Closing .exe

Hi, earlier i asked how to open a .exe file. I choose the one line method: system("file.exe");
Now im wondering how i get the darn thing to close. If this was on the faq im srry. Thanks for any help you can give,
tyler

You are not opening it using that function. You are invoking command.com to run the program from the prompt (essentially). This is entirely different than opening the file via C/C++.

help me with what your are saying. So u mean if i want to be able to close it i must use a different method of opening?

Would the fork/exec method work? It makes a copy of the parent program then turns it into a diff program. Could when i wanted it to close turn it into a program that just closes?

THX for the help,
tyler

I am unfamiliar with the fork/exec command, but what Bubba is saying is that when you use the system method, your C++ program basically gives control over to command.com (which is kind of like the OS. It's just the DOS prompt.) I believe that once the program finishes running, command.com passes control back to you, but I don't think you have any control as to when that will be.

Are people telling me that there is no way to make the child process close? Like i couldnt open it then sleep(10); then close it leaving the parent process but no child? This sucks if thats the case, my program like needs that to work.

This program never finishes running. Can i just tell command.com to close everything but "example.exe" or close just "examplea.exe"? Is it even possible at all to close a .exe thru C++?

If this second program is something you've written, why can't you just make it part of your first program? Especially if your first is just going to sit there and do nothing while the other executes. I would recommend doing this. There are facilities to allow multple threads of execution.

In the event that you are calling an external program, I would, first of all, advise against this as you will run into all sorts of problems (dependancies should be avoided IMO). If you do decide to go ahead, I can point you inthe right direction. Look up platform invoke (commonly p/invoke) and hooks. It may not be available with C++ (I've used it with C#), but if you can get this to work, it'll solve your problem. It's like system-wide-enhanced event handling. Very cool, but it's tough to learn - you should be alright though.

You can both close and start up programs using C++ in windows. Check CreateProcess and TerminateProcess at msdn.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prog-bman

check out the Faq

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hunter2

>>system() anyone?
*SMACK* :mad: Bad! Read the FAQ!

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You might consider reading the FAQ (click on the word 'FAQ' - it's a hyperlink. Then read about Option 1 and why it's bad.) ;)

thx people, ill look into all the things youve said. The program i run is an outside program but its necessary. and thx for the heads up on system. i dont think it will work for wat im doin neways.


Since i dont want to make a whole new topic ill ask you here: do you know if instead of this: ofstream("tyler.txt"); i could use: ofstream(arraynamehere);

i need to do this because everyday i need my program to go to a different log file. The log files are created with mm-dd-yyyy.txt, so every day it must change. thx

Yes, you can. Almost anywhere you need a char*, you can pass a char array. And for sure, anywhere you need a string (i.e. "tyler.txt"), you can pass a char array.

If you are using a *nix shell, most of the time you can add an ampersand to the end of a command and it'll run in the background

Code:

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pacman -S mozilla-firefox &

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ninjaturtle[k9

]char day[]={"hello.txt"};
ifstream log("c:\\program files\\stealthbot\\logs\\"<<day, ios::ate);


you see what im trying to achieve here? Do you also see what im doing wrong? if
so please tell me.

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First, take off the {} around "hello.txt". Second, you can't use << on strings, that's only when you're using std::cout. You'd need to create a second string:

Code:

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char day[] = "hello.txt";
char str[256]; //or any other big number
strcpy(str, "c:\\program files\\stealthbot\\logs\\");
strcat(str, day);
 
ifstream log(str, ios::ate);

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or

Code:

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string day = "hello.txt";
string path = "c:\\program files\\stealthbot\\logs\\";
path.append(day);
ifstream log(path.c_str(), ios::ate);

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You can use it with stringstreams.

Code:

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#include <sstream>
...
std::stringstream stream;
stream << "c:\\program files\\stealthbot\\logs\\" << day;
ifstream log(stream.str().c_str(), ios::ate);

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