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#50: How can I execute a program and have my code wait until it is finished?

The next procedure allows you to execute a program and to wait until it's finished:

function WinExecAndWait32(FileName: string; Visibility: Integer): dWord;
var
  zAppName: array[0..512] of Char;
  zCurDir: array[0..255] of Char;
  WorkDir: string;
  StartupInfo: TStartupInfo;
  ProcessInfo: TProcessInformation;
begin
  StrPCopy(zAppName, FileName);
  GetDir(0, WorkDir);
  StrPCopy(zCurDir, WorkDir);
  FillChar(StartupInfo, Sizeof(StartupInfo), #0);
  StartupInfo.cb := Sizeof(StartupInfo);

  StartupInfo.dwFlags := STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
  StartupInfo.wShowWindow := Visibility;
  if not CreateProcess(nil,
           zAppName, { pointer to command line string }
           nil, { pointer to process security attributes }
           nil, { pointer to thread security attributes }
           false, { handle inheritance flag }
           CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE or { creation flags }
           NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS,
           nil, { pointer to new environment block }
           nil, { pointer to current directory name }
           StartupInfo, { pointer to STARTUPINFO }
           ProcessInfo) then
    Result := -1 { pointer to PROCESS_INF }
  else
  begin
    WaitforSingleObject(ProcessInfo.hProcess, INFINITE);
    GetExitCodeProcess(ProcessInfo.hProcess, Result);
    CloseHandle(ProcessInfo.hProcess);
    CloseHandle(ProcessInfo.hThread);
  end;
end;

Published: December 7, 1999

See also

	ABA Database Convert
	Viewer for MS Outlook Messages
	Paradox to Text converter
	DBExport tools
	ExcelFile Viewer
	DBISAM Viewer
	Database Information Manager
	Paradox Viewer
	dBase Viewer
	SMMsg suite

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