Kiosk - prevent multiple launch of software?

[doc13x]

Is there a way to have AMS6 determine if a program is already running, and then switch back to it if the user selects it again? I have set up a kiosk project with several different software shortcuts - launching several copies of the same software (through the kiosk screen) is causing problems.

[Centauri Soldier]

open_processes = Window.EnumerateProcesses();

This will determine what processes are running and give you their window handles. Can simply pull them forward or send them back (or minimize/maximaize) using that number.

If, for instance you had a process running with an associated handle of ec_handle you could...

Window.Show(ec_handle);

Hope that helps

[TJS]

Here's the code I use. What I do here is save the window handle of the kiosk app to the registry everytime the app is launched. As a precondition to that action, I check to see if the handle of my app matches the last one that was saved to the registry and if so, kill the new instance.

This code goes in the "Global Functions" event for your project then call the IsKioskRunning() action on the "On Startup" event.

function IsKioskRunning()

	-- Initialize your variables
	g_Return = false;
	g_RegSection = "MyKioskApp";
	g_RegKey = "KioskHandle";
	t_Processes = {};
	
	-- Load the previous handle from the registry if there is one
	g_LastHandle = Application.LoadValue(g_RegSection, g_RegKey);
	
	-- Check to see if the loaded value is blank
	if g_LastHandle ~= "" then
		
		-- If not, table out all of the current processes
		t_Processes = Window.EnumerateProcesses(false);
		
		-- Compare the window handle of each to the value from the registry
		for g_WindowHandle, g_ProcessName in t_Processes do
		
			-- If found, set the return variable to true
			if g_WindowHandle == g_LastHandle then
				Application.Exit();
			end
		end
	end
	
	-- If no value exists in the registry or no current process matches the value from the last time
	-- your app ran, store the current window handle to the registry for the next time you run
	if g_Return == false then
		Application.SaveValue(g_RegSection, g_RegKey, Application.GetWndHandle());
	end
end

[Centauri Soldier]

IF you do that, you may consider putting code on your Shutdown Procedures to clear the Registry Entry so the user can open the app again once shutdown.

[RizlaUK]

to be honest, i wouldn't use the registry at all for some thing like this, it will eventually cause a problem, even if you put code in shutdown to clear the reg entry's if your users pc crashes or they exit the app vis task manager then the shutdown event isent fired, leaving your app unable to run a next time

there is some example code in the manual for this, i would use it rather than the registry

instances_of_file = 0;
file_to_check_for = "autorun.exe"; --have all lowercase
processes = Window.EnumerateProcesses();

for j, file_path in processes do
    file = String.SplitPath(file_path);
    if (String.Lower(file.Filename..file.Extension)) == file_to_check_for then
        instances_of_file = instances_of_file + 1;
    end
end

if instances_of_file > 1 then
    Window.Hide(Application.GetWndHandle());
    Dialog.Message("Error", "Autorun already running: code: already running");
    Window.Close(Application.GetWndHandle(), CLOSEWND_TERMINATE);
else
    Window.Show(Application.GetWndHandle());
end

[doc13x]

Am I wrong or is this going to push the kiosk application itself back up to the top? I need to keep the running application on top in the event that the kiosk application somehow appears over top of the Ministry of Health GPS locator software.

So autorun.exe needs to stay under mohlocator.exe when it is running.

[Lorne]

To clarify: if an instance of your autoplay app is already running, you want the already-open one to stay open, and the new one to exit, leaving all the current application windows as they are?

In that case something like this might work:

local tbProcesses = System.EnumerateProcesses();
local bAlreadyRunning = false;
for process_id, file_path in tbProcesses do
    tbFile = String.SplitPath(file_path);
    if(tbFile.Filename .. tbFile.Extension) == _SourceFilename then
    	if bAlreadyRunning then
    		--Dialog.Message("Already Running", _SourceFilename .. " is already running.");
        	Application.Exit();
        end
        bAlreadyRunning = true;
    end
end

If you wanted to allow n instances at a time, you could modify the above to use a counter instead, and exit on nInstances > n.