How do I run command line "explorer /n, /select,(filename)" in c++ builder?

Question

I've tried shellexecute, I've tried createprocess, I can't seem to get this to do anything.

Running the command line manually (at the actual command prompt in a console window) works, but nothing I've tried so far will run it from within a c++ builder app.

Obviously (filename) is just a place holder. It would be given a valid file name, such as

explorer /n, /select,c:\123.doc

Answer 1

Are you using escaped backslashes in your filename? For example:;

"c:\123.doc"

should be:

"c:\\123.doc"

Edit:

  execlp("explorer", "/n, /select,c:\\foo.txt", 0)

works for me.

To avoid replacing the the current process, use spawnlp instead

Answer 2

I'm sure there's someway to make CreateProcess and ShellExecute work with this, but I suspect the simplest way to do this will be good old system, e.g. system("explorer /n, /select,c:\\123.doc").

Just because it was bugging me, I went ahead and wrote a simple program that does this with CreateProcess:

 #define UNICODE
 #include <windows.h>
 #include <string>

 void SimpleWriteConsole(std::wstring msg) {
    DWORD written = 0;
    WriteConsole( GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE),
          msg.c_str(), msg.length(), &written, NULL);
 }


 int wmain(int argc, wchar_t **argv, wchar_t **envp) {
    SimpleWriteConsole(L"Opening explorer...\n");
    std::wstring commandLine = L"explorer /n, /select,";
    if( argc < 2 ) {
       SimpleWriteConsole(L"Please include a file to select.\n");
       return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
    commandLine += argv[1];
    STARTUPINFO startupInfo;
    ZeroMemory(&startupInfo, sizeof(startupInfo));
    startupInfo.cb = sizeof(startupInfo);
    PROCESS_INFORMATION procInfo;

    if( ! CreateProcess(NULL, const_cast<wchar_t*>(commandLine.c_str()), 
             NULL, NULL, 0, 0, NULL, NULL, &startupInfo, &procInfo) ) {
       SimpleWriteConsole(L"Couldn't create process :(\n");
       return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
    CloseHandle( procInfo.hThread );
    CloseHandle( procInfo.hProcess );
    SimpleWriteConsole(L"Hooray launched explorer.\n");
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }

It takes the C:\abc.txt part as a parameter on the command line. There's no extra dos box, and doesn't eat your existing process (exec is supposed to do that, btw) and it doesn't use a deprecated API.

Answer 3

OK these replies have been useful but unfortunately they both have drawbacks which I would rather not have in my app...

execlp() causes the calling process to close.

system() shows a dos box which stays until I close the explorer window.

I am greatful for your your answers though.

I've got it to work with winexec. Even though winexec's help file says this - "Note This function is provided only for compatibility with 16-bit Windows. Applications should use the CreateProcess function." I can't get createprocess to work, so I'm going to stick with winexec for now...

WinExec(String("explorer /n, /select,"+ FileName).c_str(),SW_SHOWDEFAULT);