CODEWITHSUNDEEP
batch-filecmdscriptingwindows-ce
Kumaravel Rajan
Kumaravel Rajan

Reputation: 131

Why doesn't my batch file work in Windows CE?

My script is not executing on Windows CE version 8.

I am getting a file path from the user as input, appending the filename and attempting to 'start' it.

But the @ echo off isn't considered and all commands are shown in the console when runing in the device. Also, none of the start commands nor the set /p command is run. Error is shown

@ echo off
if exist clientshutdown3.exe (
   start clientshutdown3.exe
   start ConmanClient3.exe
   start CMAccept3.exe
   start MSVSMON.EXE
 ) else (
   set /p mypath=Enter path of pdf file: 
)

if defined mypath start "" "%mypath%\clientshutdown3.exe" 
if defined mypath start "" "%mypath%\ConmanClient3.exe" 
if defined mypath start "" "%mypath%\CMAccept3.exe" 
if defined mypath start "" "%mypath%\MSVSMON.EXE"

Upvotes: 3

Views: 4189

Answers (2)

phuclv
phuclv

Reputation: 41784

According to wikipedia the console in WinCE is also cmd.exe. However they're not the same cmd.exe, so their functionality will be different

From the list of Command Processor Commands (Windows CE 5.0) on MSDN it seems Windows CE's cmd.exe is very primitive and more like command.com than Windows NT's cmd.exe. For example it doesn't support exit /B or copy /B and so on. Similarly it doesn't have set /P, set /A or set "with=quote" and supports only

SET [variable=[string]]

I've also found another detailed list of Script Commands for Windows Mobile Devices. In this list the if command is claimed to have only the below forms

if [not] errorlevel number scriptCommand 
if [not] string1==string2 command 
if [not] exist filename command 
if [not] procexists processName command

There's no if defined in this list. However the document on MSDN disagrees, as it doesn't list the strange procexists form but the IF [NOT] DEFINED variable command one

Nevertheless, both agree that if can't have an else, thus your if/else block won't work either. And even if it has if defined, the last lines in your script won't work because you used start "" which isn't available in WinCE. You must use START command [parameters] instead

In summary, you'll get issues with if/else, set /P and start "" (and possibly if defined)

Upvotes: 1

Señor CMasMas
Señor CMasMas

Reputation: 5108

The Windows CE command shell is not nearly as powerful as it's NT brothers. Set /P is not supported under CE.

The shell hasn't changed since v5. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_Compact)

Here are a list of the v5 supported commands and their parameters. http://nellisks.com/ref/dos/ce/SET.html

You can easily code this behavior up using another language if you really need to solve this using the shell.

Good luck.

Upvotes: 2

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