shel problem

Why isnt the shell working?
The shell command is supposed to send data to a text file called "x.txt" but the returnvalue is = -1 everytime i run it and therefore it never even executes

The command i am trying to execute works when i type the exact same string on the command line.

Is the command to long?


here is the code

The module :

Private Type STARTUPINFO
cb As Long
lpReserved As String
lpDesktop As String
lpTitle As String
dwX As Long
dwY As Long
dwXSize As Long
dwYSize As Long
dwXCountChars As Long
dwYCountChars As Long
dwFillAttribute As Long
dwFlags As Long
wShowWindow As Integer
cbReserved2 As Integer
lpReserved2 As Long
hStdInput As Long
hStdOutput As Long
hStdError As Long
End Type

Private Type PROCESS_INFORMATION
hProcess As Long
hThread As Long
dwProcessID As Long
dwThreadID As Long
End Type

Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" (ByVal _
hHandle As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function CreateProcessA Lib "kernel32" (ByVal _
lpApplicationName As Long, ByVal lpCommandLine As String, ByVal _
lpProcessAttributes As Long, ByVal lpThreadAttributes As Long, _
ByVal bInheritHandles As Long, ByVal dwCreationFlags As Long, _
ByVal lpEnvironment As Long, ByVal lpCurrentDirectory As Long, _
lpStartupInfo As STARTUPINFO, lpProcessInformation As _
PROCESS_INFORMATION) As Long

Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal _
hObject As Long) As Long

Private Const NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS = &H20&
Private Const INFINITE = -1&
Public Const SW_HIDE = 0
Public Const SW_MAXIMIZE = 3
Public Const SW_MINIMIZE = 6
Public Const SW_NORMAL = 1
Public Const STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW = &H1


Public Sub ExecCmd(cmdline$)
Dim proc As PROCESS_INFORMATION
Dim start As STARTUPINFO
Dim ReturnValue As Integer

' Initialize the STARTUPINFO structure:
start.dwFlags = STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
start.cb = Len(start)

start.wShowWindow = 6
' Start the shelled application:
ReturnValue = CreateProcessA(0&, cmdline$, 0&, 0&, 1&, _
NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, 0&, 0&, start, proc)

' Wait for the shelled application to finish:
Do
ReturnValue = WaitForSingleObject(proc.hProcess, 0)
DoEvents
Loop Until ReturnValue <> 258

ReturnValue = CloseHandle(proc.hProcess)
End Sub


The code in the sub procedure :

strShell = "perl gram-ga.pl C:\TextFromWord.txt --aspell --output C:\ErrorsFromWord.txt --api"

ExecCmd strShell