Java, running external programs

Question

I am trying to write a chatbot. I am still in my startings, but I do have one question.

Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("notepad.exe");

This actually makes it impossible to quit my program, unless I quit the notepad. Is it possible to quit the Java program before this notepad has ended?

possible duplicate of [What is Daemon thread in java](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2213340/what-is-daemon-thread-in-java) — Greg Hewgill, Dec 06 '12 at 00:22

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 06 '12 at 00:22

1

You can run an external program via a separate thread in your program and continue your program logic in your main thread, i.e. a multi-threaded application is a good solution.

answered Dec 06 '12 at 00:22

Juvanis

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Even if the program runs in another thread, I can't quit the program. Does this mean that, if I want to run a big memory-eating program, like games like Skyrim, it's running in the Java application, thus terminating the Java-app process, means terminating the external program? – Stefan Schouten Dec 06 '12 at 11:34

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 06 '15 at 01:32

First destroy the subprocess :

Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("notepad.exe");
proc.destroy();

If this doesn't work, get the process id of the process and run a different subprocess to run kill <pid>

then exit java with System.exit(0); or normally.

Java, running external programs

2 Answers2