202002040649'
end
EndDialog>DialogProcExistTest

[jbas]

That is excellent! Thank-you!

[Grovkillen]

I use a script which I call "watchdog" this one will read the ini file and can then independently of the other scripts know what pids to look at. If the heartbeat of a script isn't detected the watchdog will kill the process and start a new one. So in that sense my approach is more generic.

But I like JRLs idea too.

[Scones]

Wouldn't this one also do the trick?

Code: Select all

GetProcessIds>My macro.exe,PID_ARR
ArrayCount>PID_ARR,PIDCOUNT
If>PIDCOUNT>1
MDL MACRO ALREADY RUNNING
exit
//Or insert dialog where user can choose to kill that existing process. (Will also kill this one ofc)
endif
//Continue macro