[RESOLVED] How to programmatically kill user process from VB6?

[jellis00]

I have a VB6 application that is executed by a compiled .exe that installs many files into windows and integrates a folder based application into Outlook 2003.. It also has a companion Uninstaller that is also VB6 code. When I attempt to run the Uninstaller, it uninstalls the folder based application and deltes all files that were installed by the VB6 application, but I discovered it was not deleting the .exe file from its stored Windows folder location. After a lot of head scratching, I discovered by using the windows task manager that the reason the .exe file would not delete is because it is still running as a process. What is the code I can programatically add to my Uninstaller to check whether the .exe is running and if so to shut it down so the code following that location will delete the .exe file? ??
I can't require the user to use the alt-ctrl-del Task Manager to do this....I somehow need to check for this situation and have the process killed from within the Uninstaller code.

[Jabber]

  Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long

Private Declare Function PostMessage Lib "user32" Alias "PostMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long

Const WM_CLOSE = &H10

Private Sub Kill_Program()
    Dim WinWnd As Long 

    WinWnd = FindWindow(vbNullString, "Yourprogram.exe")

    If WinWnd <> 0 Then 
        PostMessage WinWnd, WM_CLOSE, 0&, 0&
    Else
          '   do nothing or
          '  MsgBox "No window of that name exists." 
    End If
End Sub

That should work..

.

[Hack]

Generally WM_CLOSE will work for running programs, but I have seen instances where it doesn't always work with a process.

If Jabber's code doesn't work, then use WM_QUIT instead

Private Const WM_QUIT = &H12

[jellis00]

I tried the code with both forms of Constant, WM_CLOSE and WM_QUIT. Neither worked. I am listing the code I was using below and would appreciate your critique if there is something wrong with how I implemented your suggestion. The file names I listed as passed arguments are the actual names I see being listed by the Windows Task Manager in the Applications and Processes listings as still running. Till I remove these, my Uninstaller won't delete the folder that contains these files. Not sure if this relates to your code or not, but neither of the listed processes appear as actual windows...just as listed processes by the Task Mgr. that are still running.

Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function PostMessage Lib "user32" Alias "PostMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long

Private Const WM_QUIT = &H12

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Kill_Program ("BidAssistant.exe")
    Kill_Program ("EvalBidAssistant.exe")
End Sub

Private Sub Kill_Program(ProgramName As String)
    Dim WinWnd As Long

    WinWnd = FindWindow(vbNullString, ProgramName)

    If WinWnd <> 0 Then
        PostMessage WinWnd, WM_QUIT, 0&, 0&
    Else
          '  do nothing or
          MsgBox "No window of name " & ProgramName & " exists."
    End If
End Sub

[Edgemeal]

FindWindow uses the exact titlebar text of the program as the second parameter, i.e. Kill_Program ("Untitled - Notepad")

[jellis00]

Thanks for that input, Edgemeal! It confuses me a little....all I have is the name that lists in the Applications and Processes that are running. How would those names relate to their respective titlebar text??

[Edgemeal]

There are ways to terminate a process using exe file name, but surely not the best way to close a program!

You can enumerate all running programs and get their titlebar text, off hand I don't know a link to an example but I'm sure it's been posted here before.

[jellis00]

Success!! The below listed code works. The secret was to use exactly the titlebar text of the process(es) to be removed and not the .exe name as was indicated in the above code.
This has been invaluable to me and will probably be invaluable to a lot of future users of this forum. Thanks so much for all your help.

Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function PostMessage Lib "user32" Alias "PostMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long

Private Const WM_CLOSE = &H10

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Kill_Program ("BidAssistant")
    Kill_Program ("EvalBidAssistant")
End Sub

Private Sub Kill_Program(ProgramName As String)
    Dim WinWnd As Long
Stop
    WinWnd = FindWindow(vbNullString, ProgramName)

    If WinWnd <> 0 Then
        PostMessage WinWnd, WM_CLOSE, 0&, 0&
    Else
          '  do nothing or
          MsgBox "No window of name " & ProgramName & " exists."
    End If
End Sub

[Edgemeal]

Great!
Do us a favor and mark this thread as Resolved, see the "Thread Tools" pulldown menu.

[Mrs. Kravetz]

This code looks like something that could work for me too, but where would I put the code in the program, in a class, module, etc.?

[stum]

Sometimes developers seem to overthink stuff, think simple.

Shell ("taskkill /IM notepad.exe")

replace notepad.exe with any filename.exe process you wish to shut.

can also be done by PID. google taskkill.

[Nightwalker83]

Sometimes developers seem to overthink stuff, think simple.

That is because that code is relying on a command that is part of Windows (third-party) program rather than using code with the host application. Also, if you are interested in Software Development I would suggest using a method such as that posted by jellis00 because it shows the user what is happening in-order to kill a particular process.

[stum]

That is because that code is relying on a command that is part of Windows (third-party) program rather than using code with the host application.

The way i see it windows is a fundemental dependency for almost any VB6 program.
and Sendmessage API also depends on User32.dll libraries, which also requires windows.

and .. jellis00's code (good code by the way), won't work on process that hold no window.
his FindWindow()'s function just won't return any handle of a windowless process and WinWnd will remain zero.

[Nightwalker83]

and .. jellis00's code (good code by the way), won't work on process that hold no window.
his FindWindow()'s function just won't return any handle of a windowless process and WinWnd will remain zero.

What I was suggesting is that the programmer can see what the code is doing.

[el84]

Sometimes developers seem to overthink stuff, think simple.

Shell ("taskkill /IM notepad.exe")

replace notepad.exe with any filename.exe process you wish to shut.

can also be done by PID. google taskkill.

I have been using this with success, except that if I follow it by a Robocopy command I get an error process still running...

[el84]

Sometimes developers seem to overthink stuff, think simple.

Shell ("taskkill /IM notepad.exe")

replace notepad.exe with any filename.exe process you wish to shut.

can also be done by PID. google taskkill.

I have been using this with success, except that if I follow it by a Robocopy command I get an error process still running... This is with Outlook, so a pretty long pst file in case that is relevant

[gilman]

I have been using this with success, except that if I follow it by a Robocopy command I get an error process still running... This is with Outlook, so a pretty long pst file in case that is relevant

try to modify this sample:
KillProcess.zip
The Refresh button fill the listbox with the processes machin with mask in the textbox, and the button Kill Selected Process kill the process selected in the list box