HOWTO: Close Shelled Process When Finished under Windows 95/98

ID: Q145701

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
Microsoft Visual Basic Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

When the Visual Basic Shell command is used to execute a batch file or MS- DOS program on Windows 95 or Windows 98, the MS-DOS window remains open by default when the program is done executing. Under Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, and Windows NT 3.51, the MS-DOS window closes by default when the program is done executing. This article shows how to force Windows 95 or Windows 98 to close the MS-DOS window when the program is done executing.

MORE INFORMATION

To force Windows 95 or Windows 98 to close the MS-DOS window you can use the Visual Basic Shell function with the /C option of COMMAND.COM. The /C option of COMMAND.COM will close the MS-DOS window under Windows 95 or Windows 98. The Visual Basic syntax for using the /C option of COMMAND.COM to execute a MS-DOS program is as follows where <pathname> is the path and name of the program to execute and any command line options for it:


   h = Shell("COMMAND.COM /C <pathname>")

Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, and Windows NT 3.51 will still behave the same if you use the /C option of COMMAND.COM. So, you can use this technique without having to check which operating system the program is running on.

Additional query words: kbVBp400 kbVBp kbDSupport kbdsd createprocess kbVBp600 properties close
on exit kbNoKeyWord kbvba kbVBp500


Keywords          : 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,6.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 25, 1999