>>>>>>... API call rather than the DOS ... command ...
>
>Hi Ed,
>
>Sorry to sneak into this thread-
>I like what you did here, but I still have some issues when applied.
>
>A) Is there anything that can substitute for the variable cnINFINITE?
>
>In VFP3.0 the line of code =WaitInpIdle(GetCurrProc(),cnINFINITE)
>errors out with a message that the function has no ending ')'
>

It must be a problem with the hex notation; you can substitute - 1 in all likelihood.

>I did replace it with a constant to get past that concern.
>
>B) I broke a batch file down to a series of commands using your 'run and wait'
>without success - I know, the problem may be subordinate to the problem A)
>
>specifics
>Unattended Client has to run a stack of reports via query in QUEST 16-bit app.
>QUEST cannot be run simultanious with itself.
>
>Maybe using this ' run and wait ' is not the best way to run reports!
>We tried using timers - but end up with "dead time".

I don't know anything about QUEST; my guess is that you're trying to get several instances of QUEST to run at the same time, and it isn't too happy about it.

This may be a situation where using the Windows Scripting Host would be a better approach; you might well be better off launching some VBScript or JScript by invoking the WSCRIPT.EXE or CSCRIPT.EXE executable via LaunchApp and let it manage the processes in the background, or may have more luck using the Wscript.Shell automation object's Run method. You can get detailed information on the WSH (it's buiult into Win98 and Win2K, and is incorporated into IE 4 and later as well. It will run under anything but very early versions of Win95 that haven't been upgraded to Win95a (you can download the necessary SP from Microsoft), or versions of WinNT prior to SP3 (currently, NT SP5 is available, SP6 is due shortly. SP3 introduced the necessary Shell enhancements, and I'm not aware of any advantages to not applying at least SP3 to an NT 4 install.) Detailed information is available from msdn.microsoft.com/scripting; you can also download a self-installing, freely redistributable executable containing the WSH from there.