Running External Program

[dcomartin]

Alright, I am using dBase IV and I am trying to call pkunzip from within my application. pkunzip and the file im trying to unzip are located in the same directory as the application.

!pkunzip -d myfile.zip

All this does is crash my application. So my question is, how can I call an external application with arguments?

 

[dbMark]

I have dBase5 for DOS, which should not be too disimilar, and PKZIP version 2.5 (DOS-based version released in 1999) works fine for me. Are you trying to run the DOS version of PKZIP/PKUNZIP? I'm not sure what would happen if you called the Windows version from DOS-based dBase. What is the error number? Is PKUNZIP not found, or is it some other problem? "Crash my application" is not much to go on, as a lot of things could do the same thing. As a guess, could it be that the dBase PATH does not match the DOS PATH?

 

[dcomartin]

I have no idea what the error number is because when that line gets executed:

!pkunzip -d myfile.zip

my application completely closes. No errors, it just closes.

 

[dcomartin]

It is pkunzip that is causing my problems. If i call any other program it works. If i create a batch file that contins has just "pkunzip" in it, and i call that batch file, it crashes. What other dos program can i use to unzip?

 

[tviman]

Just for S & G's rather than using !pkunzip..., try using run pkunzip..... Also, make sure that the zip file is in the same directory as your dbase files. One last thought, remove the -d (delete) switch from the unzip command. This is more easily accomplished using dbase commands.

There's always a better way...

 

[dcomartin]

Problem solved. I had to add the "-3" switch when calling pkunzip. This is odd because I don't have to use it when I call pkunzip from the dos prompt. Anyways the "-3" is for:

"Disable 32-bit instruction usage on 80386 or higher CPU's"