making your programs wait

[railor]

can anybody plz tell me how to make my program execute slower.
eg :
I have to kill a process and then rename the file of the which process i just killed.

problem is that the process takes time to kill and the renaming code tries to execute while the process is still closing.

so in between the two pieces of code i have to , like put a wait statement or something like that.

Any ideas?

[HeSaidJoe]

try putting DoEvents between the two processes.

[chrisa_uk]

Try this

kill "myfile.txt"
do until dir("myfile.txt")=""

loop
'next process

regards

Chris a

[railor]

i shall try so , kind ppl's

how would i use "DoEvents" ?

'code
'code
DoEvents
'finish stuff above the DoEvents before continuing the blah blah's
'blah
'blah

[railor]

i think my code that i am using to kill the process(from taskman) is not working properly .
i have to use it like this

If AppKill("c:\windows\explorer.exe") = True then
      End If

i think that it is sloppy coding to have to use the Appkill function in an if statement.

Does anybody know of easier code that i could borrow/use ?

thnx

[railor]

thanx Gates
i will try to use that

[HeSaidJoe]

Worse case:
You could add a timer to check for the handle of the process you are trying to kill.
If not found then rename else keep checking till gone.

Post your code if you have problems.

[railor]

naw
i think it is primitive for the timer to check , anyway , i tried that already and it takes too long.

I fixed the appkill function and i put in DoEvents after the renaming of each file but it still kills the process too slowly or goes to the renaming code too fast (ie :while the process is being killed)

here is the code that i use :

KillApp ("c:\windows\explorer.exe") ' here i kill the app (using a function i got from somewhere else)
    
    DoEvents  ' supposed to wait here but doesnt
    
    'here i save some settings
    cfeir = GetSetting("Desklok", "Security", "CFEIR")
    
    a1ir = Val(cfeir) + 1
    
    SaveSetting "Desklok", "Security", "CFEIR", a1ir
    SaveSetting "Desklok", "Security", "CFEIRD", Date
    SaveSetting "Desklok", "Security", "CFEIRt", Time
        
    regtr = GetSetting("Desklok", "Preferences", "tColor1")
    regtg = GetSetting("Desklok", "Preferences", "tColor2")
    regtb = GetSetting("Desklok", "Preferences", "tColor3")
    regbr = GetSetting("Desklok", "Preferences", "bColor1")
    regbg = GetSetting("Desklok", "Preferences", "bColor2")
    regbb = GetSetting("Desklok", "Preferences", "bColor3")
    
    
    get2 = GetSetting("Desklok", "Preferences", "Disableclock")
    agree = GetSetting("Desklok", "Legal", "Agree")         'assign vals to vars
    stacheck = GetSetting("Desklok", "Security", "Startup")
    
    If agree = "" Then     'checks to see if it is first prog run
        frmabout.Show vbModal     ' if it is 1st run then show about box with legal agreement
        frmoptions.Show vbModal      ' also set first pass if agree at aboutbox
    End If
               
'and here is the code that renames the files , which gets executed too quickly    
If stacheck = "no" Or stacheck = "" Then
        SaveSetting "Desklok", "Security", "Startup", "yes"
        Name "c:\windows\explorer.exe" As "c:\program files\desklok\real\explorer.exe"
        DoEvents
        Name "c:\program files\desklok\fake\explorer.exe" As "c:\windows\explorer.exe"
        DoEvents
    End If

[Yonatan]

Instead of KillApp, use SyncKillApp.

Call SyncKillApp("C:\Windows\Explorer.exe") ' Here you kill the app (using a function you got from me)
' DoEvents is not needed, SyncKillApp takes care of it
' The rest of your code here!

And here's the function... Put it in a module to make it look pretty.
It returns True on success, False on failure.

Option Explicit

Private Const MAX_PATH = 260
Private Const TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS = &H2
Private Const PROCESS_TERMINATE = &H1
Private Const WAIT_TIMEOUT = &H102&

Private Type PROCESSENTRY32
    dwSize As Long
    cntUsage As Long
    th32ProcessID As Long
    th32DefaultHeapID As Long
    th32ModuleID As Long
    cntThreads As Long
    th32ParentProcessID As Long
    pcPriClassBase As Long
    dwFlags As Long
    szExeFile(1 To MAX_PATH) As Byte
End Type

Private Declare Function CreateToolhelp32Snapshot Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal th32ProcessID As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function Process32First Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hSnapshot As Long, lppe As PROCESSENTRY32) As Long
Private Declare Function Process32Next Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hSnapshot As Long, lppe As PROCESSENTRY32) As Long
Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function TerminateProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hProcess As Long, ByVal uExitCode As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hHandle As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long

Private Function StripNulls(ByVal sString As String) As String
    Dim lPos As Long
    
    lPos = InStr(sString, vbNullChar)
    If lPos Then StripNulls = Left(sString, lPos - 1) Else StripNulls = sString
End Function

Public Function SyncKillApp(ByVal sProcessExeName As String) As Boolean
    Dim hSnapshot As Long, hProcess As Long
    Dim tEntry As PROCESSENTRY32
    
    hSnapshot = CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0)
    If hSnapshot = -1 Then Exit Function
    
    tEntry.dwSize = Len(tEntry)
    
    If Process32First(hSnapshot, tEntry) = 0 Then
        Call CloseHandle(hSnapshot)
        Exit Function
    End If
    
    Do Until StripNulls(UCase(StrConv(tEntry.szExeFile, vbUnicode))) = UCase(sProcessExeName)
        tEntry.dwSize = Len(tEntry)
        
        If Process32Next(hSnapshot, tEntry) = 0 Then
            Call CloseHandle(hSnapshot)
            Exit Function
        End If
    Loop
    
    Call CloseHandle(hSnapshot)
    hProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_TERMINATE, 0, tEntry.th32ProcessID)
    If hProcess = 0 Then Exit Function
    
    If TerminateProcess(hProcess, 0) = 0 Then
        Call CloseHandle(hProcess)
        Exit Function
    End If
    
    Do
        DoEvents
    Loop Until Not WaitForSingleObject(hProcess, 0) = WAIT_TIMEOUT
    
    Call CloseHandle(hProcess)
    SyncKillApp = True
End Function

Enjoy!

[thedee23]

Put this wait function I have listed below. To execute it just put something like... Wait(5) ..... 5 being the number of seconds you want to wait:



Function Wait(numseconds As Long)

Dim start As Variant, rightnow As Variant
Dim HourDiff As Variant, MinuteDiff As Variant, SecondDiff As Variant
Dim TotalMinDiff As Variant, TotalSecDiff As Variant
start = Now

While True
rightnow = Now
HourDiff = Hour(rightnow) - Hour(start)
MinuteDiff = Minute(rightnow) - Minute(start)
SecondDiff = Second(rightnow) - Second(start) + 1

If SecondDiff = 60 Then
MinuteDiff = MinuteDiff + 1 ' Add 1 to minute.
SecondDiff = 0 ' Zero seconds.
End If

If MinuteDiff = 60 Then
HourDiff = HourDiff + 1 ' Add 1 to hour.
MinuteDiff = 0 ' Zero minutes.
End If

TotalMinDiff = (HourDiff * 60) + MinuteDiff ' Get totals.
TotalSecDiff = (TotalMinDiff * 60) + SecondDiff

If TotalSecDiff >= numseconds Then
Exit Function
End If

DoEvents

Wend

End Function

[thedee23]

The DoEvents statement is not going to make your program wait in that spot. DoEvents yields execution so that the operating system can process other events. That way your program will not hang when it is in a loop or something and you have a DoEvents in there.

[railor]

gee , what a helpful lot you are

Yonatan , i will try your code even though i got my app working now.

but now that i have it working , there is a tiny glitch.
see below

here is the code :

SaveSetting "Desklok", "Security", "Startup", "no"
    
    Name "c:\windows\explorer.exe" As "c:\windows\explorer.fak"
    Sleep 500
    Name "c:\windows\Explorer.rea" As "c:\windows\Explorer.exe"
    Sleep 500
    
    GetSetting "Desklok", "Security", "CFEIR"
    
    If Val(cfeir) > 1 Then
        SaveSetting "Desklok", "Security", "CFEIR", "0"
        Unload Me
        Shell ("c:\windows\explorer.exe")
        DoEvents
    Else
        Shell ("c:\windows\explorer.exe")
        DoEvents
        SaveSetting "Desklok", "Security", "CFEIR", "0"
        Unload Me
        Set frmback = Nothing
        End
    End If
End Sub

this code is at the end of my from load event , all goes well except that it opens a instance of Windows explorer as well as loading the explorer shell.

maybe a command line parameter for explorer will fix this , but i dont know any of them

Plz hlp 1 more time

Thanks for all your help

[Yonatan]

Waiting for a specified amount of time (with Sleep or with anything else) is no good for this matter.
Slower computers may take a long time to finish terminating the process with KillApp.
However, SyncKillApp also waits until the process is done terminating, before returning...
Which makes it perfect here.

And, you can try something like this:

Call Shell("C:\Windows\Explorer.exe", vbHide)

[railor]

Yonatan , dude
you are a frikkin genius , it is working now , flawlessly.

I want to compile now and then i will send u the source and setup as a thank you for your help.

it makes me think how true that "Teenage Programmer" part in your signature is.

thanks a lot

[Yonatan]

I don't really need the source.
If anyone who I ever helped with a VB problem sent me his source code, I would have needed a bigger hard drive!
Thanks anyway, and naaaaa I really am 14.