Closing a window which pops up while running batch file - windows

There is this application build process that I am trying to automate. For this i wrote a java file, which runs every 24 hours.
A batch file is called from here that runs the application build whenever it is called.
I've run into a small problem, when the build fails due to incomplete or invalid files, a window pops up which tells me to look at the logs.
Since I haven't written the build files, I'm not really sure where this gets created from. I wanted to know if I can close this window while the process runs from the bat file.

It may be possible using taskkill, but you'd have to devise a filter that would ideally only match the process displaying the window and never match any other process. Something like:
taskkill /im program.exe
or maybe:
taskkill /fi "windowtitle eq title*"
You might also want to include the /f flag for forceful termination.
You'd also have to try and make sure that the taskkill command doesn't run too quickly and precede the creation of the popup window. You could try to query for the existence of such a process/window; your best bet here is probably wmic. Maybe:
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set title=Notepad
set pid=
for /f %%i in ('wmic process where "caption like \"%%!title!%%\"" get processid^| findstr /r [0-9]') do #set pid=%%i
if "!pid!" neq "" taskkill /f /pid !pid!
There's no guarantee this will always work, but it's probably the best you can do.

Related

Close and restart a process after a certain time period in batch

I'm trying to make a batch file that opens a certain exe and then, after (for example) 5 minutes, closes it then reopens it again. I have tried this:
#echo off
:loop
cd /d %~dp0
certain exe
timeout /t "time" (by minutes)
taskkill /f /im "certain exe"
goto loop
but it wouldn't close the exe nor open it, what can I do?
The problem is that cmd will wait for the current command to end before executing the next command, so timeout (and taskill) will not be executed until example.exe closes by itself.
To ensure that cmd doesn't wait example.exe, you'll need to use start /B, as in this example:
#echo off
:loop
start /B "example.exe"
ping -n seconds_of_delay+1 127.0.0.1>nul
taskkill /f /im "example.exe"
goto :loop
Replace seconds_of_delay+1 with the number of seconds you want the time period to last plus one.
/B is needed because, without it, start would execute example.exe in a new window (if you want that, simply use start).
I used ping as the way to create a time delay because it has been found to consume less processor time than sleep or timeout (you can find more details here).

how to kill a cmd process without killing others cmds?

I'm working on a batch file that is supposed to START a process (CMD) and then it should kill the process after finished. Problem is, that Imagename is cmd.exe and the other problem is that it should be running on Jenkins.
This is what I have tested:
Getting PID with wmic using name of window to find process -> Failed at Jenkins
Taskkill by naming the window-> Failed because Jenkins does not
display windows due to security issues.
Taskkill by imagename -> Failed because there are other cmd processes
running at the same time
Taskkill with pid but pid from the last cmd started. -Works but it is
not very safe.
I couldnĀ“t understand how wmic works but as I see, I cannot start a process with a command like with START command.
Conditions:
It can't be kill after some time because I need the output from the
mergetool and sometimes mergetool can take too long.
It should run at same time with other (cmd) processes // Jenkins
My question, is there a way of getting the PID from the START Command?
Here are some questions that helped me a lot!
Windows batch file : PID of last process?
Compare number of a specific process to a number
CODE:
set "console_name=cmd.exe"
set "git_command=%gitcmd% mergetool ^>output.txt"
tasklist /FI "imagename eq %console_name%" /NH /FO csv > task-before.txt
START "mergetool_w" CMD /c %git_command%
tasklist /FI "imagename eq %console_name%" /NH /FO csv > task-after.txt
for /f "delims=, tokens=2,*" %%A in ('fc /L /LB1 task-before.txt task-after.txt') do set pid=%%A
pid=!pid:"=!
echo pid is %pid%
TASKKILL /t /pid %pid% /f
You could actually use findstr for checking what tasks have been added after your start command line, relying on your files task-before.txt and task-after.txt:
findstr /LXVG:task-before.txt task-after.txt
Due to a nasty bug, this might under some circumstances lead to an unexpected output. To prevent that, add the /I option, if you can live with case-insensitive searches:
findstr /ILXVG:task-before.txt task-after.txt
Yes it's very possible. I'm going to take code from my previous awnser on another post here: Stop Execution of Batch File after 20 Seconds and move to Next
I want to first assume "mergetool_w" is the name of the CMD you are opining with the start...
The way you want to go about this is to search the tasklist for your console title and extract the PID# out of the context. The find suffix can be used to "Filter" the results along with tokens=2 to extract only the PID#.
FOR /F "tokens=2" %%# in ('tasklist /v ^| find "mergetool_w"') do set PID=%%#
From there, you can now kill this new window using the taskkill /pid command. The PID# is stored in the string %PID% so the command is simple:
taskkill /pid %PID% /t /f
Finaly, it looks as if you are trying to "Log" the data so feel free to put > text-task.txt where it's needed.

Schtaks - Command Prompt Parameters

I have a batch file I need to run ever x minutes. I know how to set up the scheduled task but I'm not sure if there is a parameter I can use to take advantage of the advanced setting "Stop the existing instance".
Basically, I want to be able to run the batch file every x minutes and when it runs again, if for some odd reason the first instance did not complete, I need it to be killed and the new instance to run.
Right now, I'm using:
schtasks /create /tn [TASKNAME] /tr C:\[DIR]\au.bat /sc MINUTE /mo 15 /ru "System"
which is great, but it lacks this extra part.
I already know the GUI is an option but the reason I am using the command prompt is that this is included in an installer clients will be using to make things easy for them and I don't want them to have to take this last step of going into the GUI to make this one change.
EDIT:
Ended up going with something like this:
REM Checks to see if any instances of 'MYTITLE'
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`tasklist /v /fo csv ^| findstr /i MYTITLE`) DO (
FOR /F "tokens=2 delims=," %%B IN (%%F) DO (
taskkill /pid %%B /f
)
)
title=MYTITLE
[BATCH FILE DOES STUFF HERE]
At launch, it looks to see if there are any instances that match MYTITLE and then kills those tasks. Then names itself and runs the batch. If it stays open, it will be killed next time the task it run.
Actually, the quick and easy answer to my question is to simply set up the task in Task Scheduler in the GUI and when all parameters are set, just export the xml file. Once this is done, you just have to create using the /xml option.
schtasks /create /tn [TASKNAME] /XML C:\[DIR]\schedule.xml
You can store the STATUS (i.e. {START, STOP, RUNNING, ...}) of your application along with its PID in environment variables.
For example (environment variables):
MY_APP_STATUS = 1
MY_APP_PID = 1234
For getting PID, see:
getting process ID of exe running in Bat File,
how to get own process pid from the command prompt in windows
In your batch script, you can kill the running batch if the environment variable is set using the PID.
You can use taskkill command to do this:
taskkill /pid 1234 /f
You need to reset the STATUS flag after killing the existing running batch and update the PID with the new running instance.

Wait for a .bat file to close within a windows batch file

I need to create a windows batch file (*.bat) file that only runs its commands if certain processes (and batch files) are NOT running.
I have looked at a solution that works for processes (*.exe) here:
How to wait for a process to terminate to execute another process in batch file
I want to do something very similar, however, there is one difficulty: Batch files show up as "cmd.exe" in the "TASKLIST" command.
I want to check if a specific bat file is running, for example: "C:\mybatch.bat", and if it is, wait until it is closed.
Checking if a specific bat file mybatch.bat is running could be a tougher task than it could look at first sight.
Looking for a particular window title in tasklist /V as well as testing CommandLine property in wmic process where "name='cmd.exe'" get CommandLine might fail under some imaginable circumstance.
1st. Can you
add title ThisIsDistinguishingString command at beginning of the mybatch.bat and
remove all other title commands from mybatch.bat and
ensure that mybatch.bat does not call another batch script(s) containing a title command?
Then check errorlevel returned from find command as follows:
:testMybatch
tasklist /V /FI "imagename eq cmd.exe" | find "ThisIsDistinguishingString" > nul
if errorlevel 1 (
rem echo mybatch.bat batch not found
) else (
echo mybatch.bat is running %date% %time%
timeout /T 10 /NOBREAK >NUL 2>&1
goto :testMybatch
)
2nd. Otherwise, check if wmic Windows Management Instrumentation command output could help
wmic process where "name='cmd.exe'" get /value
Then you could detect mybatch.bat in its output narrowed to
wmic process where "name='cmd.exe'" get CommandLine, ProcessID
Note that wmic could return some Win32_Process class properties, particularly CommandLine, empty if a particular process was launched under another user account or elevated (run as administrator).
Elevated wmic returns all properties in full.
What you say happens by default.
To test, crate a new .bat file (let's say 1.bat) and put in it
calc
mspaint
Save and run it.
Calculator will start. You will notice that Paitbrush will launch only when you have closed calculator.

Attaching the windows debugger in VS2010 from a batch file?

Is it possible to attach the windows debugger in VS2010 to a process from a batch file?
preferably by giving it a process name
Since you presumably already have the process running, you would use vsjitdebugger.exe /p 1234 where 1234 is the PID of the process you want to debug. If you don't know it, you would have to use some other method to figure it out.
If you have the debugging tools for windows available, the tlist.exe utility will yield the process ID for a process name. If that is available, then the following will attach to a given process:
rem Get the process ID
for /f %%f in ('tlist -p %1') do set mypid=%%f
rem attach to it with selected debugger
vsjitDebugger -p %mypid%
Edit If tlist is not available, I think tasklist will work. It's a bit uglier, but the following worked for me (you know ... it works my on my system :) Note too that I edited the command previous example to work in a cmd.exe prompt (I use tcc, which does require as many % signs).
rem Get the process ID
for /f "tokens=2 delims= " %%f in ('tasklist /nh /fi "imagename eq %1"' ) do set mypid=%%f
rem attach to it with selected debugger
vsjitDebugger -p %mypid%
Specifying a /Command switch on devenv.exe 's command-line will make it run a specified command on open. You could specify the Debug.AttachToProcess command. Don't know if you can specify a pid, though, when you execute that command.

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