Execute a file by its extension and wait to finish

Problem/Question/Abstract:

Execute/open any file with the associated application, waiting until it finish.

Answer:

We will make it thanks to the function of the API ShellExecuteEx

Here the code is:

Add 'ShellApi' in the uses of your form


procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);

  procedure RunAndWaitShell(Ejecutable,
                            Argumentos:string
                            ;Visibilidad:integer);
  var
     Info:TShellExecuteInfo;
     pInfo:PShellExecuteInfo;
     exitCode:DWord;
  begin
     {Puntero a Info}
     {Pointer to Info}
     pInfo:=@Info;
     {Rellenamos Info}
     {Fill info}
     with Info do
     begin
      cbSize:=SizeOf(Info);
      fMask:=SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS;
      wnd:=Handle;
      lpVerb:=nil;
      lpFile:=PChar(Ejecutable);
      {Parametros al ejecutable}
      {Executable parameters}
      lpParameters:=Pchar(Argumentos+#0);
      lpDirectory:=nil;
      nShow:=Visibilidad;
      hInstApp:=0;
     end;
     {Ejecutamos}
     {Execute}
     ShellExecuteEx(pInfo);

     {Esperamos que termine}
     {Wait to finish}
     repeat
      exitCode := WaitForSingleObject(Info.hProcess,500);
      Application.ProcessMessages;
     until (exitCode <> WAIT_TIMEOUT);
  end;

begin
  RunAndWaitShell('c:\windows\notepad.exe','c:\autoexec.bat',Sw_ShowNormal);
end;

If we call to an executable, this it will be executed.
If we call to a non executable file, the function will execute its associate application.

For example, to open a file HTML with the default browser of the system:

RunAndWaitShell('c:\kk\registro.html', '', Sw_ShowNormal);

We can also execute and wait to finish a DOS program.

For example, this opens my DOS editor QEdit to edit the Autoexec.bat:

RunAndWaitShell('c:\discoc\tools\q.exe', 'c:\autoexec.bat', Sw_ShowNormal);