Command arguments and "Start without debugging"

[BlayneM]

I've created a Win32 console project using Visual Studio .NET 2003; the app reads from the standard input stream (cin). I want to redirect input to the app from a text file named test.dat, which is located in the project directory.

I open the properties dialog for the project, and under "Configuration Properties/Debugging", I change the value of "Command Arguments" to
< $(ProjectDir)test.dat
I make this change for "All Configurations", and I close the project properties dialog.

When I run the app by selecting "Debug/Start" from the main menu of the IDE, it runs fine, reading and processing data from the file test.dat.

But, when I run the app by selecting "Debug/Start Without Debugging" from the main menu of the IDE, it waits for input from the keyboard rather than reading from the redirected file. A little more experimentation uncovered the fact that the app, in this case, is viewing the "Command Arguments":
< $(ProjectDir)test.dat
as two command line arguments to the app, rather than viewing them as an input redirection.

Does anyone know a workaround for this, short of passing a file name into the app so it can open the file, or running from a command prompt window?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[ArkM]

Command line stdin redirection (for test.exe, for example):

test <test.dat

You can set <test.dat as a program arg in Project|Settings|Debug (for Release or/and Debug configuration) to start a program with redirection from IDE.

 

[BlayneM]

Thanks for the suggestion, but in my original message, I tried to convey that I'd already tried this approach. The redirection in Project|Properties|Configuration Properties|Debugging works for "Start" (i.e., debug) runs, but not for "Start without Debug" runs.

Any other ideas?

 

[Salem]

> as two command line arguments to the app, rather than viewing them as an input redirection.
Which seems to suggest it's bypassing the shell completely

Try something like

cmd /c $(ProjectDir)test.exe < $(ProjectDir)test.dat

Another possibility is look in the Tools menu and click on the "Add tool...". Here you can add a menu option to run any program you like.

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