Running an external exe from win32 application

Question

I am working on a WIN32 application in Visual Studio 2010. I have to execute an external exe from my code but don't have to show its window. along with executing the exe I am passing certain argument to exe. my code is given

char path[] = "D:\\scan\\scan.exe -l";
system(path);
//ShellExecute(hWnd, "open",path, NULL, NULL, SWP_HIDEWINDOW);

if I use system(path) it is executed properly but the window of the exe is also shown, but if I use ShellExecute(hWnd, "open",path, NULL, NULL, SWP_HIDEWINDOW); then the exe of the given path is not executed. how should I overcome this problem, kindly guide me

Jonathan Potter · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-03T08:51:40.527

6

ShellExecute wants the program name and its parameters to be given separately. Try this:

ShellExecute(hWnd, NULL, "D:\\scan\\scan.exe", "-l", NULL, SW_HIDE);

edited Oct 03 '13 at 08:51

answered Oct 03 '13 at 08:40

Jonathan Potter

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SWP_HIDE -> you mean SW_HIDE surely? – Leo Chapiro Oct 03 '13 at 08:45
@duDE: Typo fixed, ta. – Jonathan Potter Oct 03 '13 at 08:51

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

3

You should really use CreateProcess which does not use the shell to call a program. This also allows you to capture the program output and retrieve any error codes it might give.

If you need to hide the window of a GUI app, you can set CREATE_NO_WINDOW in the dwFlags in the CreateProcess call (cfr. this answer)

edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

Community

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answered Oct 03 '13 at 08:56

rubenvb

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You're assuming the program is a console app. – Jonathan Potter Oct 03 '13 at 09:06
@Jonathan see edit. Still no reason to go around to the shell. `ShellExecute` is useful for other things (see its docs [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb762153.aspx)), but it definitely is not the right tool for this job. – rubenvb Oct 03 '13 at 09:54
Yeah I've used `ShellExecute` before :) – Jonathan Potter Oct 03 '13 at 10:51

Running an external exe from win32 application

2 Answers2