Launching external exe in MFC, how can I bring exe to front if already opened?

Answer 1

The documentation is a bit unclear, which might have been what confused you. When targetting an executable program, ShellExecute() will always launch a new process. What the documentation is referring to when it mentions restoring a minimized window is if you are targetting a document (like a Word doc), and the application registered to display the document is already running.

Your best bet is to either:

• Modify the external program to support the Singleton pattern, and to bring itself front and center if you try to launch a second copy, or
• Use FindWindow() in your MFC application to try to locate the external application, and then only run ShellExecute() if it doesn't already exist, otherwise activating the existing window.