How to get process' CPU usage knowing PID?

[Dimon]

I'm trying to send out an alert in case when process takes more than certain % of CPU. I'm using the following code to get it:

PerformanceCounter pcProcess = new PerformanceCounter();
pcProcess.CategoryName = "Process";
pcProcess.CounterName = "% Processor Time";
pcProcess.InstanceName = "ProcessName";
pcProcess.NextValue();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
double d = pcProcess.NextValue();
//Console.WriteLine("Process:{0} CPU% {1}", strProcessName, d);

After that I'm using d variable to check if alert needs to be sent out or not.

But the problem is my program is running in many instances meaning all those instances have the same process name in task manager and therefore I don't know which one is which. So the point is I want each instance to check its own % process time, how do I separate them? I can get PID using Process class but how would I use it?
Or maybe you know the way to set a process name in the beginning of the code for each instance?
Also say there are 3 processes with the same name, which one's % Processor Time would PerformanceCounter get using the code above?

Thank you in advance!

[Dimon]

please need help ASAP!

[Plater]

If you are running your .exe 3 times, each will have a different PID.
If they are running as threads, you can use the thread ID.

Other then that I'm not sure what you are asking?

[Dimon]

If you are running your .exe 3 times, each will have a different PID.
If they are running as threads, you can use the thread ID.

Other then that I'm not sure what you are asking?

Yes, that's the whole point - I can get PID for each one but how would I use it to get CPU usage for every instance? Using PerformanceCounter class I can retrieve CPU usage knowing process name, but since process name is the same for all three instances I need to distinguish them somehow so that I know what instance is related to what CPU usage.

[Plater]

Cannot you get process usage information based on PID? Because I am pretty sure you can get at that from withen the code.
Or you can go through the Process class and maybe find it.

[Dimon]

Cannot you get process usage information based on PID? Because I am pretty sure you can get at that from withen the code.
Or you can go through the Process class and maybe find it.

Well, if I could get this information based on PID I wouldn't post :)
I tried to go through Process class but couldn't find anything except this
Process.GetCurrentProcess().TotalProcessorTime, but I'm not sure how it's related to CPU usage (%) that you can see in task manager.

[TRScheel]

Well, if I could get this information based on PID I wouldn't post :)
I tried to go through Process class but couldn't find anything except this
Process.GetCurrentProcess().TotalProcessorTime, but I'm not sure how it's related to CPU usage (%) that you can see in task manager.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    foreach (Process p in Process.GetProcesses())
    {
        PerformanceCounter pc = new PerformanceCounter();
        pc.InstanceName = p.ProcessName;
 
        Thread TestThread = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(GetCPUPercentage));
        TestThread.Start(pc);
    }
    ConsoleUtilities.PressAnyKey("");
}
 
static void GetCPUPercentage(Object pc)
{
    try
    {
        ((PerformanceCounter)pc).CategoryName = "Process";
        ((PerformanceCounter)pc).CounterName = "% Processor Time";
        ((PerformanceCounter)pc).NextValue();
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
        Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}%", ((PerformanceCounter)pc).InstanceName, ((PerformanceCounter)pc).NextValue());
    }
    catch { }
}
 

That can be easily modified to grab the process in question. For instance, if you passed an array to GetCpuPercentage, and in one item you had the performance counter and in another you had the process, you could grab the PID of the problematic instance.


EDIT: ConsoleUtilities is a library I built of common things I do on the console (such as, say "Press any key to continue")

[Dimon]

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    foreach (Process p in Process.GetProcesses())
    {
        PerformanceCounter pc = new PerformanceCounter();
        pc.InstanceName = p.ProcessName;
 
        Thread TestThread = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(GetCPUPercentage));
        TestThread.Start(pc);
    }
    ConsoleUtilities.PressAnyKey("");
}
 
static void GetCPUPercentage(Object pc)
{
    try
    {
        ((PerformanceCounter)pc).CategoryName = "Process";
        ((PerformanceCounter)pc).CounterName = "% Processor Time";
        ((PerformanceCounter)pc).NextValue();
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
        Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}%", ((PerformanceCounter)pc).InstanceName, ((PerformanceCounter)pc).NextValue());
    }
    catch { }
}
 

That can be easily modified to grab the process in question. For instance, if you passed an array to GetCpuPercentage, and in one item you had the performance counter and in another you had the process, you could grab the PID of the problematic instance.


EDIT: ConsoleUtilities is a library I built of common things I do on the console (such as, say "Press any key to continue")

Thank you.
But I'm not sure how your code helps me. Let's look at the example:
I have program named test.exe. There are three scheduled tasks that runs this program with different parameters on the same server, say "test 1/2/3". If you look at the task manager u'll see 3 processes with the "test" name.
Using your code in main method in loop through the processes it gets process with the "test" name and passes it in to the GetCpuPercentage method, but how does it know what "test" process from the list of processes to grab? There are three of them. I need to write it the way so say instance test1 checks just process that was created by this instance and doesn't touch other two with the same name.

BTW, forgot to mention - I'm working with Framework 1.1 (trying to convince management to switch to at least 2 version), so ParameterizedThreadStart won't really work. I'm not even sure what it's for as I never dealt with such Thread constructor :)

[TRScheel]

Thank you.
But I'm not sure how your code helps me. Let's look at the example:
I have program named test.exe. There are three scheduled tasks that runs this program with different parameters on the same server, say "test 1/2/3". If you look at the task manager u'll see 3 processes with the "test" name.
Using your code in main method in loop through the processes it gets process with the "test" name and passes it in to the GetCpuPercentage method, but how does it know what "test" process from the list of processes to grab? There are three of them. I need to write it the way so say instance test1 checks just process that was created by this instance and doesn't touch other two with the same name.

BTW, forgot to mention - I'm working with Framework 1.1 (trying to convince management to switch to at least 2 version), so ParameterizedThreadStart won't really work. I'm not even sure what it's for as I never dealt with such Thread constructor :)

Well, I was getting to the fact that if you pass the process into the thread start function as well, you will have all the information about that specific process (such as the PID, etc).

ParameterizedThreadStart lets you pass variables into a thread start. Without this, you will need to rethink how my method works.

Here is the updated code (and please note, its a staple example of ugly arse code, coded for functionality):

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    foreach (Process p in Process.GetProcesses())
    {
        PerformanceCounter pc = new PerformanceCounter();
        pc.InstanceName = p.ProcessName;
 
        Thread TestThread = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(GetCPUPercentage));
        ArrayList al = new ArrayList();
        al.Add(pc);
        al.Add(p);
        TestThread.Start(al);
    }
    ConsoleUtilities.PressAnyKey("");
}
 
static void GetCPUPercentage(Object Params)
{
    PerformanceCounter pc = (PerformanceCounter)((ArrayList)Params)[0];
    Process p = (Process)((ArrayList)Params)[1];
    try
    {
        pc.CategoryName = "Process";
        pc.CounterName = "% Processor Time";
        pc.NextValue();
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
        Console.WriteLine("{0} | {1}: {2}%", pc.InstanceName, p.Id, pc.NextValue());
    }
    catch { }
}
 

[Plater]

The process class contains a thing that lets you see what the command line arguments to the program was. So if you started the programs:
"test.exe 123"
"test.exe 4-6-7"
"test.exe blah"

You would be able to see the "123", "4-6-7", "blah" in the Process class.

[TRScheel]

The process class contains a thing that lets you see what the command line arguments to the program was. So if you started the programs:
"test.exe 123"
"test.exe 4-6-7"
"test.exe blah"

You would be able to see the "123", "4-6-7", "blah" in the Process class.

That underneath the StartInfo properties?

[Plater]

That underneath the StartInfo properties?

Yup:
Didn't you say each instance of test.exe is monitoring it's own cpu usage?
So couldn't you use Process.GetCurrentProcess(); to get the correct process ID for the running one (as opposed to the PID for one of the other test.exe's running)

System.Diagnostics.Process p;
p = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess();
int mypid = p.Id;
string myEXE = p.MainModule.FileName;
string myarguments = p.StartInfo.Arguments;
MessageBox.Show("PID: " + mypid.ToString() + "\r\n" + myEXE + "\r\n" + myarguments); 
 

[Dimon]

Yup:
Didn't you say each instance of test.exe is monitoring it's own cpu usage?
So couldn't you use Process.GetCurrentProcess(); to get the correct process ID for the running one (as opposed to the PID for one of the other test.exe's running)

System.Diagnostics.Process p;
p = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess();
int mypid = p.Id;
string myEXE = p.MainModule.FileName;
string myarguments = p.StartInfo.Arguments;
MessageBox.Show("PID: " + mypid.ToString() + "\r\n" + myEXE + "\r\n" + myarguments); 
 

Thank you, but again, I definitely can get PID for each instance, the thing is I don't know how to use it to get CPU usage as PerformanceCounter class uses process name to get it instead of PID.

Note, my program doesn't have parameters, it runs without them, this was just an example. And even if I could get parameter how would it help me to get CPU usage for that particular instance? So the only things I can get are name of the program(process name) and PID for each ones. But I'm not sure how knowing process name helps me since there are 3 of them in task manager with the same name.
So the question is - how would I get CPU usage (%) knowing PID?

[Plater]

Ok, sorry about that. For some reason I still had it in my head that you wanted the PID.

I just looked into creating the performance counter through windows management console and I saw something under the instances:
"explorer"
"explorer#1"

It appears the first process gets it's name and after that a # and a counter is appended to the isntance name.

So I guess what you would have to do to figure who came first, would be to look at the StartTime of the Process Object....but that seems like it wouldn't be a garuntee.


I think you can compute it from the Process object though.
Like some formula of total time run against the time spent in user/privledged CPU. You might then have to compare that against the system idle process' values of the same thing.

[Dimon]

Ok thank you all, I guess I found the way to do it using Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfProc_Process class from WMI. It's that simple.

[Plater]

Ok thank you all, I guess I found the way to do it using Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfProc_Process class from WMI. It's that simple.

I was gonna suggest WMI at the begining, but I wasn't positive you could find that value in there, and that performance counter thing seemed rather elegant.

[fischler]

Dear all,

I wrote the following application. it does the following things:

1. monitoring CPU usage.
2. if found that it pass the limit (maxCPU) it detect the application which stick the CPU and propose closing / killing it.

Question:
is it possible to tell the PerformanceCounter to monitor the process by its ID and not by its name (for case that I load multiple instances of the same application).

Any other solutions (+ code) will be acceptable.

sorry if my engilsh is not 100%

Netanel.

    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        const int maxCPU = 30;
        PerformanceCounter PCounter;
        PerformanceCounter CCounter;
        System.Diagnostics.Process[] prcs;
        bool monitoring = false;
 
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            PCounter = new PerformanceCounter();
            CCounter = new PerformanceCounter();
            CCounter.CategoryName = "Processor";
            CCounter.CounterName = "% Processor Time";
            CCounter.InstanceName = "_Total";
        }
        private void MySleep(int dwMS, int dwInterval)
        {
            for (int k = 0; k < dwMS / dwInterval; k++)
            {
                System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(dwInterval);
                System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents();
            }
        }
        private void MySleep(int dwMS) { MySleep(dwMS, 100); }
 
        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (monitoring)
                return;
            monitoring = true;
            while (true)
            {
                try
                {
                    System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().PriorityClass = ProcessPriorityClass.Normal;
                    while (true)
                    {
                        if (CCounter.NextValue() > maxCPU)
                        {
                            MySleep(1000);
                            if (CCounter.NextValue() > maxCPU)
                                break;
                        }
                        MySleep(1000);
                    }
                    System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().PriorityClass = ProcessPriorityClass.High;
                    prcs = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcesses();
                    PCounter.CategoryName = "Process";
                    PCounter.CounterName = "% Processor Time";
                    for (int i = 0; i < prcs.Length; i++)
                    {
                        if (i % 9 == 0)
                            if (CCounter.NextValue() < maxCPU)
                                break;
                        if (prcs[i].ProcessName.ToLower().CompareTo("idle")==0)
                            continue;
                        PCounter.InstanceName = prcs[i].ProcessName;
                        PCounter.NextValue();
                        if (PCounter.NextValue() > maxCPU)
                        {
                            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
                            if (PCounter.NextValue() > maxCPU)
                                if (MessageBox.Show("Shutdown " + prcs[i].ProcessName + "?", "CPU", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo) == DialogResult.Yes)
                                {
                                    try
                                    {
                                        prcs[i].CloseMainWindow();
                                        MySleep(1000);
                                        prcs[i].Close();
                                        MySleep(1000);
                                        prcs[i].Kill();
                                        break;
                                    }
                                    catch { }
                                }
                        }
 
                    }
 
                }
                catch (Exception ex) { MessageBox.Show (ex.Message); }
            }
        }
    }

[fischler]

Dear all,

I got it, code below.

Netanel

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Diagnostics;
 
namespace NDS.IEX.NCC.Process.CPU.Usage
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public String FindInstanceByProcessID(int pid,string name)
        {
            string res;
            int i = 0;
            PerformanceCounter pc = new PerformanceCounter("Process", "ID Process");
            try
            {
                while (true)
                {
                    res = name;
                    if (i > 0)
                        res += "#" + i.ToString();
                    i++;
                    pc.InstanceName = res;
                    pc.NextValue();
                    if ((int)pc.NextValue() == pid)
                        return res;
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex) { MessageBox.Show(ex.Message); }
            MessageBox.Show ("Not found");
            return "";
        }
 
 
        const int maxCPU = 30;
        const int globalInterval = 750;
        PerformanceCounter PCounter;
        PerformanceCounter CCounter;
        PerformanceCounterCategory cg;
        System.Diagnostics.Process[] prcs;
        bool monitoring = false;
 
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
 
            PCounter = new PerformanceCounter(); //process monitor
            CCounter = new PerformanceCounter(); //cpu monitor
            cg = new PerformanceCounterCategory();
            //PerformanceCounterCategory.Create(
 
            CCounter.CategoryName = "Processor";
            CCounter.CounterName = "% Processor Time";
            CCounter.InstanceName = "_Total";
            PCounter.CategoryName = "Process";
            PCounter.CounterName = "% Processor Time";
        }
        private void MySleep(int dwMS, int dwInterval) //safe sleep
        {
            for (int k = 0; k < dwMS / dwInterval; k++)
            {
                System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(dwInterval);
                System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents();
            }
        }
        private void MySleep(int dwMS) { MySleep(dwMS, 100); }
 
        private void btnStartMonitoring_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (monitoring)
                return;
            monitoring = true;
            while (true)
            {
                try
                {
                    System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().PriorityClass = ProcessPriorityClass.Normal;
                    while (true) //monitor the cpu
                    {
                        if (CCounter.NextValue() > maxCPU)
                        {
                            MySleep(globalInterval);
                            if (CCounter.NextValue() > maxCPU)
                                break;
                        }
                        MySleep(globalInterval);
                    }
                    // find the process that stick the cpu
                    System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().PriorityClass = ProcessPriorityClass.High;
                    prcs = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcesses();
                    for (int i = 0; i < prcs.Length; i++)
                    {
                        if (i % 9 == 0)
                            if (CCounter.NextValue() < maxCPU)
                                break;
                        if (prcs[i].ProcessName.ToLower().CompareTo("idle")==0)
                            continue;
                        PCounter.InstanceName = FindInstanceByProcessID(prcs[i].Id, prcs[i].ProcessName);
                        PCounter.NextValue();
                        if (PCounter.NextValue() > maxCPU)
                        {
                            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(globalInterval);
                            if (PCounter.NextValue() > maxCPU)
                                if (MessageBox.Show("Shutdown " + prcs[i].ProcessName + "?", "CPU", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo) == DialogResult.Yes)
                                {
                                    try
                                    {
                                        prcs[i].CloseMainWindow();
                                        MySleep(globalInterval);
                                        prcs[i].Close();
                                        MySleep(globalInterval);
                                        prcs[i].Kill();
                                    }
                                    catch { }
                                    break;
                                }
                        }
 
                    }
 
                }
                catch (Exception ex) { MessageBox.Show (ex.Message); }
            }
        }
    }
}