Application.Exit vs Application.Shutdown vs Environment.Exit

Suthish Nair

'WinForms
  Application.Exit();

  'WPF
  Application.Shutdown();

  'Console
  Environment.Exit(exitCode);

Can anyone list the advantages/disadvantages of above methods.
When to use, how to use etc..

Dont post any links or copy paste, this for knowledge sharing from persons who already experienced with above methods.

5 Replies

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Vulpes15y ago
Accepted answer
Application.Exit() is for exiting a windows forms application in a graceful way. Basically, it stops the message pump, closes all windows and lands you back in the Main() method just after the call to Application.Run(). However, sometimes it doesn't appear to work - this is usually because there are other foreground threads (apart from the UI thread) still running which are preventing the thread from ending.

Application.Shutdown() is (broadly) the equivalent of Application.Exit() in a WPF application. However, you have a bit more control as you can set the ShutDownMode so that the application shuts down when the main window closes, the last window closes or only when this method is called.

Environment.Exit() kills all running threads and the process itself stone dead. This should only be used in WF or WPF as a last resort when the more graceful methods are not working for some reason. It can also be used to make an abrupt exit from a console application.
Jim Snyder10y ago
Also, here is an MSDN article explaining how the Environment.Exit() function closes all forms by sending each an event. This is post .NET 2.0:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/f23247b8-e0ca-46eb-afb0-dbf22d4c84ac/thisclose-vs-applicationexit?forum=winforms
Jim Snyder10y ago
As Sam Hobbs said, Environment.Exit(int whatever) can be used to return an error code to the calling program. Note that for Windows, 0 is a normal shutdown and anything other than 0 is an error code. EDIT: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.environment.exit(v=vs.110).aspx
Vulpes15y ago
If you want to exit from a console program but return an exit code to the operating system (other than the default of zero), then the usual way is to use one of the patterns for the Main() method which return an int:

static int Main()
{
   //...

   if (someErrorHasOccurred) return 1; // say

   //...

   return 0;
}

Environment.Exit(1) would achieve the same result but is best restricted to situations where an abrupt exit is needed because it's difficult or impossible to get back to the Main() method to exit gracefully.
Sam Hobbs15y ago
They are essentially for getting out of a program that is messed up and the programmer does not know how to get out or at least not safely. Environment.Exit(exitCode) for a console program might be for getting out normally and returning an exit code; I am not sure.