Shelled Process with hidden window

[Bill Sturdevant]

I found the following code in a Knowledge Base article
(209876), and it works perfectly.

But, how do I get the NotePad window using in the testing
procedure at the bottom to be hidden, so the user does not
see it? (Obviously, I am going to use something other
than NotePad in reality, and I do not want the user to see
the program I start.)

Option Explicit

Private Type STARTUPINFO
cb As Long
lpReserved As String
lpDesktop As String
lpTitle As String
dwX As Long
dwY As Long
dwXSize As Long
dwYSize As Long
dwXCountChars As Long
dwYCountChars As Long
dwFillAttribute As Long
dwFlags As Long
wShowWindow As Integer
cbReserved2 As Integer
lpReserved2 As Long
hStdInput As Long
hStdOutput As Long
hStdError As Long
End Type

Private Type PROCESS_INFORMATION
hProcess As Long
hThread As Long
dwProcessID As Long
dwThreadID As Long
End Type

Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject
Lib "kernel32" (ByVal _
hHandle As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function CreateProcessA Lib "kernel32"
(ByVal _
lpApplicationName As Long, ByVal lpCommandLine As
String, ByVal _
lpProcessAttributes As Long, ByVal lpThreadAttributes
As Long, _
ByVal bInheritHandles As Long, ByVal dwCreationFlags As
Long, _
ByVal lpEnvironment As Long, ByVal lpCurrentDirectory
As Long, _
lpStartupInfo As STARTUPINFO, lpProcessInformation As _
PROCESS_INFORMATION) As Long

Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal
_
hObject As Long) As Long

Private Const NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS = &H20&
Private Const INFINITE = -1&


Type the following two procedures in the moduleublic Sub
ExecCmd(cmdline$)
Dim proc As PROCESS_INFORMATION
Dim start As STARTUPINFO
Dim ReturnValue As Integer

' Initialize the STARTUPINFO structure:
start.cb = Len(start)

' Start the shelled application:
ReturnValue = CreateProcessA(0&, cmdline$, 0&, 0&, 1&, _
NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, 0&, 0&, start, proc)

' Wait for the shelled application to finish:
Do
ReturnValue = WaitForSingleObject(proc.hProcess, 0)
DoEvents
Loop Until ReturnValue <> 258

ReturnValue = CloseHandle(proc.hProcess)
End Sub

Sub Testing()
ExecCmd "NOTEPAD.EXE"
MsgBox "Process Finished"
End Sub

 

[Kevin McCartney]

Hi,
In your 'Private Type STARTUPINFO' you have the
property 'wShowWindow As Integer', thus set this to false.

Best regards
KM