C system call and msdos batch files.

I had a batch file which had the folowing line in, which ran fine, basically it produced a list of .log files.

Code:

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dir c:\"Program Files"\"William Hill Poker"\log\XP02202685\2009011318505875\*.log /b /s >>dirs.doc

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However when I tried to run it from a C program using the system command eg:

Code:

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system("mycreatelogfilelist.bat");

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It does not work, it comes back with, I think "Too many parameters".
I think this is due to MSDOS really more than a 'C' thing but does anyone know
how I could have got it to work? It is I think something to do with the way it parses
the line being different when it is called from C but I don't know how to get around it.

That is a valid call to system AFAIK. Show some more code. Are you sure the error you are receiving is from that line?

Also, try maybe putting quotes around the whole path, not just a part of it:
"c:\Program Files\William Hill Poker\log\XP02202685\2009011318505875\*.log"

That gives parameter format not correct.
I have shortened the test

Code:

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dir  c:\djgpp = works
dir "c:\djgpp"  = parameter format not correct.
dir  c:\"djgpp" = too many parameters


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As I said I don't think sysem uses the same thing (shell?)to process the line or something like that.
I got around it by calling the batch file from another batchfile, but I can't get it to work from
a c program, it does not like space or quotes.

What about one of the spawn functions?

Are .bat and .exe located in the same directory ?

Do you need to escape the double quotes? What about no quotes at all?

Or, maybe bat files don't support the long names, so you have to use the PROGRA~1 flavor syntax?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cpjust

What about one of the spawn functions?

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No that seems to give the same sort of errors as system() unfortunately.
I had to guess oneof the values to pass as 0, which it seemed to accept.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ch4

Are .bat and .exe located in the same directory ?

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Yes but I specify ".bat" to avoid confusion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dino

Do you need to escape the double quotes? What about no quotes at all?

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Tried both - no joy.

You may also need to escape the backslashes.

Code:

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dir "c:\\Program Files\\William Hill Poker\\log\\XP02202685\\2009011318505875\\*.log" /b /s >>dirs.doc

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Try that and see if that works.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samf

You may also need to escape the backslashes.

Code:

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dir "c:\\Program Files\\William Hill Poker\\log\\XP02202685\\2009011318505875\\*.log" /b /s >>dirs.doc

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Try that and see if that works.

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Unfortunately not - looked promising though!!

Are you by any chance using Turbo C or some other DOS compiler? If so, long filenames will not be supported, even for "system()"

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Mats

Quote:

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Originally Posted by matsp

Are you by any chance using Turbo C or some other DOS compiler? If so, long filenames will not be supported, even for "system()"

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Mats

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djgpp of gcc or whatever it is called.
It seems that's the case.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by esbo

djgpp of gcc or whatever it is called.
It seems that's the case.

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Yes, djgpp is a DOS compiler, so it applies DOS rules - including "filenames must be 8.3 format". Why not use gcc-mingw or some such? You obviously DO have Windows on your machine, so I don't see any harm in using Windows system functionality.

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Mats

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dino

Or, maybe bat files don't support the long names, so you have to use the PROGRA~1 flavor syntax?

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I tried that but that didn't seem to work either, maybe it was something else I don't know, yes maybe it as something else, I only changed the names with spaces in, I'd need to change them all wouldn't I will try that later.
But I forsee problems with it - what if more than one file has the same name at the start?

OK I tried it again and it does work!!
I don't like it much though, but it does work, I am a bit worried it might cause problems
elsewhere going in the reverse direction.

Again, why not use gcc-mingw instead - it's free, it's available, it's using a modern version of gcc (more standards compliant), and it's working in the native Windows API.

--
Mats

Quote:

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Originally Posted by matsp

Again, why not use gcc-mingw instead - it's free, it's available, it's using a modern version of gcc (more standards compliant), and it's working in the native Windows API.

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Mats

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Sounds like a good idea I guess I am just used to whatI have got but I must give it a go
I had a few probs installing the last compiler.
Actually that sounds quite good if it mean I can interface via windows instead of running in a dos window. I've been meaninng to switch to that. I am trying to download and install it now.

Edit having a few probs doing that seem it could not dowload some of the files.

Can't seem to download some of it seems to have been taken off line:

The Old MinGWiki pages are again offline as a result of action from SF due to flock issues with the phpwiki application. We'll be trying a different approach.

???

I didn't have any troubles getting to mingw.org, or navigating to the download site. There's an installer so you should only need to get the one file yourself. As what you quoted said, the archives are gone, but who cares about the archives?

OK I seem to have downloaded and install it.
Not sure how to run it though.
Maybe i need to read some stuff?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by esbo

OK I tried it again and it does work!!

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NAILED IT!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by esbo

OK I seem to have downloaded and install it.
Not sure how to run it though.
Maybe i need to read some stuff?

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Quite likely. But "gcc -Wall xxx.c -o xxx" will compile your program and produce xxx.exe

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Mats

After you've set up the PATH environment variable of course ;)

DJGPP supports long filenames

http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/doc/eli....html#Features

Quote:

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Originally Posted by robwhit

DJGPP supports long filenames

http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/doc/eli....html#Features

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Doesn't mention Windows XP,

Quote:

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The DJGPP library features transparent and automatic support for long file names on Windows 9X8. The DJGPP startup code queries the system for the availability of the LFN API, and if it's available, all low-level file-oriented primitives are automatically switched to using the special LFN-aware functions. This run-time detection of the LFN support means that the same executable will run on DOS and on Windows, and will automatically support long file names when it runs on Windows 9X.

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LFN API may not even be available according to that.

OK
I managed to download it and install it.
I found the 'documentation' and installation procedure a bit confusing.

Anyway first i compiled a test program with g++ by following the instructions,
that compiled OK, no sure what g++ is, is it just a c++ compiler?

Anyway it compiled and ran OK, but I really wanted gcc, ofcourse I already have one of them
and as the path was set up it would have ran the old version so I just put in
the full path name so it ran the new version.

That compiled OK too, as you would expect as I guess g++ "contains" gcc?

I have not tested the long path names yet as I had 'worked around them' because I needed
a version which works.
It's actually going to be a bit of a pain going back to were I was now!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by matsp

Quite likely. But "gcc -Wall xxx.c -o xxx" will compile your program and produce xxx.exe

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Mats

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Whats -Wall?

OK I have tested it with long file names.
At first I though it did not work as the batchfile to compile the test program overid the enviroment variable and set it back to the old gcc, which caused some confusion, but now I have corrected that
now and it works fine now!!
Thanks for your help!

Incidently does this mean I will now be able to use some 'windowing stuff'?
I have not really done any of that before, but if would be useful if I could.

-Wall tells the compiler to tell you about "all" "W"arnings.

Yes, gcc-mingw can generate Windows applicatons as well as console ones.

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Mats

That's interesting, is there a 'guide to using them anywhere?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by esbo

That's interesting, is there a 'guide to using them anywhere?

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There was a link recently to a thread here that has a load of Windows programming guides - have look in the C++ forum and look at the thread called "Write my own editor" - the guide to Windows was, I think on the first or second page.

There should be little or no difference betwen using gcc and a MS compiler, so guides that apply to one should work for the other unless they use any of the compiler specific stuff - which shouldn't be very often.

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Mats