DOCUMENT:Q161303  17-MAR-1997  [vbwin]
TITLE   :HOWTO: Close a Shelled Process When Finished Under Windows
PRODUCT :Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
PROD/VER:5.00
OPER/SYS:WINDOWS
KEYWORDS:kbusage vb5all vb5howto VBKBProgramming kbhowto

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual Basic Professional and Enterprise Editions,
   for Windows, version 5.0
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SUMMARY
=======

When the Visual Basic Shell command is used to execute a batch file or
MS-DOS program on Windows 95, the MS-DOS window remains open by default
when the program is finished executing. Under Windows 3.1, Windows for
Workgroups 3.11, and Windows NT 3.51, the MS-DOS window closes by default
when the program is finished executing. This article shows how to force
Windows 95 to close the MS-DOS window when the program is finished
executing.

MORE INFORMATION
================

To force Windows 95 to close the MS-DOS window, you can use the Visual
Basic Shell function with the /C option of COMMAND.COM. The /C option of
COMMAND.COM will close the MS-DOS window under Windows 95. The Visual Basic
syntax for using the /C option of COMMAND.COM to execute a MS-DOS program
is as follows where <pathname> is the path and name of the program to
execute and any command line options for it:

      h = Shell("COMMAND.COM /C <pathname>")

Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, and Windows NT 3.51 will still
behave the same way if you use the /C option of COMMAND.COM. So, you can
use this technique without having to check which operating system the
program is running on.

You may want to specify the location of COMMAND.COM using the Environ
function with the parameter "COMSPEC." This will ensure that COMMAND.COM
can be found even if it is not on the path. For example:

      h = Shell(Environ("COMSPEC") & " /C <pathname>")

Additional query words: shellexecute winexec createprocess
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Keywords            : kbusage vb5all vb5howto VBKBProgramming kbhowto
Version             : 5.00
Platform            : WINDOWS
Issue type          : kbhowto

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