C# – Using AttachConsole, while the process I’ve attached with is running and spewing, I can still type and run other commands

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Using AttachConsole, while the process I've attached with is running and spewing, I can still type and run other commands.

My program runs in either a form, or from command line. If started with arguments it runs in the command window. I use AttachConsole(-1) to attach my process to command window I called from.
It works great, I get all my output spew from my process.

However, the console still processes user input from the keyboard, whatever I type, for instance, if I type 'cls' and hit enter, the output will be wiped. How can I block user input to the console while the process is running?

Best Answer

This may not be elegant based on what you are doing, but do a Kill() on the console after attaching it and it will continue to get output from your other process. Example Windows Forms code below, add your own bells and whistles:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
   internal static class Program
    {
    [DllImport("kernel32", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool AttachConsole(int dwProcessId);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern IntPtr GetForegroundWindow();

    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern uint GetWindowThreadProcessId(IntPtr hWnd, out int lpdwProcessId);

    [STAThread]
    private static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        IntPtr ptr = GetForegroundWindow();

        int u;

        GetWindowThreadProcessId(ptr, out u);

        Process process = Process.GetProcessById(u);

        AttachConsole(process.Id);

        process.Kill();

        Application.EnableVisualStyles();

        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);

        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }
}
}
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