_Singleton() with time limit?

[orbs 176]

hi all,

i've been using _Singleton() for it's declared purpose, all OK.

now i want to have the 2nd script behave as such:

if an instance is already running, but was launched recently, 2nd instance quits.

if an instance is already running, but was launched long time ago, then 2nd instance is allowed to run.

so it may be that 2 instances run simultaneously. and so on: if a 3rd instance is launched, it checks the age of the latest running instance, and if it's too old it is allowed to run, otherwise it quits.

i think to implement this by using a flag file, in which every instance writes its own timestamp, and every instance reads it before launching.

but i'm concerned that this will behave badly when several instances are launched at the same time - they may well miss the reading/writing by milliseconds.

so i'm wondering if a RAM-based method exists to do this, or if a _Singleton() object can be revoked after some time.

thanks for any ideas.

[guinness 1,478]

You have to code your own. Look at _SingltonPID() to get some sort of foundation.

[jdelaney 282]

Through powershell, you can get the starttime of each process id:

 Get-Process | Select-Object id, starttime, name | Sort-Object id

You would need to properly filter, and calculate.  Maybe there is an equivalent through command line...you can look into that.

Edited June 27, 2014 by jdelaney

[guinness 1,478]

Actually there is _AppMonEx() (check my signature of it's usage.)

[orbs 176]

You have to code your own. Look at _SingltonPID() to get some sort of foundation.

 

guinness, your thread for >_SingletonPID() mentions "...this function uses the hidden window of an AutoIt executable..."

what is this "hidden window"? does it exist also for compiled script that do not have any GUI?

i also stumbled upon this kernel32 function to detect process creation time (but now i see more posts mention this method)

i'll have a look at _AppMonEx()

EDIT: @jdelaney, i hope you don't mind, but i detest DLL stuff only slightly less than i do PowerShell...   

Edited June 27, 2014 by orbs

[guinness 1,478]

Again, search my signature for AutoItWinGetTitle()/AutoItWinSetTitle(), this explains everything.

[orbs 176]

ok, i see there's a whole new world of working with running AutoIt scripts by their "hidden window". i'll plunge in...

thanks guinness for your marvelous work!

[guinness 1,478]

Great. Well do read everything carefully and just try and play around with it.

[JohnOne 1,591]

You can get the creation time of a process with _WinAPI_GetProcessTimes.

Simple date difference func should give you how long it has been running.

Edited June 27, 2014 by JohnOne

[JohnOne 1,591]

#include <Date.au3>
#include <WinAPIProc.au3>

$PID = ProcessExists('notepad.exe') ;(@ScriptName)

$runmins = _ProcRunningForMins($PID)
If @error Then
    Exit MsgBox(0, "Error", "PID does not exist")
EndIf


ConsoleWrite('Process running for ' & $runmins & " minutes" & @CRLF)

Func _ProcRunningForMins($_PID)

    If Not $_PID Then
        Return SetError(1, 0, 0)
    EndIf

    $aProcessTime = _WinAPI_GetProcessTimes($_PID)
    $tProcessTime = _Date_Time_FileTimeToLocalFileTime(DllStructGetPtr($aProcessTime[0]))
    $tStartTime = _Date_Time_FileTimeToSystemTime(DllStructGetPtr($tProcessTime))
    $RunningForMins = _DateDiff("n", _Date_Time_SystemTimeToDateTimeStr($tStartTime, 1), _NowCalc())

    Return $RunningForMins
EndFunc   ;==>_ProcRunningForMins

Edited June 27, 2014 by JohnOne

[guinness 1,478]

Is this solved? Or did orbs just forget?

[orbs 176]

i don't recall ever forgetting anything! 

i'm on it, it's just a matter of free time.

[guinness 1,478]

So it isn't solved?