Shell problems 1

[pds]

Hi, I've got a VB5 program that has a number of Shell functions that run a DOS program. Originally, I had problems with it because, as you probably know, the statements following the shell function are executed whether the shell function completed its calculations or not. As a result, I created a random number generator that gave me crazy results.

Then I threw in a timer function (thanks to whoever suggested that) that paused the program for 1 second after the shell function, allowing the DOS program to actually finish. Now I am actually getting constant answers, but I have to wait some 5 minutes or even more for the entire program to compute.

Question: Is there some sort of statement that I can put after a shell function that waits for and recognizes when the shell finishes , and then continues on with the program?
Thanks.

 

[JohnYingling]

Call ShellAndWait(strProgram, vbMaximized)
........................

'==== bas module - declarations section ========
Option Explicit

Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" _
       (ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, _
        ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, _
        ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function WaitForInputIdle Lib "user32" _
       (ByVal hProcess As Long, +
        ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" _
        (ByVal hHandle As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" _
         (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Const INFINITE = &HFFFF
Private Const SYNCHRONIZE = &H100000

'==== bas modue - code section ====
Public Sub ShellAndWait(sAppPath As String, Optional _
                        iWindowStyle As VbAppWinStyle = vbMinimizedFocus, _
    Optional  lmsTimeOut As Long = INFINITE)
    'Optional argument lmsTimeOut specifies milliseconds to wait.
   'Wait forever if omitted (default).
    Dim lPid As Long, hProc As Long, lTimeOut As Long

    lPid = Shell(sAppPath, iWindowStyle)
    hProc = OpenProcess(SYNCHRONIZE, 0&, lPid)
    If hProc <> 0& Then
        WaitForInputIdle hProc, INFINITE
        WaitForSingleObject hProc, lmsTimeOut
        CloseHandle hProc
    End If
End Sub

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[pds]

JohnYingling:

I've been trying to use your code. I put it into a bas module that's in the same project group as the form I'm using, and I've typed in the command just as your code says:

---------------------------------------
Call ShellAndWait("C:\foo\bar.exe", 0)
---------------------------------------

But I receive the error message, "Compile error: Expected variable or procedure, not module".

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

pds