Process.Start question

[Bwilliamson]

Hello,
I have a program that when you press a button it maps 2 drives, updates a registry value and then starts a executable which is stored in a SQL table. I'm having issues after the file opens. The program it opens does not seem to be working quite right. When you open the program by clicking on the .exe it works file. When I call it from the app, I have issues with the program after it opens. Can someone explain to me the difference between double clicking an .exe and using process.start? Is there a different way to do it? My code is listed below.

Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Console
Imports System.Configuration
Imports System.Data
Imports System.IO.Directory
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports Microsoft.Win32

Public Class Main

    Private Sub butPds_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles butPds.Click

        Dim objNetwork
        Dim cmbValue As String
        Dim SQLConn As New SqlConnection() 'The SQL Connection
        Dim SQLCmd As New SqlCommand() 'The SQL Command 

        Dim strSQL As String

        cmbValue = cmbProjectSel.Text

        'Dim ConnString As New SqlConnection
        SQLConn.ConnectionString = "Server=GRN2007;Database=VB_Projects;Trusted_Connection=True" 'Set the Connection String 

        strSQL = "SELECT PDS_Location,LS_Location, pd_configure, PDS_exe FROM vw_PDS_SPR_Locations WHERE project =" & "'" & cmbValue & "'"

        Dim myCommand As New SqlCommand(strSQL, SQLConn)

        SQLConn.Open() 'Open the connection 
        Dim myReader As SqlDataReader
        Dim uncLocation As String = ""
        Dim uncLocation1 As String = ""
        Dim uncLocation2 As String = ""
        Dim uncLocation3 As String = ""
        Dim strDriveLetter1 As String
        Dim strDriveLetter2 As String
        myReader = myCommand.ExecuteReader()

        While myReader.Read()
            uncLocation = myReader(0).ToString()
            uncLocation1 = myReader(1).ToString()
            uncLocation2 = myReader(2).ToString()
            uncLocation3 = myReader(3).ToString()
        End While

        objNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
        'Section which unmaps the drives,
        Try
            objNetwork.RemoveNetworkDrive("F:", True, True)

            objNetwork.RemoveNetworkDrive("G:", True, True)
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try

        
        strDriveLetter1 = "F:"
        strDriveLetter2 = "G:"

        ' Section which maps the drives,
        Try
            objNetwork.MapNetworkDrive(strDriveLetter1, uncLocation, True)

            objNetwork.MapNetworkDrive(strDriveLetter2, uncLocation1, True)

        Catch ex As Exception

        Try
            My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Intergraph\PD_SHELL\07.00\", "ControlFile", uncLocation2)
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try

        
        myReader.Close()
        SQLConn.Close()

        Dim startInfo As New ProcessStartInfo(uncLocation3)
        startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
        startInfo.UseShellExecute = False
        startInfo.WorkingDirectory = "C:\win32app\ingr\pdshell\bin\"

        Process.Start(uncLocation3)

        'Me.Close()

    End Sub

[kareninstructor]

There should not be a difference between the two methods. Are there problems if you do not set the Window state and leave it as normal?

[azuckerman]

Change this line to True and there will be no difference:

startInfo.UseShellExecute = False

Here's more info:
ProcessStartInfo.UseShellExecute Property

[Bwilliamson]

I"m afraid there was no difference. Still have the same result. Any other possibility?

[azuckerman]

I"m afraid there was no difference. Still have the same result. Any other possibility?

Here is exactly what I do:

      Try
        ' sReportPathName is a path to an HTML file containing a report
        Dim oProcess As New ProcessStartInfo(sReportPathName)
        With oProcess
          .ErrorDialog = True
          .ErrorDialogParentHandle = Me.Handle
          .WorkingDirectory = MainCode.ReportPath
          .UseShellExecute = True
        End With

        Process.Start(oProcess)
      Catch ex As Exception
        ' Log my exception here
      End Try

[jmcilhinney]

If you're starting an EXE then I would guess that the issue is related to the working directory, which is the most common culprit. The working directory usually needs to be the directory containing the EXE. In that case, if your file path is:

uncLocation3

then your working directory needs to be:

IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(uncLocation3)