PyQt – how to detect and close UI if it’s already running?

Here is a very simple PyQt5 solution using QLockFile:

from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtWidgets

lockfile = QtCore.QLockFile(QtCore.QDir.tempPath() + '/my_app_name.lock')

if lockfile.tryLock(100):
    app = QtWidgets.QApplication([])
    win = QtWidgets.QWidget()
    win.setGeometry(50, 50, 100, 100)
    win.show()
    app.exec()
else:
    print('app is already running')

---

There were a couple of fairly straightforward C++ solutions given on the Qt Wiki which no longer seem to exist. I ported one of them to PyQt, and have provided a sample script below. The original C++ solution has been split into two classes, because the messaging facility may not be needed.

PyQt5:

from PyQt5 import QtWidgets, QtCore, QtNetwork

class SingleApplication(QtWidgets.QApplication):
    messageAvailable = QtCore.pyqtSignal(object)

    def __init__(self, argv, key):
        super().__init__(argv)
        # cleanup (only needed for unix)
        QtCore.QSharedMemory(key).attach()
        self._memory = QtCore.QSharedMemory(self)
        self._memory.setKey(key)
        if self._memory.attach():
            self._running = True
        else:
            self._running = False
            if not self._memory.create(1):
                raise RuntimeError(self._memory.errorString())

    def isRunning(self):
        return self._running

class SingleApplicationWithMessaging(SingleApplication):
    def __init__(self, argv, key):
        super().__init__(argv, key)
        self._key = key
        self._timeout = 1000
        self._server = QtNetwork.QLocalServer(self)
        if not self.isRunning():
            self._server.newConnection.connect(self.handleMessage)
            self._server.listen(self._key)

    def handleMessage(self):
        socket = self._server.nextPendingConnection()
        if socket.waitForReadyRead(self._timeout):
            self.messageAvailable.emit(
                socket.readAll().data().decode('utf-8'))
            socket.disconnectFromServer()
        else:
            QtCore.qDebug(socket.errorString())

    def sendMessage(self, message):
        if self.isRunning():
            socket = QtNetwork.QLocalSocket(self)
            socket.connectToServer(self._key, QtCore.QIODevice.WriteOnly)
            if not socket.waitForConnected(self._timeout):
                print(socket.errorString())
                return False
            if not isinstance(message, bytes):
                message = message.encode('utf-8')
            socket.write(message)
            if not socket.waitForBytesWritten(self._timeout):
                print(socket.errorString())
                return False
            socket.disconnectFromServer()
            return True
        return False

class Window(QtWidgets.QWidget):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.edit = QtWidgets.QLineEdit(self)
        self.edit.setMinimumWidth(300)
        layout = QtWidgets.QVBoxLayout(self)
        layout.addWidget(self.edit)

    def handleMessage(self, message):
        self.edit.setText(message)

if __name__ == '__main__':

    import sys

    key = 'app-name'

    # send commandline args as message
    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        app = SingleApplicationWithMessaging(sys.argv, key)
        if app.isRunning():
            print('app is already running')
            app.sendMessage(' '.join(sys.argv[1:]))
            sys.exit(1)
    else:
        app = SingleApplication(sys.argv, key)
        if app.isRunning():
            print('app is already running')
            sys.exit(1)

    window = Window()
    app.messageAvailable.connect(window.handleMessage)
    window.show()

    sys.exit(app.exec_())

PyQt4:

# only needed for python2
import sip
sip.setapi('QString', 2)

from PyQt4 import QtGui, QtCore, QtNetwork

class SingleApplication(QtGui.QApplication):
    messageAvailable = QtCore.pyqtSignal(object)

    def __init__(self, argv, key):
        QtGui.QApplication.__init__(self, argv)
        # cleanup (only needed for unix)
        QtCore.QSharedMemory(key).attach()
        self._memory = QtCore.QSharedMemory(self)
        self._memory.setKey(key)
        if self._memory.attach():
            self._running = True
        else:
            self._running = False
            if not self._memory.create(1):
                raise RuntimeError(self._memory.errorString())

    def isRunning(self):
        return self._running

class SingleApplicationWithMessaging(SingleApplication):
    def __init__(self, argv, key):
        SingleApplication.__init__(self, argv, key)
        self._key = key
        self._timeout = 1000
        self._server = QtNetwork.QLocalServer(self)
        if not self.isRunning():
            self._server.newConnection.connect(self.handleMessage)
            self._server.listen(self._key)

    def handleMessage(self):
        socket = self._server.nextPendingConnection()
        if socket.waitForReadyRead(self._timeout):
            self.messageAvailable.emit(
                socket.readAll().data().decode('utf-8'))
            socket.disconnectFromServer()
        else:
            QtCore.qDebug(socket.errorString())

    def sendMessage(self, message):
        if self.isRunning():
            socket = QtNetwork.QLocalSocket(self)
            socket.connectToServer(self._key, QtCore.QIODevice.WriteOnly)
            if not socket.waitForConnected(self._timeout):
                print(socket.errorString())
                return False
            if not isinstance(message, bytes):
                message = message.encode('utf-8')
            socket.write(message)
            if not socket.waitForBytesWritten(self._timeout):
                print(socket.errorString())
                return False
            socket.disconnectFromServer()
            return True
        return False

class Window(QtGui.QWidget):
    def __init__(self):
        QtGui.QWidget.__init__(self)
        self.edit = QtGui.QLineEdit(self)
        self.edit.setMinimumWidth(300)
        layout = QtGui.QVBoxLayout(self)
        layout.addWidget(self.edit)

    def handleMessage(self, message):
        self.edit.setText(message)

if __name__ == '__main__':

    import sys

    key = 'app-name'

    # send commandline args as message
    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        app = SingleApplicationWithMessaging(sys.argv, key)
        if app.isRunning():
            print('app is already running')
            app.sendMessage(' '.join(sys.argv[1:]))
            sys.exit(1)
    else:
        app = SingleApplication(sys.argv, key)
        if app.isRunning():
            print('app is already running')
            sys.exit(1)

    window = Window()
    app.messageAvailable.connect(window.handleMessage)
    window.show()

    sys.exit(app.exec_())