Very easy, here's a start of this.:


PROCESS_INFORMATION procInfo;
STARTUPINFO startupInfo = {0};
startupInfo.cb = sizeof(STARTUPINFO);
char attr[] = "NotePad.exe -options";
char process[] = "NotePad.exe";

// start the ScriptFile
m_create  = CreateProcess(process, attr,NULL, NULL, FALSE, 0, NULL, NULL, &startupInfo, &procInfo);
if (m_create == 0) {
 m_error = GetLastError();
}
else
{
      // wait for process to finish...
     while( processrunning( m_create ) ) { ... };

}

i can't seem to get it to work....

the following error messages i received after compiling the program....

c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\myprojects\ass12\ass12.cpp(11) : error C2065: 'm_create' : undeclared identifier
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\myprojects\ass12\ass12.cpp(13) : error C2065: 'm_error' : undeclared identifier
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\myprojects\ass12\ass12.cpp(18) : error C2065: 'processrunning' : undeclared identifier
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\myprojects\ass12\ass12.cpp(18) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '...'
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\myprojects\ass12\ass12.cpp(21) : fatal error C1004: unexpected end of file found
Error executing cl.exe.

I'm sorry but i'm kinda new to c++..could u help me out with the entire code?? thanks...

You can use CreateProcess to create the thread like grg99 said.  Then you can use WaitForSingleObject to wait for the process to finish, and to display a . every second you'll have to create a thread function to do that.  Something like:

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

bool finished;

// This is a thread function that just displays a " . " every second until
// the finished flag is set
DWORD WINAPI monitor_function(LPVOID parameter)
{
  while(! finished)
  {
    std::cout << " . ";
    Sleep(1000);
  }

  return 0;
}

int main()

{
  // Set the startup information
  STARTUPINFO startup_info = {0};
  startup_info.cb = sizeof startup_info;
  PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = {0};
  finished = false; // Set a flag for the thread

  // Create the process
  DWORD result = CreateProcess("c:\\winnt\\system32\\notepad.exe", "c:\\winnt\\system32\\notepad.exe c:\\test.txt", NULL, NULL, FALSE, 0, NULL, NULL, &startup_info, &pi);
  if(result == 0)
  {
    // Error
    return 0;
  }

  // Create the thread that will wait for it to return
  DWORD thread_id;
  CreateThread(NULL, 0, monitor_function, NULL, 0, &thread_id);
 
  // This function in this thread will wait for notepad to go away
  ::WaitForSingleObject(pi.hProcess, -1);
  finished = true; // Let the thread know

  return 0;
}

ok i'm sorry to sound so dumb but how do i combine the 2 codes as 1 to get the entire working program...???

how do i combine grg99's code and mnashadka 's code??

My code already contains the CreateProcess from grg99's code.

it doesn't work.....the notepad doesn't open....only the dos screen opens.....

thanks alot mnashadka ...it really works....thanks alot....

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;


int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
      // Local variables
      PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
      STARTUPINFO si;

      // Argument count
      if (argc != 2)
            return EXIT_FAILURE;

      // Initialize
      memset(&si,0,sizeof(si));
      si.cb = sizeof(si);

      // Execute
      if(!CreateProcess(NULL, argv[1], NULL, NULL, false, 0, NULL,NULL,&si,&pi)) {
            // Failed
            cout << "Could not run the program." << endl;
            return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
      }




CAN ANYONE HELP ME ON THIS TO MAKE IT ERROR FREE???