You don't need to go spelunking for processes just to get a handle to child processes that you spawn. The VB6 Shell() function returns a Process ID you can use to call OpenProcess with. CreateProcess gives you the handle directly.
Ok, here is a super-stripped-down example of a program in VB6 to spawn and monitor programs. The example is coded to start and repeatedly restart 3 copies of the command shell (trivial sample child program). It is also written to kill any running children when it is terminated, and there are better alternatives to use in most cases. See A Safer Alternative to TerminateProcess().
This demo also reports back the exit code of each process that quits. You could enter exit 1234 or somesuch to see this in action.
To create the demo open a new VB6 Project with a Form. Add a multiline TextBox Text1 and a Timer Timer1 (which is used to poll the children for completion). Paste this code into the Form:
Option Explicit
Private Const SYNCHRONIZE = &H100000
Private Const PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION = &H400&
Private Const PROCESS_TERMINATE = &H1&
Private Const WAIT_OBJECT_0 = 0
Private Const INVALID_HANDLE = -1
Private Const DEAD_HANDLE = -2
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" ( _
ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetExitCodeProcess Lib "kernel32" ( _
ByVal hProcess As Long, _
ByRef lpExitCode As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" ( _
ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, _
ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, _
ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function TerminateProcess Lib "kernel32" ( _
ByVal hProcess As Long, _
ByVal uExitCode As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" ( _
ByVal hHandle As Long, _
ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long
Private Tasks() As String
Private Handles() As Long
Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim I As Integer
'We'll run 3 copies of the command shell as an example.
ReDim Tasks(2)
ReDim Handles(2)
For I = 0 To 2
Tasks(I) = Environ$("COMSPEC") & " /k ""@ECHO I am #" & CStr(I) & """"
Handles(I) = INVALID_HANDLE
Next
Timer1.Interval = 100
Timer1.Enabled = True
End Sub
Private Sub Form_QueryUnload(Cancel As Integer, UnloadMode As Integer)
Dim I As Integer
Timer1.Enabled = False
DoEvents
For I = 0 To UBound(Tasks)
If Handles(I) <> INVALID_HANDLE And Handles(I) <> DEAD_HANDLE Then
TerminateProcess Handles(I), 666
CloseHandle Handles(I)
Handles(I) = DEAD_HANDLE
End If
Next
End Sub
Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
Dim I As Integer
Dim ExitCode As Long
Dim Pid As Long
Timer1.Enabled = False
For I = 0 To UBound(Tasks)
If Handles(I) <> INVALID_HANDLE Then
If WaitForSingleObject(Handles(I), 0) = WAIT_OBJECT_0 Then
If GetExitCodeProcess(Handles(I), ExitCode) <> 0 Then
Text1.SelText = "Task " & CStr(I) & " terminated, " _
& "exit code: " & CStr(ExitCode) _
& ", restarting task." _
& vbNewLine
Else
Text1.SelText = "Task " & CStr(I) & " terminated, " _
& "failed to retrieve exit code, error " _
& CStr(Err.LastDllError) _
& ", restarting task." _
& vbNewLine
End If
CloseHandle Handles(I)
Handles(I) = INVALID_HANDLE
End If
End If
If Handles(I) = INVALID_HANDLE Then
Pid = Shell(Tasks(I), vbNormalFocus)
If Pid <> 0 Then
Handles(I) = OpenProcess(SYNCHRONIZE _
Or PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION _
Or PROCESS_TERMINATE, 0, Pid)
If Handles(I) <> 0 Then
Text1.SelText = "Task " & CStr(I) & " started." _
& vbNewLine
Else
Text1.SelText = "Task " & CStr(I) _
& ", failed to open child process." _
& vbNewLine
Handles(I) = DEAD_HANDLE
End If
Else
Text1.SelText = "Task " & CStr(I) _
& ", failed to Shell child process." _
& vbNewLine
Handles(I) = DEAD_HANDLE
End If
End If
Next
Timer1.Enabled = True
End Sub
Hopefully this helps answer the question.
