Run away program

[Jazzisam]

Currently I use a shell to exeute a program. Before it's done executing and creating the file the next line looks for that file and can't find it.

Can you help

1) Shell "c:\winnt\va.exe c:\" & dateT & "\Fablots.va"

2)Dim MySize
MySize = FileLen("c:\" & dateT & "\Fablots.dat")
If MySize <= 2 Then
MsgBox "No lots were found for the perameters you entered"
End If

[filburt1]

Uh, this is VB code, not C++ code...

[Megatron]

I don't really understand your question...You want to wait for the process to end before returing to your program?

[TadaTensai]

For some reason, people refuse to search the site..... They have an article about this...., I beleive its the ShellExecute API....?

[falafel]

Chuck this lot in a module and call ExecCmd.
It waits for the process to complete before returning control.
I cribbed it out of MSDN some time ago.

...

Option Explicit

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 Sub ExecCmd(cmdline$)

Dim proc As PROCESS_INFORMATION
Dim start As STARTUPINFO
Dim ret As Long

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

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

' Wait for the shelled application to finish:
ret& = WaitForSingleObject(proc.hProcess, INFINITE)
ret& = CloseHandle(proc.hProcess)
ret& = CloseHandle(proc.hThread)
End Sub

[Megatron]

Originally posted by TadaTensai
For some reason, people refuse to search the site..... They have an article about this...., I beleive its the ShellExecute API....?

All the articles on this site are devoted to VB. Even though API is universal, it can be a bit cumbersome for a C programmer.

More importantly though, we all want things done fast!

[filburt1]

Yeah, this is my favorite line of C++ code:

#include <windows.h>

Ah, the classics...

[Megatron]

huh?

[parksie]

My favourite bit of code:

FILE *prn = fopen("lpt1", "w");
for(;;) fprintf(prn, "HAHAHA\n");

[Megatron]

lol.

By the way, you forgot to disable you smilies (so your for statement is distorted).

[parksie]

Yeah ok then

I'm sure people will get the gist of it