How to make sure that there is one instance of the application is running

Question

I want to check when the user double click on applictaion icon that no another instance of this application is already running.

I read about My.Application but i still don't know what to do.

Answer 1

This is something I've used... (C# on .NET 2.0)

    [STAThread]
    private static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        //this follows best practices on
        //ensuring that this is a single instance app.
        string mutexName = "e50cf829-f6b9-471e-8d9f-67eac3699f09";
        bool grantedOwnership;
        //we prefix the mutexName with "Local\\" to allow this to run under terminal services.
        //The "Local\\" prefix forces this into local user space.
        //If we want to forbid this in TS, use the "Global\\" prefix.
        Mutex singleInstanceMutex = new Mutex(true, "Global\\" + mutexName, out grantedOwnership);
        try
        {
            if (!grantedOwnership)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error: X is already running.\n\nYou can only run one copy of X at a time.", "X", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
                Application.Exit();
            }
            else
            {
                Application.Run(new X(args));
            }
        }
        finally
        {
            singleInstanceMutex.Close();
        }
    }

Answer 2

In VB .NET there's a IsSingleInstance boolean property that does the job for you.

In VB (taken from here):

Public Class Program
        Inherits Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase

       Public Sub New()
            Me.IsSingleInstance = True
        End Sub



End Class

Here's how you use it in C# (taken from here):

// SingleInstanceApplication.cs
class SingleInstanceApplication : WindowsFormsApplicationBase {

 // Must call base constructor to ensure correct initial 
 // WindowsFormsApplicationBase configuration
 public SingleInstanceApplication() {

  // This ensures the underlying single-SDI framework is employed, 
  // and OnStartupNextInstance is fired
  this.IsSingleInstance = true;
 }
}


// Program.cs
static class Program {
 [STAThread]
 static void Main(string[] args) {
  Application.EnableVisualStyles();
  SingleInstanceApplication application = 
   new SingleInstanceApplication();
  application.Run(args);
 }
}

Make sure to reference the Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll in your project.

Answer 3

Open your Project Properties (Application Tab) and check the Make single instance application option.

From the Application tab, you can also click the View Application Events button, to create an ApplicationEvents.vb class where you can handle the second instance event:

Partial Friend Class MyApplication
    Private Sub MyApplication_StartupNextInstance(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.StartupNextInstanceEventArgs) Handles Me.StartupNextInstance
        ' Bring First Instance to Foreground
        e.BringToForeground = True
        ' Pass Second Instance Command Line to First Instance
        AppShared.DoSomethingWithCommandLine(e.CommandLine)
    End Sub
End Class