CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsbatch-file
user34537
user34537

Reputation:

start a process in a .bat file but hide it?

I would like to launch one of my apps inside a .bat file but it is visible and taking up space in my taskbar. How do i launch the app and not have it visible?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 678

Answers (4)

npocmaka
npocmaka

Reputation: 57262

Here I've compiled all ways that I know to start a hidden process with batch without external tools.With a ready to use scripts (some of them rich on options) , and all of them form command line.Where is possible also the PID is returned .Used tools are IEXPRESS,SCHTASKS,WScript.Shell,Win32_Process and JScript.Net - but all of them wrapped in a .bat files.

Upvotes: 0

Fergal
Fergal

Reputation: 5613

If your not afraid to use Perl then this will do the trick

use Win32::GUI;
Win32::GUI::Hide(scalar(Win32::GUI::GetPerlWindow()));

Upvotes: 0

Greg Hewgill
Greg Hewgill

Reputation: 993223

Here's a utility I wrote years ago to do this:

#include <windows.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "user32.lib")

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE, HINSTANCE, LPSTR, int)
{
  const char *p = GetCommandLine();
  if (*p == '"') {
    p++;
    while (*p && *p != '"') {
      p++;
    }
    p++;
  } else {
    while (*p && *p != ' ') {
      p++;
    }
  }
  while (*p == ' ') {
    p++;
  }
  if (*p == 0) {
    MessageBox(NULL, "Usage: nocli <command>\nExecute <command> without a command prompt window.", "nocli Usage", MB_OK);
    return 1;
  }
  //if (MessageBox(NULL, p, "nocli debug", MB_OKCANCEL) != IDOK) return 1;
  STARTUPINFO si;
  ZeroMemory(&si, sizeof(si));
  si.cb = sizeof(si);
  PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
  if (CreateProcess(NULL, const_cast<char *>(p), NULL, NULL, FALSE, DETACHED_PROCESS, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi)) {
    CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
    WaitForSingleObject(pi.hProcess, INFINITE);
    DWORD exitcode;
    GetExitCodeProcess(pi.hProcess, &exitcode);
    CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
    return exitcode;
  } else {
    MessageBox(NULL, "Error executing command line", "nocli", MB_OK);
    return 1;
  }
  return 0;
}

No guarantees, but it worked for me in one situation at one time. :)

Upvotes: 2

Dave Kilian
Dave Kilian

Reputation: 1012

Assuming you want to open an application and have the DOS prompt go away immediately, use start <command> in your .bat file instead of just <command>

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions