Running applications

Yes there is.  You can use an API call to spawn the process.  I have a little routine here that does it.  It waits for the program to finish executing, before proceeding.  I think this should help.  By the way, I heard that in VB 6, that they will have an argument to the shell command, to do just this, but I'm not sure if thats just rumor.

Put this code in a new module:

'This module hosts the ExecCmd
'function, which allows you to
'execute a program, and then wait
'until the process is done, before
'returning to the calling procedure.
'

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

    ' 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)
End Sub


Then just call the ExecCmd function from anywhere in your project.
Let me know if you have any questions.

:) D Perry