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Running an EXE file via a Delphi App

Running an EXE file via a Delphi App

Question:
I want to be able to run an EXE file on a button click in one of my Delphi applications. Is it possible to do this? Where do I declare the file I want to run, and how do I put it into basic code?

Answer:
If you’re running Win16, then the call to make is WinExec. For Win32 environments, you can use ShellExecute. But you really should use CreateProcess. Here’s some sample code that I use to execute external programs:

{Supply a fully qualified path name in ProgramName and any arguments on the command line. As the  help file states: "If lpApplicationName is NULL,  the first white space-delimited token of the  command line specifies the module name..." In  English, the characters before the first space  encountered (or if no space is encountered as in  a single program call) is interpreted as the EXE to execute. The rest of the string is the  argument line.} procedure ExecNewProcess(ProgramName : String);var  StartInfo  : TStartupInfo;  ProcInfo   : TProcessInformation;  CreateOK   : Boolean;begin  { fill with known state }  FillChar(StartInfo,SizeOf(TStartupInfo),#0);  FillChar(ProcInfo,SizeOf(TProcessInformation),           #0);  StartInfo.cb := SizeOf(TStartupInfo);  CreateOK := CreateProcess(nil,               PChar(ProgramName), nil, nil,              False,              CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP +               NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS,               nil, nil, StartInfo, ProcInfo);  { check to see if successful }  if CreateOK then    //may or may not be needed. Usually wait for     //child processes. You can comment this line    //out.    WaitForSingleObject(ProcInfo.hProcess,                         INFINITE);end;

The function above only works for Win32 programs, it will not work for Win16–you’ll get a compiler error.

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