Re: run command

Yea but I hate it when something that should work doesn't and I can't figure out why. That might work. Is there a limit on string length? I mean I know system resources limit everything but I mean a certain number of chars?

Dan Freeman wrote:
You've already spent way more time on this than it should take. :-(

If something like this doesn't work for you:

StrToFile( Filetostr(lcHeaderFile) + Filetostr(lcDataFile), lcOutputFile)

then just write a .BAT file and execute *that*. With a .BAT file you could even use ECHO and PAUSE as part of the process.

Dan


"cj" <cj@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:OKs$P8cYHHA.984@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm sorry I don't really understand what your saying. Here's what I have to do.

I have a directory full of delimited data files to process. I scan through all the records after importing them into a table. After each data file is processed they need to be moved to another directory for backup/storage/proof of what we got. Problem: The owner wants a header record put on these data files. I thought I could copy a text file with only the header record in it + the data file to the backup directory and then delete the original file. Works in DOS. Can't get it to work using the run command from VFP. Can't understand why not. It appears but I'm not sure that it has to do with the fact that these file names and or directories can have spaces in them and are quite long. In DOS I put ""s around each file name but again it doesn't work in Run from VFP.

Idea #2 inspired from your message. I use strtofile to write the header out to the processed directory then copy all the records to that file. Bummer, copy to seems to overwrite the file which gets rid of my header. I've asked another question here to see if I can fix this.

Idea #3 If the above doesn't work I'll start by appending a blank record to the DB that the data files are read into. I'll then bring in the data files. Next I'll goto record 2 then scan through the file doing the processing. Last I'll copy all records to the backup file. Maybe that's best.

101 ways to do it and it's taking me forever to figure out which is best. Plus I hate it when something doesn't work and I can't figure out why but if I waste another day on this folks are going to get ticked.

Jan Bucek wrote:
I suggest to abandon old RUN command and use Wscript.Shell for example. This way you gain more control, see my test code:

******** TEST ************
clear
local lcA, lcB, lcC
lcA=FullPath([file a.txt])
lcB=FullPath([file B.txt])
lcC=FullPath([file C.txt])
StrToFile("this is file A", lcA)
StrToFile("this is file B", lcB)
erase (lcC)

mCmd=[cmd /C COPY "]+lcA+[" + "]+lcB+[" "]+lcC+["]
? mCmd

oWS=CreateObject("wscript.shell")
oWS.run(mCmd, 4, .T.)
********** ENDTEST ************

WScript.shell description:
details in http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/script56/html/6f28899c-d653-4555-8a59-49640b0e32ea.asp object.Run(strCommand, [intWindowStyle], [bWaitOnReturn])


Arguments
object WshShell object.

strCommand
String value indicating the command line you want to run. You must include any parameters you want to pass to the executable file.

intWindowStyle
Optional. Integer value indicating the appearance of the program's window. Note that not all programs make use of this information.

bWaitOnReturn
Optional. Boolean value indicating whether the script should wait for the program to finish executing before continuing to the next statement in your script. If set to true, script execution halts until the program finishes, and Run returns any error code returned by the program. If set to false (the default), the Run method returns immediately after starting the program, automatically returning 0 (not to be interpreted as an error code).

Remarks
The Run method returns an integer. The Run method starts a program running in a new Windows process. You can have your script wait for the program to finish execution before continuing. This allows you to run scripts and programs synchronously. Environment variables within the argument strCommand are automatically expanded. If a file type has been properly registered to a particular program, calling run on a file of that type executes the program. For example, if Word is installed on your computer system, calling Run on a *.doc file starts Word and loads the document. The following table lists the available settings for intWindowStyle.


intWindowStyle Description
0 Hides the window and activates another window.
1 Activates and displays a window. If the window is minimized or maximized, the system restores it to its original size and position. An application should specify this flag when displaying the window for the first time.
2 Activates the window and displays it as a minimized window.
3 Activates the window and displays it as a maximized window.
4 Displays a window in its most recent size and position. The active window remains active.
5 Activates the window and displays it in its current size and position.
6 Minimizes the specified window and activates the next top-level window in the Z order.
7 Displays the window as a minimized window. The active window remains active.
8 Displays the window in its current state. The active window remains active.
9 Activates and displays the window. If the window is minimized or maximized, the system restores it to its original size and position. An application should specify this flag when restoring a minimized window.
10 Sets the show-state based on the state of the program that started the application





cj napsal(a):
I did this

dimension inbarray[2]
inbarray[1]="cj.txt"
inbarray[2]="cj2.txt"

mfname='"c:\test\from dir\'+inbarray[i,1]+'"'
mtargname='"c:\test\from dir\to dir\'+inbarray[i,1]+'"'

mcmd='cmd /K copy "c:\test\headerfile.txt" + ' + mfname + ' ' + mtargname

MESSAGEBOX(mcmd)

run &mcmd

The cj.txt was copied and the DOS window remained open. I typed exit in the DOS window to allow the FoxPro program to continue. cj2.txt flashed open a DOS windows but it didn't remain open and the file was not copied. ??????


Jan Bucek wrote:
use "cmd /C COPY ..... " in your string
or
"cmd /K COPY ... " to force the command window to wait and show the results




cj napsal(a):
This command works fine from the dos prompt

copy "c:\test\headerfile.txt" + "c:\test\from dir\cj.txt" "c:\test\from dir\to dir\cj.txt"

Why doesn't this work in VFP 8?

dimension inbarray[2]
inbarray[1]="cj.txt"
inbarray[2]="cj2.txt"

mfname='"c:\test\from dir\'+inbarray[i,1]+'"'
mtargname='"c:\test\from dir\to dir\'+inbarray[i,1]+'"'

mcmd='copy "c:\test\headerfile.txt" + ' + mfname + ' ' + mtargname

MESSAGEBOX(mcmd)

run &mcmd

The dos screen goes so quick I can't see what it says if anything. So, I then tried this.

mcmd ='pause'
run &mcmd

It works. Dos window opens with
C:\test>pause
Press any key to continue . . .


.

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