How do you pass command line arguments to compiled VB programs

[spacey]

I need to pass a value to an external VB application from a Web page. I would like to use something like &quot;program.exe -q12345&quot; where 12345 is a record number in a database. Can this be done?<br>
<br>
Please help.

 

[Motts]

Assuming you are the developer of said VB app, you have to enable the startup object (form or main sub) to accept this argumant. There is a VB function called 'Command$' that does this very thing.<br>
<br>
The code in your app would look something like this (a form is the startup object in this case)&quot;<br>
<br>
sub Form_Load()<br>
dim sArg as string<br>
dim iQ as integer<br>
dim iSpace as integer<br>
dim sRec as string<br>
dim lRec as long<br>
<br>
'get command line arguments<br>
sArg = Command$()<br>
<br>
if len(sArg) then<br>
'look for '-q'<br>
iQ = instr(lcase$(sArg), &quot;-q&quot<br>
<br>
if iQ then<br>
'iQ exists, look for space after iQ<br>
iSpace = instr(iQ+2, sArg, &quot; &quot<br>
if iSpace &gt; 0 then<br>
'get characters between iQ and space<br>
sRec = mid$(sArg, iQ+2, iSpace-iQ-2)<br>
else<br>
'get all characters after iQ <br>
sRec = mid$(sArg, iQ+2)<br>
end if<br>
<br>
if isnumeric(sRec) then<br>
lRec = val(sRec)<br>
bResult = GoGetDatabaseRecord(lRec)<br>
else<br>
'non numeric data has been passed in<br>
'cannot retrieve record by number<br>
end if <br>
else<br>
'-q parameter not found...<br>
end if<br>
<br>
else<br>
'no arguments passed in<br>
'do default...<br>
end if <br>
<br>
end sub<br>
<br>
This is a pretty simple implementation. You probably want to check for other argument types in addition to the '-q'. You just have to get creative with a string parser. By the way, the VB6 documentation has an example of this.<br>
<br>
Hope it helps,<br>
-Motts

 

[spacey]

Thanks Motts, now that I know the Command$() command I shouldn't have any trouble.<br>
<br>
Thanks again.<br>
Spacey