If you start a Exec operation from a cscript running inside a hidden console, the started process will be also hidden. But this does not happen from .hta, the Exec method creates a console attached to the process executed and there is no way to hide it without third party code.
So, the usual way to deal with command output parsing is to redirect the output to a file and then read the file, of course losing the option to write into the StdIn stream of the started process.
To redirect the output of a process to a file, the first idea is to use something like
>"outputFile" command
but the problem is that trying to execute this directly will not work. This redirection is not part of the OS, but an operator of cmd.exe, so, we need to run something like
cmd /c" >"outputFile" command "
We will also need a way to know if the process has ended and no more data will be available. We can use the Wait argument of the Run method, but this will leave the .hta interface freezed, blocked by the Run method.
Without been able to use the Wait argument, we have to start the process, get its process id and wait for it to end and read all its data or periodically retrieve the output until the process has ended.
You have a basic class (ProcessOutputMonitor) that implements this approach in this test .hta
<html>
<head>
<title>pingMonitor</title>
<HTA:APPLICATION
ID="pingMonitor"
APPLICATIONNAME="pingMonitorHTA"
MINIMIZEBUTTON="no"
MAXIMIZEBUTTON="no"
SINGLEINSTANCE="no"
SysMenu="no"
BORDER="thin"
/>
<script type="text/vbscript" >
Class ProcessOutputMonitor
Dim shell, fso, wmi
Dim processID, retCode, processQuery
Dim outputFile, inputFile
Private Sub Class_Initialize
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set wmi = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\cimv2")
Set inputFile = Nothing
End Sub
Private Sub Class_Terminate
freeResources
End Sub
Public Default Function Start( ByVal commandLine )
Const SW_HIDE = 0
Const SW_NORMAL = 1
Const TemporaryFolder = 2
Dim startUp
Start = False
If Not IsEmpty( processID ) Then Exit Function
outputFile = fso.BuildPath( _
fso.GetSpecialFolder(TemporaryFolder) _
, Left(CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib").GUID,38) & ".tmp" _
)
' "%comspec%" /c">"outputFile" command arguments "
commandLine = Join( _
Array( _
quote(shell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%comspec%")) _
, "/c"">" & quote(outputFile) _
, commandLine _
, """" _
) _
, " " _
)
' https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394375%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
Set startUp = wmi.Get("Win32_ProcessStartup").SpawnInstance_
startUp.ShowWindow = SW_HIDE
retCode = wmi.Get("Win32_Process").Create( commandLine , Null, startUp, processID )
If retCode <> 0 Then
freeResources
Exit Function
End If
processQuery = "SELECT ProcessID From Win32_Process WHERE ProcessID=" & processID
Start = True
End Function
Public Property Get StartReturnCode
StartReturnCode = retCode
End Property
Public Property Get WasStarted
End Property
Public Property Get PID
PID = processID
End Property
Public Property Get IsRunning()
IsRunning = False
If Not IsEmpty( processID ) Then
If getWMIProcess() Is Nothing Then
processID = Empty
freeResources
Else
IsRunning = True
End If
End If
End Property
Public Property Get NextLine
NextLine = getFromInputFile("line")
End Property
Public Property Get NextData
NextData = getFromInputFile("all")
End Property
Private Function getFromInputFile( what )
Const ForReading = 1
getFromInputFile = Empty
If Not IsEmpty( processID ) Then
If inputFile Is Nothing Then
If fso.FileExists( outputFile ) Then
Set inputFile = fso.GetFile( outputFile ).OpenAsTextStream( ForReading )
End If
End If
If Not ( inputFile Is Nothing ) Then
If Not inputFile.AtEndOfStream Then
Select Case what
Case "line" : getFromInputFile = inputFile.ReadLine()
Case "all" : getFromInputFile = inputFile.ReadAll()
End Select
End If
End If
End If
End Function
Private Function quote( text )
quote = """" & text & """"
End Function
Private Function getWMIProcess()
Const wbemFlagForwardOnly = 32
Dim process
Set getWMIProcess = Nothing
If Not IsEmpty( processID ) Then
For Each process In wmi.ExecQuery( processQuery, "WQL", wbemFlagForwardOnly )
Set getWMIProcess = process
Next
End If
End Function
Private Sub freeResources()
Dim process
Set process = getWMIProcess()
If Not ( process Is Nothing ) Then
process.Terminate
End If
processID = Empty
processQuery = Empty
If Not ( inputFile Is Nothing ) Then
inputFile.Close
Set inputFile = Nothing
fso.DeleteFile outputFile
End If
End Sub
End Class
</script>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript">
Dim timerID
Dim monitorGoogle, monitorMicrosoft
Sub Window_onLoad
window.resizeTo 1024,400
Set monitorGoogle = New ProcessOutputMonitor
monitorGoogle.Start "ping -4 www.google.com"
Set monitorMicrosoft = New ProcessOutputMonitor
monitorMicrosoft.Start "ping -4 www.microsoft.com"
timerID = window.setInterval(GetRef("monitorPings"), 500)
End Sub
Sub monitorPings
Dim buffer, keepRunning
keepRunning = False
buffer = monitorGoogle.NextData
If Not IsEmpty( buffer ) Then
google.innerHTML = google.innerHTML & Replace( buffer, vbCrLf, "<br>" )
keepRunning = True
Else
keepRunning = CBool( keepRunning Or monitorGoogle.IsRunning )
End If
buffer = monitorMicrosoft.NextData
If Not IsEmpty( buffer ) Then
microsoft.innerHTML = microsoft.innerHTML & Replace( buffer, vbCrLf, "<br>" )
keepRunning = True
Else
keepRunning = CBool( keepRunning Or monitorMicrosoft.IsRunning )
End If
If Not keepRunning Then
window.clearInterval( timerID )
timerID = Empty
alert("Done")
End If
End Sub
Sub ExitProgram
If Not IsEmpty(timerID) Then window.clearInterval(timerID)
window.close()
End Sub
</SCRIPT>
</head>
<body>
<input id="checkButton" type="button" value="EXIT" name="run_button" onClick="ExitProgram" align="right">
<br><br>
<span id="CurrentTime"></span>
<br><br>
<table style="width:100%">
<tr><th style="width:50%;">microsoft</th><th style="width:50%">google</th></tr>
<tr>
<td id="microsoft" style="font-family=courier;font-size:0.6em;vertical-align:top;"></td>
<td id="google" style="font-family=courier;font-size:0.6em;vertical-align:top;"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
This will simply start two ping processes, and using window.setInterval will retrieve each 500ms the output of the two processes and append it (the bad way, just test code) to the output until both processes have ended.
