>>Another way - take ShellExecute route. I would recommend to take a look into Ed Rauh class and program.
>
>After I wrote this program and take a close look, I noticed two slight problems with this code.
>1) Check for type(tcCommandLine) should be at the top of routine, because why we need to declare all these functions, if we return 0?
>2) Each call of this function declares these functions again and again. May be it's nothing, but may be at 100th call we would have a memory blown. I vaguely recall Cetin Basoz asked a question, how can we check, if function is already Declared, but I don't remember the answers, he got...

Just create an additional property on the object called lLoadedDlls.

Create a method called LoadDlls and place all your DECLARES in that method and the last thing in the method would be lLoadedDLLs = .T.

Only call LoadDlls function when lLoadedDLLs is .f. to prevent repitiously declaring the functions.

Personally, when I need to use this function, I create the object, execute the method and then destroy the object...so there's never any repititous calls made to this function.

HTH

Jon

>
>Anyway, these are two potential problems with this code.
>
>>
>>

>>********************************************************************
>>*  Description.......: LaunchAppAndWait
>>*  Calling Samples...: 
>>*  Parameter List....: 
>>*  Created by........: Ed Rauh  
>>*  Modified by.......: 
>>********************************************************************
>>FUNCTION LaunchAppAndWait
>>LPARAMETERS tcCommandLine, tuFromDir, tcWindowMode
>>
>>*     tcCommandLine               (R) - command line to launch
>>*     tuFromDir                    (O) - Run from directory (default - CWD)
>>*     tcWindowMode               (O)     - Start Application Window mode, one of (HIDE, MIN, MAX, NOR)
>>*                                          (default - default setting of application)
>>
>>*     Returns:
>>*     0 = CreateProcess didn't start what was asked
>>*     1 = Process ran to completion
>>*     -1= Process started but user aborted wait.  Danger - app is still running AFAIK
>>
>>#DEFINE cnINFINITE           0xFFFFFFFF
>>#DEFINE cnHalfASecond     500     && milliseconds
>>#DEFINE cnTimedOut          0x0102
>>
>>*     We need some API calls, declare here
>>

Remove These to the LoadDlls method:

>>*     GetCurrentProcess() returns the pseudohandle of the current process
>>DECLARE INTEGER GetCurrentProcess IN WIN32API AS GetCurrProc
>>
>>*     WaitForIdleInput() waits until the target process is idle for input
>>DECLARE INTEGER WaitForInputIdle IN WIN32API AS WaitInpIdle ;
>>     INTEGER nProcessHandle, ;
>>     INTEGER nWaitForDuration
>>
>>*     WaitForSingleObject() waits until the handle in parm 1 is signalled 
>>*     or the timeout period expires
>>DECLARE INTEGER WaitForSingleObject IN WIN32API AS WaitOnAppExit ;
>>     INTEGER hProcessHandle, ;
>>     INTEGER dwTimeOut
>>
>>*     This API call does the work.  The parameters are as follows:
>>*          lpszModuleName - ptr-> file name of module to execute.  Since we aren't launching .CPLs, do not use
>>*          lpszCommandLine - ptr-> command to execute, as passed to us
>>*          lpSecurityAttributesProcess - ptr-> SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure for Process.  Pass a null pointer
>>*          lpSecurityAttributesThread - ptr-> SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure for first thread.  Pass a null pointer
>>*          bInheritHandles - whether or not chlid inherits parent handles.  Since no SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES passed, default to FALSE
>>*          dwCreateFlags - Process Creation Mode flag set.  We use the default mode at normal priority, ie 0
>>*          lpvEnvironment     - ptr-> a set of environment strings as if a MULTI_SZ.  We don't set, so pass a null pointer
>>*          lpszStartupDir - ptr-> the starting directory.  If none provided to us, pass a null pointer
>>*          lpStartInfo - ptr-> a STARTUPINFO structure.  We use one structure member at times.
>>*          lpProcessInfo - ptr-> a PROCESS_INFORMATION structure, used to return PID/PHANDLE detail.  
>>*                              We use one member on return
>>DECLARE SHORT CreateProcess IN WIN32API AS CrPr ;
>>     STRING lpszModuleName, ;
>>     STRING @lpszCommandLine, ;
>>     STRING lpSecurityAttributesProcess, ;
>>     STRING lpSecurityAttributesThread, ;
>>     SHORT bInheritHandles, ;
>>     INTEGER dwCreateFlags, ;
>>     STRING lpvEnvironment, ;
>>     STRING lpszStartupDir, ;
>>     STRING @lpStartInfo, ;
>>     STRING @lpProcessInfo
>>
>>IF TYPE('tcCommandLine') # 'C'
>>
>>     *     Command line must be a character string
>>     RETURN 0
>>
>>ENDIF
>>IF TYPE('tuFromDir') # 'C'
>>
>>     *     If not a character string, pass a null pointer, defaulting to Current Working Dir

IF ! THIS.lLoadedDLLs
  THIS.LoadDlls()
ENDIF