ShellExecute and get status of the other exe

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Hi I need to check if an external application is end.
I mean that I am following something like these steps:

SHELLEXECUTEINFO ShExecInfo;
...
ShExecInfo.fMask=SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS;
...
ShellExecuteEx(&ShExecInfo);   // This starts the other exe
...
WaitForSingleObject(**);

My problem is that I want to avoid to use WaitForSingleObject that locks the application. Also create a new thread only to call WaitForSingleObject does not looks a nice solution.

I already have a timer that I use to do some other stuff, and there I need to know the result of a check of the external process to know if it is running or not.
So, is there a way to check the 'status' of the given handles (comes from ShellExecuteEx)?
I mean:
ShExecInfo.hProcess
or
ShExecInfo.hInstApp

Posted 27-Oct-11 22:39pm

Russell^'

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CPallini · Answer 1 · 2011-10-27T22:48:00

Yes, there is a way:
GetExitCodeProcess[^].

Since the documentation states:

The handle must have the PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION or PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION access right. For more information, see Process Security and Access Rights.

you may use CreateProcess instead of ShellExecuteEx for asking such rights.

Russell^' · Answer 2 · 2011-10-28T00:38:00

Hi,
thanks for the info.

CreateProcess+GetExitCodeProcess works.
The following sample code looks give what expected.
The problem is only that I have not found a way to tell CreateProcess the flag PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION.
For some reason that flag was not necessary ...mmmm ... anyone knows the right way to set it?

SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR sd;
InitializeSecurityDescriptor(&sd, PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION);
SetSecurityDescriptorDacl(&sd,TRUE,(PACL) NULL,FALSE);

SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES sa;
ZeroMemory(&sa,sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES));
sa.nLength = sizeof(sa);
sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = &sd;
//sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION;
sa.bInheritHandle = FALSE;

STARTUPINFO si;
ZeroMemory(&si, sizeof(si));
si.cb = sizeof(si);

PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
ZeroMemory(&pi, sizeof(pi));

if(! CreateProcess(
			NULL,
			Msg_Exe,
			NULL,	// &sa, Generates error
			NULL,	// &sa, Generates error
			FALSE,
			0,
			NULL,
			NULL,
			&si,
			&pi
)){
	// Error
	int breakpoint;
	breakpoint=0;
}

do{
	DWORD exitCode;
	if(! GetExitCodeProcess(pi.hProcess, &exitCode)){
		// Handle error.
		int breakpoint;
		breakpoint=0;
	}else{
		if(exitCode!=STILL_ACTIVE)
			break;
		printf("Program is running\r\n");
	}
}while(1);
printf("Program is stop\r\n");

ShellExecute and get status of the other exe

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