Running other programs

CreateProcess

Following function encapsulates code for using CreateProcess Windows API for launching other programs.

It is configurable and can wait until calling process finishes or return immediately.

Parameters:

• FileName - full path to executable

• Params - command line parameters or use empty string

• Folder - working folder for called program - if empty path will be extracted from FileName

• WaitUntilTerminated - if true function will wait for process to finish execution

• WaitUntilIdle - if true function will call WaitForInputIdle function and wait until the specified process has finished processing its initial input and until there is no user input pending

• RunMinimized - if true process will be run minimized

• ErrorCode - if function fails this will contain encountered Windows Error Code

  function ExecuteProcess(const FileName, Params: string; Folder: string; WaitUntilTerminated, WaitUntilIdle, RunMinimized: boolean; var ErrorCode: integer): boolean; var CmdLine: string; WorkingDirP: PChar; StartupInfo: TStartupInfo; ProcessInfo: TProcessInformation; begin Result := true; CmdLine := ’”’ + FileName + ’” ’ + Params; if Folder = ” then Folder := ExcludeTrailingPathDelimiter(ExtractFilePath(FileName)); ZeroMemory(@StartupInfo, SizeOf(StartupInfo)); StartupInfo.cb := SizeOf(StartupInfo); if RunMinimized then begin StartupInfo.dwFlags := STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW; StartupInfo.wShowWindow := SW_SHOWMINIMIZED; end; if Folder <> ” then WorkingDirP := PChar(Folder) else WorkingDirP := nil; if not CreateProcess(nil, PChar(CmdLine), nil, nil, false, 0, nil, WorkingDirP, StartupInfo, ProcessInfo) then begin Result := false; ErrorCode := GetLastError; exit; end; with ProcessInfo do begin CloseHandle(hThread); if WaitUntilIdle then WaitForInputIdle(hProcess, INFINITE); if WaitUntilTerminated then repeat Application.ProcessMessages; until MsgWaitForMultipleObjects(1, hProcess, false, INFINITE, QS_ALLINPUT) <> WAIT_OBJECT_0 + 1; CloseHandle(hProcess); end; end;

Usage of above function

var
  FileName, Parameters, WorkingFolder: string;
  Error: integer;
  OK: boolean;
begin
  FileName := 'C:\FullPath\myapp.exe';
  WorkingFolder := ''; // if empty function will extract path from FileName
  Parameters := '-p'; // can be empty 
  OK := ExecuteProcess(FileName, Parameters, WorkingFolder, false, false, false, Error);
  if not OK then ShowMessage('Error: ' + IntToStr(Error));
end;

CreateProcess documentation