Generic way to exit a .NET application

Question

I understand that there are a few ways to exit an application, such as Application.Exit(), Application.ExitThread(), Environment.Exit(), etc.

I have an external "commons" library, and I'm trying to create a generic FailIf method that logs the failure to the logs, does this and that and this and that, then finally exits the application... here's a short version of it.

    public static void FailIf(Boolean fail, String message, Int32 exitCode = 1)
    {
        if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(message))
            throw new ArgumentNullException("message");

        if (fail)
        {
            //Do whatever I need to do

            //Currently Environment.Exit(exitCode)
            Environment.Exit(exitCode);
        }
    }

I have read that using Environment.Exit isn't the best way to handle things when it comes to WinForm apps, and also when working with WPF apps and Silverlight there are different ways to exit... My question is really:

What do I put to exit gracefully to cover all application types?

Can't you simply throw an exception instead of doing what is obviously an assert? — Etienne de Martel, Jan 20 '11 at 20:49

score 40 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 11 '12 at 08:36

40

Read this about the difference between using Environment and Application :

Application.Exit Vs Environment.Exit

There's an example of what you want to do in the bottom of that page:

if (System.Windows.Forms.Application.MessageLoop)
{
  // Use this since we are a WinForms app
  System.Windows.Forms.Application.Exit();
}
else
{
  // Use this since we are a console app
  System.Environment.Exit(1);
}

edited Sep 11 '12 at 08:36

Paolo Moretti

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answered Jan 20 '11 at 20:53

Yochai Timmer

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Does this account for WPF applications too though? – michael Jan 20 '11 at 20:55
WPF applications are usually started with a .Run() command (Yes) – Yochai Timmer Jan 20 '11 at 21:00
The Geekswithblogs.net website is gone. – Sam Hobbs Apr 19 '23 at 19:45

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 22 '11 at 01:59

3

If it's just an abort, use Environment.Exit(). If it's something very critical (that can't handle any sort of cleanup), use Environment.FailFast().

answered Jan 22 '11 at 01:59

user541686

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 20 '11 at 21:10

0

I would recommend using basic exception handling, so instead of System.Environment.Exit(1) throw new ApplicationException(message) which bubbles up the exception to the main method, in your case something like this:

try{
Application.Run(new MyForm());
}
catch(ApplicationException){
// do custom cleanup/reporting
}

Just make sure you throw the exception from the main thread, else invoke on it before throwing ofcourse

answered Jan 20 '11 at 21:10

Polity

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Some time before i last worked with winforms so not sure if the calls are correct but you get the idea at least, also look at the Excepion – Polity Jan 20 '11 at 21:12

Generic way to exit a .NET application

3 Answers3