Put the computer to sleep

Hi! Is there any way to put the computer to sleep (or hibernate or power off also for that matter) from within a program, with the same result as pressing the sleep (or hibernate or shut down) button in the start menu?

Sometimes I want the computer to finish a certain task or wait for a certain amount of time, while I am not by the computer, and then go into sleep mode. The task being executed before putting the computer to sleep is not important here.

I have searched quite a lot about this but there doesn't seem to be very much information about it.

Well, that information is available in the Platform SDK (Windows API).
You can do a search on MSDN.
MSDN | Microsoft Development, Subscriptions, Resources, and More

from SDK:

Code:

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SetSuspendState:

The SetSuspendState function suspends the system by shutting power down.
Depending on the Hibernate parameter,
the system either enters a suspend (sleep) state or hibernation (S4).

BOOLEAN SetSuspendState( BOOLEAN Hibernate,
                            BOOLEAN ForceCritical,
                            BOOLEAN DisableWakeEvent);

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Code:

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SetSystemPowerState:

The SetSystemPowerState function suspends the system by shutting power down.
Depending on the ForceFlag parameter,
the function either suspends operation immediately
or requests permission from all applications and device drivers before doing so.

BOOL SetSystemPowerState( BOOL fSuspend,
                            BOOL fForce);

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Also, See: Power Management Functions

There may even be other API functions as well, I haven't looked.

It's much easier to run a batch file, more universal too (eg works with programs you don't have source for)

Code:

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@echo off
%*
shutdown /h

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Call it hibernateafter.cmd or whatever and use it like this:

Code:

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C:\Users\Adrian>hibernateafter mycmdlineprog that takes "many cmd parameters"
or
C:\Users\Adrian>hibernateafter winver

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When the program closes, shutdown /h hibernates your computer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adeyblue

It's much easier to just run a batch file

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Sure, you could just shell to the system...,
system("hibernate.cmd")
or
ShellExecute(..., hibernate.cmd, ...)

both cheap'n easy, or, do it programmatically using the API.

Calling shell commands from within a program opens security issues if the machine is compromised. It's never advisable if there's a clear solution that can be done from within the code. Post #2 is the way to do it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TriKri

Hi! Is there any way to put the computer to sleep (or hibernate or power off also for that matter) from within a program, with the same result as pressing the sleep (or hibernate or shut down) button in the start menu?

Sometimes I want the computer to finish a certain task or wait for a certain amount of time, while I am not by the computer, and then go into sleep mode. The task being executed before putting the computer to sleep is not important here.

I have searched quite a lot about this but there doesn't seem to be very much information about it.

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SetSystemPowerState

(30 seconds on google)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CommonTater

(30 seconds on google)

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Hmm..., must have a slow connection.
LOL !

Thanks! That seems like it will do it. Well, I guess it is easy to find it if you know what to look for. I actually made searches at both google and msdn, but I didn't manage to find anything I thought was that useful; maybe I'm just bad at searching. But once again, thanks for the help; seems like I have plenty of alternatives now!