asked on

WinExec

What am I doing wrong? I want to run a Windows program from a windows program. When ever I run the following code I get an error 2 (file not found).

#include <windowsx.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <winbase.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#pragma argsused

/**************************************************************/
int PASCAL WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow)
{
WORD wReturn;
char szMsg[80];

wReturn = WinExec("DRAW", SW_SHOWNORMAL );

if (wReturn < 32) {
sprintf(szMsg, "WinExec failed; error code = %d", wReturn);
MessageBox(NULL, szMsg, "Error", MB_ICONSTOP);
}
else {
sprintf(szMsg, "WinExec returned %d", wReturn);
MessageBox(NULL, szMsg, "", MB_OK);

}

This is the example out of the help file, yet I can't get it to do any thing other than return a "file not found" error.

I have also tried LoadModule() with no sucess.

Thanks for your help.

AJY

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

tflai

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tflai

Use GetModuleFileName(NULL, szCurrentPath, sizeof(szCurrentPath)) to get your application's work directory, then append that with "DRAW".
(That's if you want the application and "DRAW" in the same directory.)

tflai

Oops! The "proposed answer" should read:
"It looks to me that your application's current work directory is not the same as the directory that DRAW is in."
Or, if you know where DRAW is always:
WinExec("c:\drawpath\DRAW", SW_SHOWNORMAL);

youngs101497

ASKER

WinExec is described to use a search pattern which in the case of draw, does include thw Windows directory. I have used absolute paths and relitive paths with no success. The problem does not seem to be in the path paramater.

AJY

tflai

How'd about SetCurrentDirectory() to the path that DRAW is in?

youngs101497

ASKER

I found my problem. But when I call the program the two run concurrently. I need the calling program to wait until the called program concludes before the calling program continues. Can I do this with WinExec? If not what can I use.

AJY

tflai

Launch DRAW with CreateProcess() or ShellExecuteEx(), then wait on it to finish with WaitForSingleObject().