Mimicking Windows command line interface using c#

See more:

C#

process

cmd

What I intend to do is build an application which, among other things, will have a command line embedded in it just like some IDEs do (something I find extremely useful).

This is the code that I have so far, do note that it's a Winforms project:

public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        Process p = new Process();
        ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();

        public Form1() {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
            info.FileName = "cmd.exe";
            info.RedirectStandardInput = true;
            info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
            info.RedirectStandardError = true;
            info.UseShellExecute = false;
            info.CreateNoWindow = true;

            p.StartInfo = info;
            p.Start();
        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
            using(StreamWriter sw = p.StandardInput) {
                if(sw.BaseStream.CanWrite) {
                    sw.WriteLine(textBox1.Text);
                }
            }
            textBox2.Text = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
            textBox3.Text = p.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
            p.WaitForExit();
        }
    }
}

As you can see there are 3 textboxes and one button:

- textbox1 is for entering the command
- textbox2 is for stdout
- textbox3 is for stderr

On to my problem:

I can only input _one_ command because after executing it, my CMD window vanishes. I know it dies off because I've set info.Create`NoWindow = false; and it indeed vanishes (plus if I try to enter another command I get an unhandled exception).

How would I go on about keeping my CMD window 'alive' so that I can use it as much as I please? In short I want to truly mimic CMD behavior.

Feel free to ask for more information if something is not clear.

What I tried:

I've tried adding info.Attributes = "/K"; since I know that /K should keep the CMD alive. I've also read that p.WaitForExit(); should keep the CMD alive, but from what I figured this is only for the purpose of reading the output. Needless to say, I do not need that since I'm already redirecting its output.

Please do note that I need that process alive so I can easily navigate using cd and executing a sequence of commands when needed, such as when accessing ftp or mysql. I know I can work around these two examples with parameters, but that is not the case for every application. In short, spawning a new process every time is not something I want.

Thank you in advance or your responses.