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I am trying to run multiple tasks in the same command line using ShellExecuteEx. I have no issue running it in cmd.exe, as shown below:

    C:\Program Files (x86)\AppFolder>App.exe MyTask1&&App.exe MyTask2

    Running task: Task1
    Table: Task1 100
    Complete

    Running task: Task2
    Table: Task2 100
    Complete

    C:\Program Files (x86)\AppFolder>

Now, here's my ShellExecuteEx version in Delphi running one task without any issue:

    procedure TfrmGTX.btnQBSyncClick(Sender: TObject);
     var
       FileName, Parameters, Folder, Directory: string;
       sei: TShellExecuteInfo;
       Error: DWORD;
       OK: boolean;
     begin
       Folder := 'C:\Program Files (x86)\AppFolder\';
       FileName := Folder + 'App.exe';
       Parameters := 'MyTask1';
       ZeroMemory(@sei, SizeOf(sei));
       sei.cbSize := SizeOf(sei);
       sei.lpFile := PChar(FileName);
       sei.lpParameters := PChar(Parameters);
       sei.lpDirectory := PChar(Folder);
       sei.nShow := SW_SHOWNORMAL;
       OK := ShellExecuteEx(@sei);
       if not OK then
         begin
           Error := GetLastError;
           ShowMessage('Error: ' + IntToStr(Error));
         end;
     end;

What I am trying to achieve is to run 2 tasks one after the other using ShellExecuteEx. No pre-condition/relationship between them. Its the same function but serves data to different tables in my database.

My questions are:

  1. Is it possible to run these 2 tasks in 1 ShellExecuteEx command in the parameter? If so, what's the best way to do it inside the parameter?
  2. Or should I create a for loop to run these 2 tasks one after the other?
  3. Or any suggestion?

I prefer the first one as it is cleaner and within the functionalities of ShellExecuteEx.

I have seen some works saying that I should separately run them or create some script.

Here's the result of the ExecuteDOSOutput shared by @Alex_89. So, far it runs multiple tasks in one trigger and able to capture result in MyApp TMemo. Except only that the result is different from what I expected:

Running task: Task1

Table: A_SALES 0% ◘◘◘0% ◘◘◘0% ◘◘◘0% ◘◘◘0% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘1% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘2% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘3% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘4% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘5% ◘◘◘6% ◘◘◘6% ◘◘◘6% ◘◘◘6% ◘◘◘6% ◘◘◘6% ◘◘◘6% ◘◘◘6% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘7% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘8% ◘◘◘9% ◘◘◘9% ◘◘◘9% ◘◘◘9% ◘◘◘9% ◘◘◘9% ◘◘◘9% ◘◘◘9% ◘◘◘9% 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Complete
Running task: Task2

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Complete
Running task: Task3

Table: Customer 
Complete

I am expecting to get real-time progressive % such as what I get when I run this in CMD.exe.

Running task: Task1
Table: Task1 100        //progress % shown here
Complete

Running task: Task2
Table: Task2 100        //progress % shown here
Complete

Running task: Task3
Table: Task2 100        //progress % shown here
Complete

My intention is to capture the progress % real-time from CMD.exe and embed the same to MyApp as progress bar or something, so I could trigger completion and allow user to proceed.

I am just hoping if anyone could help me capture progress % real-time from CMD.exe?

Ciodensky
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1 Answers1

2

I came across this snippet a few years ago when I was trying to get the output of a DOS command. Maybe it'll help you with your problem at hand. You can just call this procedure and any command you pass will be executed. I already tested it passing more than 1 command (joined by an &) and it works perfectly. For example:

ExecuteDOSCommand('getmac & ipconfig & vol', Output);

It's an alternate way of executing a DOS command. The code is long and somewhat hard to understand, I know, but it may help you too. Just try it out. You shouldn't need to change anything, just call the procedure using your own parameters. Here's the snippet:

procedure TForm1.ExecuteDOSCommand(Command: String; Output: TStrings; TimeOut: Int64 = 0);
var
  ProcessStartupInfo: STARTUPINFO;
  SecurityAttributes: SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES;
  SecurityDescriptor: SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR;
  ProcessInformation: PROCESS_INFORMATION;
  PipeReadHandle, PipeWriteHandle: THandle;
  BytesRead, ExitCode: Cardinal;
  Buffer, UnicodeOutput: array[0..4095] of Char;
  NormalizedStr, FullOutputStr: String;
  EndingWaitTime: TDateTime;

  function IsWinNT: Boolean;
  var
    OSVerInfo: OSVERSIONINFO;
  begin
    OSVerInfo.dwOSVersionInfoSize := SizeOf(OSVerInfo);
    GetVersionEx(OSVerInfo);
    Result := OSVerInfo.dwPlatformId = VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT;
  end;

begin
  Output.Clear;

  if IsWinNT then
  begin
    InitializeSecurityDescriptor(@SecurityDescriptor, SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR_REVISION);
    SetSecurityDescriptorDacl(@SecurityDescriptor, True, nil, False);
    SecurityAttributes.lpSecurityDescriptor := @SecurityDescriptor;
  end
  else
    SecurityAttributes.lpSecurityDescriptor := nil;

  SecurityAttributes.nLength := SizeOf(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
  SecurityAttributes.bInheritHandle := True;

  if CreatePipe(PipeReadHandle, PipeWriteHandle, @SecurityAttributes, 0) then
    try
      GetStartupInfo(ProcessStartupInfo);

      with ProcessStartupInfo do
      begin
        dwFlags := STARTF_USESTDHANDLES or STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
        wShowWindow := SW_HIDE;
        hStdInput := PipeReadHandle;
        hStdOutput := PipeWriteHandle;
        hStdError := PipeWriteHandle;
      end;

      Fillchar(Buffer, SizeOf(Buffer), #0);
      GetEnvironmentVariable('ComSpec', @Buffer, SizeOf(Buffer));
      StrCat(@Buffer, PChar(' /c ' + Command));

      if CreateProcess(nil, @Buffer, nil, nil, True, CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE, nil, nil, ProcessStartupInfo, ProcessInformation) then
      begin
        CloseHandle(ProcessInformation.hThread);
        EndingWaitTime := IncMilliSecond(Now, TimeOut);

        repeat
          PeekNamedPipe(PipeReadHandle, @Buffer, SizeOf(Buffer), @BytesRead, nil, nil);

          if BytesRead > 0 then
          begin
            Fillchar(Buffer, SizeOf(Buffer), #0);
            ReadFile(PipeReadHandle, Buffer, BytesRead, BytesRead, nil);
            FillChar(UnicodeOutput, SizeOf(UnicodeOutput), #0);
            OemToChar(@Buffer, UnicodeOutput);
            NormalizedStr := StringReplace(UnicodeOutput, '♪', #13, [rfReplaceAll]);
            NormalizedStr := StringReplace(NormalizedStr, '◙', #10, [rfReplaceAll]);
            FullOutputStr := FullOutputStr + NormalizedStr;
          end;

          GetExitCodeProcess(ProcessInformation.hProcess, ExitCode);
        until ((ExitCode <> STILL_ACTIVE) and (BytesRead = 0)) or ((TimeOut > 0) and (EndingWaitTime < Now));

        CloseHandle(ProcessInformation.hProcess);
        Output.Text := FullOutputStr;
      end;
    finally
      CloseHandle(PipeReadHandle);
      CloseHandle(PipeWriteHandle);
    end;
end;

Assuming you had a button named Button1, and a memo named Memo1 on your form, you could write this Event Handler for the Button1's OnClick event. This is a practical example code of how you would use this procedure:

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  Output: TStrings;
begin
  Output := TStringList.Create;
  try    
    ExecuteDOSCommand('getmac & ipconfig & vol', Output);
    Memo1.Lines := Output;
  finally
    Output.Free;
  end;
end;

By the way, this is my "uses" clause for the current example:

uses
  Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics,
  Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, Vcl.StdCtrls, Vcl.ExtCtrls, Vcl.ComCtrls, DateUtils;

Note how I included the DateUtils unit in my "uses" clause. This is necessary for a specific function call in the snippet (IncMilliSecond(Now, TimeOut);). The rest of the "uses" varies depending on your needs.

Alex_89
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  • Perfect! @Alex_89 This is exactly what I need! My question did not mention about capturing the output but that's the next hurdle I am going to do. I am speechless of your kindness! This code is so clean that I could write the same code I do in cmd.exe. No more cracking cmd to delphi commands. Let me get back. I'll try these codes now. – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 07:43
  • Hi @Alex_89 As mentioned that I do not want to change anything, so I created a clean vcl project and ran this code separately. I encountered these 3 errors: – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 08:27
  • pas(29,54): error E2010: E2010 Incompatible types: 'TStrings' and 'Text' procedure TForm9.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); begin ExecuteDOSCommand('getmac & ipconfig & vol', Output); end; – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 08:29
  • pas(88,27): error E2003: E2003 Undeclared identifier: 'IncMilliSecond' EndingWaitTime := IncMilliSecond(Now, TimeOut); – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 08:33
  • I think the last error would be irrelevant already as it pertains to compilation. I want you to know that I've attempted several solutions but no avail. I hope this is not so basic. I am afraid so. – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 08:37
  • for the second error I've tried to declare it as var as TDateTime and Time but another errors pops in - E2066 Missing operator or semicolon. Which leads me to more confusion. – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 08:41
  • I just edited my answer with some extra code I think might get rid of the errors you mentioned before. For the first error, you're probably passing the Output parameter as Text instead of TStrings. I added a practical example to my answer of how you should address this. For the second error just include the DateUtils unit in your "uses" clause. Anyway, let me know if it helped or if you encountered any other issue. – Alex_89 Jan 15 '18 at 13:09
  • Hi @Alex_89 -- All errors now Gone! I admit I could have pushed more but probably it will eat again another 2 to 3 days to find that solutions. I am pretty sure that Output is the text one (saw it in the drill down) but I am hesitant to declare it as variable because its already declared in the procedure as TStrings, which makes more confusing to me. The DateUtils, I presumed it should be there in the uses already but if there is one needed, I have no idea as well. Thanks for making my life easy though embarrassing. I promised I will do the same to newbies in return to your goodness one day. – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 20:02
  • Ok, but from your comment I'm not sure if the 1st error was solved. In any case, if it's necessary you can modify the method's signature, turn it into a **function**, and have it return the output as a **TStrings** object, although I don't think it makes much of a difference. However, if you did that, you could avoid (for some specific cases) the overhead of having to declare a variable of type **TStrings** and pass it as an argument. If I'm not being clear, ask away. – Alex_89 Jan 15 '18 at 21:14
  • Got it! I changed it to function and no issue at all. Thanks. – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 21:43
  • However, here's where I am stucked right now. The getmac, ipconfig, vol calls don't have any issue because I suspect I can run in any folder. My commands requires a specific folder of My.exe file. I tried passing call this call to change directory ExecuteDOSCommand('cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Synergration\OpenSync', Output); but to no avail. – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 21:54
  • Here's the error message I get -- '\\Mac\Home\Delphi\BIR Report Generator\GTX\Win32\Debug' CMD.EXE was started with the above path as the current directory. UNC paths are not supported. Defaulting to Windows directory. – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 21:56
  • I think that If the path is changed directed to My.exe folder this will resolve the issue. I look at the function ExecuteDosCommand and find some clues there but really, looks so strange to me. So, I went back to my buttonclick procedure, I tried passing try command twice: My first try command to direct the directory to My.exe file and second to execute the file. – Ciodensky Jan 15 '18 at 22:04
  • Hi, @Cioden. I was looking into what you said you needed in your previous comment and I found something that might really interest you. The key line in this whole snippet is the call to CreateProcess, so with just a little bit of research you can find all the info you need on this Winapi function. Here's the MSDN link to the detailed help on this function: [link](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms682425(v=vs.85).aspx). I really encourage you to read the whole thing. It shows some pretty interesting things to work with, and I think there's a solution to your problem. – Alex_89 Jan 16 '18 at 13:50
  • The 1st parameter in this function is **lpApplicationName**, here you could pass the name of your "My.exe" app. The function looks for the executable in the same directory as the calling process by default, but if you need to provide a specific **working directory** it's as simple as passing the path you want to use as the 8th argument: **lpCurrentDirectory**. The 2nd parameter, **lpCommandLine**, can be null if you don't need to provide attributes to the app you're calling, otherwise you can separate those attributes with a space (this is in case **lpApplicationName** is not null). Try it. – Alex_89 Jan 16 '18 at 13:59
  • Hi @Alex_89. Thanks for the link and information. I will look into it right now and get back to you. I am actually on travel that's why its taking sometime to me to reply but I am really excited as always to your feedback. – Ciodensky Jan 17 '18 at 06:31
  • Hi @Alex_89. With the information you shared, I was able to run 3 tasks at the same time with no glitch in the directory i selected. Everything goes smooth. Thanks for sharing the info -- greatly appreciate it. – Ciodensky Jan 23 '18 at 07:08
  • I have updated the solution and result above for your reference. The result looks weird to me. It is not exactly what I get in CMD.exe. and the posting on MyApp TMemo is not real-time. The result comes after all the tasks are completed. I came across some real-time fixes but I get the same result. The result does not serve the purpose I want. Anybody please help. – Ciodensky Jan 23 '18 at 07:45
  • Yes, that code for executing a command is synchronous and you'd have to wait 'till it's all finished to get the results, unless you create a parallel thread or something. What exactly are you trying to execute and how do you want the results? Maybe with more info we can be of better help. – Alex_89 Jan 23 '18 at 13:09
  • I just saw your edit, I'll look into it and get back. – Alex_89 Jan 23 '18 at 13:11
  • I found this component link https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41652193/delphi-how-to-use-doscommand-component and it looks useful to my requirements. I am trying to figure out how to use this. – Ciodensky Jan 24 '18 at 23:08
  • I downloaded the component and if it works as advertised it should solve the problem you're having. Unfortunately my RAD Studio is having some issues right now and I haven't been able to test the component, but I read the code and it looks pretty well thought out to me. Hopefully you can install it, put it to work and share with us if it was actually helpful. – Alex_89 Jan 25 '18 at 14:58