OpenEuphoria

1. Windows execute but don't wait.

• Posted by AndyDrummond Jul 18, 2013
• 2418 views

I am a dinosaur in that I am using Eu3, but that shouldn't affect my question.
I have a program which recognises from my website that a new version is available.
It downloads the new setup program, but at that point I get unstuck.
I can't run it because the host program sits and waits for the setup to complete but it can't do so because it's trying to update the very program which is sunning it. Did you follow that?
In DOS I could call exec() and not wait; problem solved. In Win7 I don't seem able to do that. I can call shellExecuteEx() but I can't find any way to leave the invoked program running while the host program carries on and terminates.
So, ladies and gentlemen, how can I get around that? I would appreciate the simple reply "Ah, use EP_NOWAIT" or similar - but I suspect it is more complicated than that. I found no help on MSDN...

Thanks, Andy

3. Re: Windows execute but don't wait.

• Posted by jimcbrown (admin) Jul 18, 2013
• 2443 views

Hmm, I think SEE_MASK_NOASYNC is the flag to use with shellExecuteEx().

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb759784(v=vs.85).aspx

5. Re: Windows execute but don't wait.

• Posted by AndyDrummond Jul 18, 2013
• 2466 views

And hmm yes, I see you are right. I never found that. Too long spent programming other systems than Windies. Again, Jim, thanks. That's MUCH nicer IMHO.

Andy

7. Re: Windows execute but don't wait.

• Posted by jimcbrown (admin) Jul 19, 2013
• 2356 views

Looking at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb762154(v=vs.85).aspx it seems it's easy to wrap shellExecuteEx() directly.

atom dll_ = open_dll("shell32.dll") 
constant shellExecuteEx_ = define_c_func(dll_, "ShellExecuteEx", {C_POINTER}, C_INT) 
 
public function shellExecuteEx(atom pointer) 
	return c_func(shellExecuteEx_, {pointer}) 
end function 

The hard part is going to be creating the SHELLEXECUTEINFO structure. Based on the previous MSDN page, it looks like it is 15 DWORDS long, or 60 bytes. (This is assuming you are running on 32 bits, the sizes may be different on 64 bit OSes). The mask is the second DWORD, or bytes 4-7 of the structure.

9. Re: Windows execute but don't wait.

• Posted by AndyDrummond Jul 20, 2013
• 2244 views

I managed to execute the shellExecuteEx OK, but it was the loading and passing of the structure which foxed me. However, Chris, you have a good point; if the startup program is a simple bit of code, it can look to see if there is a setup program present and run that, or, if not, run the main program. I somehow just thought it would be easy to run the setup without wait and then quit. But while most things are easier in Windows compared to DOS, some are dead easy in DOS. Maybe just that I did lots of DOS coding when I was young and adventurous!

So unless there is a simple way for my program to start the setup and then quit, I will do the Chris route with a minimal startup program. Which actually has its merits too. Hmmm. I need to look into this. Then the startup script can update the main program but the main program can update the startup code. Definitely has something going for it.

I'm blaming my inability to think on the heat in the UK; we just aren't used to it.

Thanks again for your help, gentlemen.

Andy