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smarty
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Posted: December 25 2015 at 09:30 | IP Logged Quote smarty
Low priority feature request...

It would be more asthetically pleasing if the ph_run() command could have the ability to run "silently", so as to NOT have a shell window open (even if it is open for just a quick flash).

I use a number of small command line utilities to perform certain tasks...not having the shell flash on/off the screen would be a nice addition.

Utilities that I use include:
telenet
display.exe
nircmd.exe
cURL.exe

Just a possible suggestion....

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dhoward
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Posted: January 04 2016 at 20:43 | IP Logged Quote dhoward
Steve,

I've made a note to my todo list to look into this.

I'll keep you posted.

Dave.
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gg102
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Posted: January 25 2016 at 10:00 | IP Logged Quote gg102
Hi Smarty,
Sorry for not responding sooner, I've been "away" for a while.

There is another way to run a .BAT silently.

Rather than doing this:
ph_run("c:\MyDirectory\myfunction.bat")

Do this:
ph_runscript_0 ( 100, "c:\MyDirectory\myfunction.vbs", "" )


Your .VBS code will be like this: (you can cut and paste this as a template)

'----------------------
' msgbox("About to run the MyFunction .BAT program silently in the background")
'
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
'
'REM Now, run the .bat hidden....
WshShell.Run "c:\MyDirectory\myfunction.bat", 0
' All done
'----------------------

You MIGHT see a window pop up and then it will disappear quickly. This depends on how fast your system and video system works. Usually, you'll not see anything.

Please remember that when running an external process outside of PH, the functiuon will be asynchronous to PH, and you might run into a timing issue. To retrieve data, I use the PH utility "FileMon" to determine when a file is ready to use. Just be sure to have a "JUMP if (ph_fileexists( "c:\MyDirectory\myfunction.txt" )=1,1,999)" in your code or you could end up processing a file that has just been deleted.

Just my humble thoughts...
Your mileage may vary.

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smarty
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Posted: January 25 2016 at 15:36 | IP Logged Quote smarty
Thank you for the suggestion....I will give this a look and try..

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dhoward
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Posted: January 25 2016 at 22:37 | IP Logged Quote dhoward
gg,

Appreciate you chiming in on this. Hadnt thought of
this method before but after taking a quick look
definitely seems like a reasonable option (I'll still
look to see if I can do this from within a PH
function).

Below is a sample based upon gg's code that may make
it a little more straightforward:

ph_executescript(-1,"",'CreateObject("Wscript.Shell").Run "yourbatchfile.bat", 0, True')

No need to create the vbs file and just a single line
to execute. In my testing, it did not popup a command
window.

Let me know how it works for you.

Dave.


Edited by dhoward - January 25 2016 at 22:40
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gg102
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Posted: January 26 2016 at 09:45 | IP Logged Quote gg102
Hi Dave,

You offer a much simpler method.

I tried your sggestion and discovered that it remains synchronous. Using your method, the function waits until the external .BAT completes. My method starts a new thread and allows PH to continue.

So, I guess it depends on how a programmer wants to handle an external process.

For myself, I don't like suspending a main thread waiting for an external process to complete JIC something bad happens/crashes. While your method does have a timeout option, PH would be suspended until the timeout hits.

Both methods work.




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Resolute
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Posted: February 03 2016 at 23:14 | IP Logged Quote Resolute
Hey Smarty

Below is a sub that spawns a silent windows process. Just pass a command string to the sub (this one queries a hue light for its status). I
had to add the quotes with the chr() function because of cURL's needs. The process runs silently as a windows process (not in a command
window). If you need to pass responses back, the best way is to output the process to a file (below it uses the -o option in cURL), then
read the file back into the script using the filesystem object, then pass that back to PH via the calling function, or directly to PH using
a ph.xxx function (my preference).

(This is all contained in a VBS function library file called by a ph_runscript_n function)


Execute ("curl.exe -o huestatus.txt -H " & chr(34) & chr(32) & "Accept: application/json" & chr(34) & chr(32) &
"http://192.168.0.197/api/pwrhomeuser/lights/" + LightID)


Sub Execute(Command)
     Const HIDDEN_WINDOW = 0
     strComputer = "."
     Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
     Set objStartup = objWMIService.Get("Win32_ProcessStartup")
     Set objConfig = objStartup.SpawnInstance_
     objConfig.ShowWindow = HIDDEN_WINDOW
     Set objProcess = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2:Win32_Process")
     objProcess.Create Command, null, objConfig, intProcessID
End Sub

Enjoy!

Edited by Resolute - February 03 2016 at 23:25
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smarty
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Posted: March 06 2016 at 23:25 | IP Logged Quote smarty
Many thanks!


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Baumgardner
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Posted: October 08 2017 at 02:54 | IP Logged Quote Baumgardner
gg102 wrote:
Hi Dave,

You offer a much simpler method.

I
review/">recently tried phenq and discovered that it
remains
synchronous. Using your method, the function waits until
the external .BAT completes. My method starts a new
thread and allows PH to continue.

So, I guess it depends on how a programmer wants to
handle an external process.

For myself, I don't like suspending a main thread waiting
for an external process to complete JIC something bad
happens/crashes. While your method does have a timeout
option, PH would be suspended until the timeout hits.

Both methods work.






This helped me a lot too Resolute. Thanks for sharing!

Edited by Baumgardner - January 29 2025 at 04:40
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Resolute
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Posted: July 05 2018 at 10:08 | IP Logged Quote Resolute
Update to silent process sub: Not sure how this got posted without the "Set [object] = nothing" lines, sorry!! Without those cleanup
lines it is unpredictable what effects it will have on the system over time, especially with those like myself that poll the hue bridge
for all lights and groups every 2 seconds!

Here it is with the changes:

Sub Execute(Command)
     Const HIDDEN_WINDOW = 0
     strComputer = "."
     Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
     Set objStartup = objWMIService.Get("Win32_ProcessStartup")
     Set objConfig = objStartup.SpawnInstance_
     objConfig.ShowWindow = HIDDEN_WINDOW
     Set objProcess = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2:Win32_Process")
     objProcess.Create Command, null, objConfig, intProcessID
     Set objProcess = nothing
     Set objConfig = nothing
     Set objStartup = nothing
     Set objWMIService = nothing
End Sub

Enjoy!
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Villaria 03
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Posted: July 04 2022 at 15:40 | IP Logged Quote Villaria 03
Thanks for sharing helpful details. It helped me solve
problems.


Edited by Villaria 03 - July 27 2022 at 03:28

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