OS Information ...

[Crilly]

Hey dudes ...

This is my first post so go easy on me OK -

How would I go about getting information on the current OS that my application is running. My application is designed to run under a windows enviroment and I would like it to under any version of windows ... 9*, 200, me, nt etc etc ...

My application is console based and very simple, but I would love to gain this information ... The app in NO way uses Win32 code ... its a pure MS-DOS application ...

Oh and another thing, how do I run applications from C and could I run the built in FTP program thats comes with Windows without it being shown in the console ?

What I mean is, say I wonna connect to a FTP Server for an update without the user seeing it ... but just tell the user thats its being done ?

Thanks in advance for any replys ...

[foniks munkee]

Someone smarter than me is going to have to answer your first question!

My application is console based and very simple, but I would love to gain this information ... The app in NO way uses Win32 code ... its a pure MS-DOS application ...

I am assuming that you mean you are writing a windows console type application, which means that it is in actual fact not an MS-DOS application but a console app.

Oh and another thing, how do I run applications from C and could I run the built in FTP program thats comes with Windows without it being shown in the console ?

You may want to look at the system command:
int system( const char *command );
But your probably not going to be in luck with the FTP thing. It is an interactive program, so while you could call it from your c program, I can't think of any way that you could actually interact with it.

[adrianxw]

If you are writing a console app, i.e. a 32 bit app, then you can use the GetVersionEx() API function to get the version, it is not ideal, but the info is there.

[Prelude]

If you are getting the information to determine which compatible code to use for each system, try this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#ifdef _POSIX_ 
  #define PRINTF "POSIX"
#elif _WIN32 
  #define PRINT "Windows"
#elif _LINUX_
  #define PRINT "Linux"
#elif _MAC
  #define PRINT "Mac"
#endif

int main ( void )
{
  puts ( PRINT );
  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

I'm not sure if the last two #elif's use the correct variable, but the first two do. If you simply want information on the environment of your system, this should work nicely if your compiler supports the char **env argument to main.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

/* Nonstandard arguments to main.
** This program may not work on 
** all systems.
*/
int main ( int argc, char **argv, char **env )
{
  int i;
  for ( i = 0; env[i] != NULL; i++ )
    (void)puts ( env[i] );
  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

-Prelude