• Execute
• Shell
• Spawn
• ???

Shell exeCall$, vbNormalFocus

  ShellExecute(Self.Handle, nil, 'notepad.exe', nil, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

var           
  temp: string;
  A: array[0..300] of Char;
begin
  temp := 'path\ComponentHelp.html';
  StrPCopy(A, temp);
  ShellExecute(Self.Handle, nil, a, nil, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
end;

SW_HIDE	      SW_SHOW
SW_RESTORE    SW_SHOWNORMAL
SW_MINIMIZE   SW_SHOWMINIMIZED
SW_MAXIMIZE   SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED

WinExec('notepad.exe', SW_SHOW);

CreateProcess is a pain - It took me several hours to get only basic functionality. (There are no examples in the help.)

• The default directory must have a valid value - '.' 'c:' 'c:\' - all work
• lpApplicationName must have a full pathname or be in the current directory. Otherwise, set it to nil.
• Use lpCommandLine for most commands - the full path is not needed.
• In the example, I have marked 4 properties as required - This took a long time to debug.
• I was not able to make any prograss until I added the code to display the error messages.
• By the way, notepad.exe ignores the value of the default directory.

var
 x : STARTUPINFO;
 y : PROCESS_INFORMATION;
 j : Longbool;
 z : DWORD;
 b : array[1..100] of char;
 s : string;
begin
  x.cb          := sizeof(x);
  x.lpReserved  := nil ;   //required
  x.lpDesktop   := nil ;   //required
  x.lpTitle     := nil ;   //required
  x.dwFlags     := STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW ;
  x.wShowWindow := SW_SHOW;
  x.cbReserved2 := 0 ;    // required
  x.lpReserved2 := nil;


    // lpCommandLine finds the application in the current path
  j := CreateProcess(nil, 'notepad.exe', nil, nil,
     false, CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE + NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, nil, 'c:', x, y);

  if j=false then begin
    z := GetLastError() ;
    FormatMessage(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM,nil,z,0,@b, 99, nil);
    s := b;
    ShowMessage(s);
  end;
end;

    // With lpApplicationName, the full path must be specified
  j := CreateProcess('c:\windows\notepad.exe', '', nil, nil,
     false, CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE + NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, nil, 'c:\', x, y);

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> function test_me() { var obShell = new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application"); var commandtoRun = "C:\\Winnt\\Notepad.exe"; //obShell.BrowseForFolder(0, "Choose a folder", 0); obShell.ShellExecute("notepad.exe", "", "", "open", 1); //obShell.ShellExecute("Notepad.exe"); //obShell.ShellExecute(commandtoRun, "", "", "open", "1"); //obShell.ShellExecute("\\\\Robert98.home\\E - PROJECTS\\DelphiProjects\\WebLogs\\WebLogs.exe"); //alert("Hello, World!"); alert(commandtoRun); // shellExecute("notepad.exe"); return false; } </SCRIPT> <OBJECT ID="oShell" CLASSID="clsid:13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000"> </OBJECT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript"> <!-- function fnStart() oShell.Open "notepad.exe" end function --> </SCRIPT> <a href="#" onClick="test_me(); return false;" >jstest</a> <a href="#" onClick="fnStart()" >vbtest</a>

In test_me, whenever I comment out the obShell.ShellExecute commands, the Alert command opens a dialog box. When any one of those commands is present, clicking jstest opens a new browser window. I am assuming that this indicates some kind of programming error since return false; in the a-link (which is supposed to stop the link from opening) is apparently not being executed.

vbtest fails in the same manner.

References:

• Main Microsoft reference for the ShellExecute Method. It contains JScript and VBScript examples.
• Additional Microsoft reference - This includes an html example using VBScript.
• JavaScript and the SHELL Command

ExecProgram("command-line", display-state)

Value   Meaning
  0     Normal
  1     Minimized
  2     Maximized

HINSTANCE ShellExecute(
  HWND hwnd,             // The parent window
  LPCTSTR lpOperation,   // "open", "print", "explorer", null
  LPCTSTR lpFile,        // The file name
  LPCTSTR lpParameters,  // Command line parameters or null
  LPCTSTR lpDirectory,   // The default directory or null
  INT nShowCmd           // One of 12 options - max, min, default ...
);

UINT WinExec(
  LPCSTR lpCmdLine,  // address of command line 
  UINT uCmdShow      // window style for new application 
);

BOOL CreateProcess(
  LPCTSTR lpApplicationName,                 // pointer to name of executable module 
  LPTSTR lpCommandLine,                      // pointer to command line string
  LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpProcessAttributes, // pointer to process security attributes 
  LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpThreadAttributes,  // pointer to thread security attributes 
  BOOL bInheritHandles,                      // handle inheritance flag 
  DWORD dwCreationFlags,                     // creation flags 
  LPVOID lpEnvironment,                      // pointer to new environment block 
  LPCTSTR lpCurrentDirectory,                // pointer to current directory name 
  LPSTARTUPINFO lpStartupInfo,               // pointer to STARTUPINFO 
  LPPROCESS_INFORMATION lpProcessInformation // pointer to PROCESS_INFORMATION  
);

URL: http:// cpcug.org / user / clemenzi / technical / Languages / Execute_Shell.htm