What is Mutex? How it is helpful to make single threaded job?
Dimpal Mistry
Hi Dimple,
A Mutex is like a C# lock, but it can work across multiple processes. In other words, Mutex can be computer-wide as well as application-wide.
Acquiring and releasing an uncontended Mutex takes a few microseconds—about 50 times slower than a lock.
With a Mutex class, you call the WaitOne method to lock and ReleaseMutex to unlock. Closing or disposing a Mutex automatically releases it. Just as with the lock statement, a Mutex can be released only from the same thread that obtained it.
A common use for a cross-process Mutex is to ensure that only one instance of a program can run at a time. Here’s how
it’s done:
class OneAtATimePlease
{
static void Main()
// Naming a Mutex makes it available computer-wide. Use a name that's
// unique to your company and application (e.g., include your URL).
using (var mutex = new Mutex (false, "oreilly.com OneAtATimeDemo"))
// Wait a few seconds if contended, in case another instance
// of the program is still in the process of shutting down.
if (!mutex.WaitOne (TimeSpan.FromSeconds (3), false))
Console.WriteLine ("Another instance of the app is running. Bye!");
return;
}
RunProgram();
static void RunProgram()
Console.WriteLine ("Running. Press Enter to exit");
Console.ReadLine();
If running under Terminal Services, a computer-wide Mutex is ordinarily visible only to applications in the
same terminal server session. To make it visible to all terminal server sessions, prefix its name with Global\.
I hope it will be helpful for you.
hi....dilmple