calling a program from within a program

Hi all,
I'm trying to call a program from within another program using;

Code:

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System(file name);

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The called program is called and run perfectly, but after it's run is over, it does not return control back to the calling program. Is there a special code that I have to add to make the control go back to the calling program?

Also, is the above code the best code to use for calling another program from within another program?

I envision that by the time that I'm through, I'll be calling at least 4 other programs from within my calling program. . . . As usual, I thank you for your replies. . . . therry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Therry

The called program is called and run perfectly, but after it's run is over, it does not return control back to the calling program.

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It should return to the calling program. What exactly are you doing?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Therry

Also, is the above code the best code to use for calling another program from within another program?

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What OS are you using?

I'm running windows 7 (64bit)

With respect to: It should return to the calling program. What exactly are you doing?

I need the result (the out-put while it's still in memory) of the first program as in-put for the second program. When I debug, the system_call runs the called program (I see it in the debug window) but in the debug window it does not return to the calling program. it just shows the called program.

You could try using the Win32 API's CreateProcess() and GetExitCodeProcess()

CreateProcess function
GetExitCodeProcess function

respectively, using the parameters necessary in the call to CreateProcess(). A little bit more work but it may solve your problem. I've always heard that using system() is a horrible idea.

The fact of output appearing in a debug window does not mean control is not returning to the original program. Both your spawning and spawned programs might be writing to the same window. What that means is that, if you want to capture output from a spawned program, then you need to take specific steps to capture that output. The system() call does not magically do that for you.

For example, you might redirect standard output from the spawned program to a file. Then your original program (when control returns to it) can read that file. The problem is, techniques to redirect output from a spawned program depend on a lot of things. Alternatively, you can modify the source code of the spawned program so it writes output directly to a file, rather than to standard output (which is console output by default).

If you are willing to limit yourself to running under windows, look up the win32 API function named CreateProcess() and use it instead of the system() call. It accepts a slew of arguments, including some that specify how to redirect the standard output device used by the spawned program.