Process.Start vs Process `p = new Process()` in C#?

Question

As is asked in this post, there are two ways to call another process in C#.

Process.Start("hello");

And

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "hello.exe";
p.Start();
p.WaitForExit();

• Q1 : What are the pros/cons of each approach?
• Q2 : How to check if error happens with the Process.Start() method?

Answer 1

With the first method you might not be able to use WaitForExit, as the method returns null if the process is already running.

How you check if a new process was started differs between the methods. The first one returns a Process object or null:

Process p = Process.Start("hello");
if (p != null) {
  // A new process was started
  // Here it's possible to wait for it to end:
  p.WaitForExit();
} else {
  // The process was already running
}

The second one returns a bool:

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "hello.exe";
bool s = p.Start();
if (s) {
  // A new process was started
} else {
  // The process was already running
}
p.WaitForExit();