Find out how long a program has been running

[j2k]

Hi all,

Is there an API where you can find out how long a program/process has been running? I know you can use GetTickCount for how long Windows has been active, and was wondering if there was a similar API call for all programs/processes?

Thanks

[wordracr]

I'm not sure. As an alternative, you could store the time when your program starts, and then compare that to the current time..

Option Explicit
Dim ProgStartTime As Date

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    MsgBox DateDiff("s", ProgStartTime , Now)
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    theTime = Now
End Sub

[j2k]

Hi,

Thanks but I'm trying to find out how long a different app (which may have been running even before my app starts) has been running.

[Merrion]

If you have a handle to the thread you can use GetThreadTimes:

Private Type FILETIME
    dwLowDateTime As Long
    dwHighDateTime As Long
End Type
Private Declare Function GetThreadTimes Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hThread As Long, lpCreationTime As FILETIME, lpExitTime As FILETIME, lpKernelTime As FILETIME, lpUserTime As FILETIME) As Long

Hope this helps,
Duncan

[jim mcnamara]

Handle to the process gives you:

Private Type FILETIME
        dwLowDateTime As Long
        dwHighDateTime As Long
End Type
Private Type SYSTEMTIME
    wYear As Integer
    wMonth As Integer
    wDayOfWeek As Integer
    wDay As Integer
    wHour As Integer
    wMinute As Integer
    wSecond As Integer
    wMilliseconds As Integer
End Type
Private Declare Function GetProcessTimes Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hProcess As Long, lpCreationTime As FILETIME, lpExitTime As FILETIME, lpKernelTime As FILETIME, lpUserTime As FILETIME) As Long
Private Declare Function FileTimeToLocalFileTime Lib "kernel32" (lpFileTime As FILETIME, lpLocalFileTime As FILETIME) As Long
Private Declare Function FileTimeToSystemTime Lib "kernel32" (lpFileTime As FILETIME, lpSystemTime As SYSTEMTIME) As Long
Private Declare Function GetCurrentProcess Lib "kernel32" () As Long
Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim FT0 As FILETIME, FT1 As FILETIME, ST As SYSTEMTIME
    GetProcessTimes GetCurrentProcess, FT1, FT0, FT0, FT0
    FileTimeToLocalFileTime FT1, FT1
    FileTimeToSystemTime FT1, ST
    MsgBox "This program was started at " + CStr(ST.wHour) + ":" + CStr(ST.wMinute) + "." + CStr(ST.wSecond) + " on " + CStr(ST.wMonth) + "/" + CStr(ST.wDay) + "/" + CStr(ST.wYear)
End Sub

Use DateDiff to get the up time.