vba shell command executing but no output - vba

I am having some problems running a shell command and checking the output of the data. I wish to check using vba if the current remote user of the DB is Active. In
command prompt =
for /f "tokens=1-8" %a in ('quser') do #if "%d"== "Active" echo %COMPUTERNAME% %a %d
returns the users logged on and their state I wish to check that none of them are disconnected ("Disc"). I used this function to check the shell and return the pipe value as a string in a message box
Public Function ShellRun(sCmd As String) As String
'Run a shell command, returning the output as a string'
Dim oShell As Object
Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
'run command'
Dim oExec As Object
Dim oOutput As Object
Set oExec = oShell.Exec(sCmd)
Set oOutput = oExec.StdOut
Debug.Print sCmd
'handle the results as they are written to and read from the StdOut object'
Dim s As String
Dim sLine As String
While Not oOutput.AtEndOfStream
sLine = oOutput.ReadLine
If sLine <> "" Then s = s & sLine & vbCrLf
Wend
ShellRun = s
'example MsgBox ShellRun("cmd.exe /c" & "dir c:\")
End Function
Call Command used on click event
Dim CMDLineCommand As String
CMDLineCommand = "for /f ""tokens=1-8"" %a in ('quser') do #if ""%d""== ""Active"" echo %COMPUTERNAME% %a %d"
'(CMDLineCommand = "dir c:\")<------ THIS WORKS FINE
MsgBox ShellRun("cmd.exe /c " & CMDLineCommand)
This works fine for loads of command line commands I have tested it with but not query and therefore query user. The query user command works fine from command line but does not return anything when issued through a VBA Shell commands.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

because shell does not know the path of the query.exe(quesr) it does not continue where as command prompt can use system variables to find exe's. solution find the query.exe and copy it to a working directory then run the shell command. mine was located in a hashed folder within C:\Windows\WinSxS be careful as here are 64bit versions and 32 bit.

Related

manual entry in cmd window works, VBA executing CMD works, but not VBA when I use run (so I can hide the window)

SECOND EDIT/UPDATE: tried the path change recommendations, did not see any changes to the command string, still does not work. I re-wrote the code to use a fixed text file instead of a random temp file so I could monitor the contents of the file during execution. Able to conclusively show it is the
oShellObject.Run sCommandStringToExecute & " > " & sShellRndTmpFile, 0, True
code line that doesn't behave as expected. Still works with the w32tm command line, but not with the ntpq command line. With ntpq command, no changes made to the file, no error flags. I also tried out (again) the exec version of this problem where the window is supposed to flash a bit before it gets hidden programmatically. I get the expected reslut using exactly the same command string, cut and pasted into the other code. So the same command line works with manual entry into CMD, into PowerShell, and in the .exec code version, not the .run code version.
End of second edit. -------------------
EDIT: more debugging... ntpq -p works if I do .exec instead of .run, but then of course can't hid the cmd window. Extra test code at the end.
This Works: If I run these two commands in manually opened cmd window, or PowerShell window, both give the expected results.
w32tm /stripchart /computer:time.nist.gov /dataonly /samples:3 /rdtsc /period:1
ntpq -p
The second, ntpq -p, is bundled with NTP windows software from the home of the Network Time Protocol project that gives similar information to windows' w32tm when NTP is set up to look at the same time service computer as in the w32tm command.
This Doesn't work:
When I try to use these two command string when running CMD functions hidden using the classic "write to file" method shown in SO here and other places, the w32tm version gives the same results as the manual version, but the ntpq version just returns "error".
I read every single one of the recommended links for this question as well as searching OS and Google, and have not found an answer.
I am stuck on next step to troubleshoot the problem...only thing I could think of was to run the commands manually to confirm they work there. I can't imagine it being a administrator privileges issue since I can run them both in CMD line or PowerShell windows opened at normal rights level.
What should I look at next?
Here is the test code.
Option Explicit
Sub TestShellRun()
Dim sCmd As String, sReturnNTP As String
sCmd = "w32tm /stripchart /computer:time.nist.gov /dataonly /samples:3 /rdtsc /period:1 " ' /packetinfo"
sCmd = "%ComSpec% /C %SystemRoot%\system32\" & sCmd
sReturnNTP = fShellRun(sCmd) 'good return value, same as manual cmd line
Debug.Print sReturnNTP
sCmd = "ntpq -p"
sCmd = "%ComSpec% /C %SystemRoot%\system32\" & sCmd
sReturnNTP = fShellRun(sCmd) 'ERROR return value, even though manual cmd line has good values
Debug.Print sReturnNTP
End Sub
Public Function fShellRun(sCommandStringToExecute) As String
' This function will accept a string as a DOS command to execute.
' It will then execute the command in a shell, and capture the output into a file.
' That file is then read in and its contents are returned as the value the function returns.
' "myIP" is a user-selected global variable
Dim oShellObject, oFileSystemObject, sShellRndTmpFile
Dim oShellOutputFileToRead
Dim iErr As Long
Set oShellObject = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Set oFileSystemObject = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
sShellRndTmpFile = oShellObject.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%temp%") & oFileSystemObject.GetTempName
On Error Resume Next
oShellObject.Run sCommandStringToExecute & " > " & sShellRndTmpFile, 0, True
iErr = Err.Number
On Error GoTo 0
If iErr <> 0 Then
fShellRun = "error"
Exit Function
End If
On Error GoTo err_skip
fShellRun = oFileSystemObject.OpenTextFile(sShellRndTmpFile, 1).ReadAll
oFileSystemObject.DeleteFile sShellRndTmpFile, True
Exit Function
err_skip:
fShellRun = "error"
oFileSystemObject.DeleteFile sShellRndTmpFile, True
End Function
sCommand = "ntpq.exe -p"
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set WshShellExec = WshShell.Exec(sCommand)
strOutput = WshShellExec.StdOut.ReadAll
Debug.Print strOutput
Your fShellRun function didn't work due to error in temporary file path. Here is fixed version.
Function fShellRun(sCommandStringToExecute) As String
...
'invalid file path without path separator between directory path and filename!
sShellRndTmpFile = oShellObject.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%temp%") & _
oFileSystemObject.GetTempName
'valid path with path separator between directory path and filename
sShellRndTmpFile = oFileSystemObject.BuildPath( _
Environ("temp"), oFileSystemObject.GetTempName)
...
End Function

Command Line: '■c' is not recognized as an internal or external command

I am creating a simple batch file using VBA (Fileout) within an AccessDB. The file is created and contains the desired commands, but when I attempt to run the Batch file from within code or at the Command Line, I get the following error:
C:\Test>■c
'■c' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Here is the basic idea of the code I am using to create the batch file. << commands >> are replaced for purposes of this example:
Dim strCmd As String
Dim strBatchFile As String
Dim fso As Object
Dim Fileout As Object
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
strBatchFile = "C:\Test\FTP_Test.bat"
Fileout = fso.CreateTextFile(strBatchFile, True, True)
strCmd = <<command 1>> & vbCrLf
strCmd = strCmd & <<command 2>>
Fileout.Write strCmd
Fileout.Close
Shell strBatchFile
End Sub
From VBA can I specify some other filetype?

How to execute Batch File while passing parameters from Excel

I am trying run a batch file placed at a particular path. The file requires user inputs for which I want the parameters to be passed from Excel cells. This execution of the batch file within Excel should happen by usage of click command button.
I am new to VBA. I tried the following code, but on clicking the button nothing is happening.
Private Sub CommandButton2_Click()
sid = Excel.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("I8").Value
user = Excel.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("I9").Value
Password = Excel.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("I10").Value
msg = "hi"
Shell ("CMD.EXE /c C:\Users\shashank.b03\Desktop\test_CMD.bat" & sid &" "& user &" "& password &" ")
End Sub
Here is an example which I have tested and should work fine for you. It just calls the shell command and passes it a command string.
You can change the path where your batch file is in the string & if you don't want to show the shell window when you're running this use vbHide instead of vbNormalFocus.
You'll just have to change this a bit to put the cell values into the sid, user and password variables.
Hope this helps.
Dim sid As String
Dim user As String
Dim password As String
CommandString = "c:\test.bat" + " " + sid + " " + user + " " + password
Call Shell("cmd.exe /c" & CommandString, vbNormalFocus)
Here is a more basic example of using parameters and a batch file from shell.
Save the following as test.bat
set arg1=%1
echo HELLO %1!
pause
Put this code inside a button or some other component in excel;
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
Dim sid As String
sid = "Shashank"
CommandString = "c:\test.bat" + " " + sid
Call Shell("cmd.exe /c" & CommandString, vbNormalFocus)
End Sub
Make sure that the path where the batch file is saved is the same as the one in commandstring.
When this is run, you'll see the string held in the variable sid is passed to the batch file and used. You should be able to get it working from here.
Hope this helps

Getting DNS Cache in vb.net and returning domains

What's the best way to get the DNS Cache in Visual Basic and returning recently resolved domains? I only need the domains to compare them whit a list.
Function GetDnsCache()
Dim DNSCache As New Process
DNSCache.StartInfo.FileName = "ipconfig"
DNSCache.StartInfo.Arguments = "/displaydns "
DNSCache.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
DNSCache.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
DNSCache.
DNSCache.Start()
MsgBox(DNSCache.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd())
DNSCache.WaitForExit()
End Function
This is not the cleanest way of doing this and it also takes ages to parse and load.
I would do something like this. It executes ipconfig /displaydns and appends the output to a file. Then, the file is read line by line and displayed wherever you want (I've used a Listbox)
Dim Shell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Shell.run("cmd /c ipconfig /displaydns >> C:\ipconfig.txt")
Using reader As New IO.StreamReader("C:\ipconfig.txt")
While Not reader.EndOfStream
Dim currentLine As String = reader.ReadLine()
ListBox1.Items.Add(currentLine)
End While
End Using
Should you like to display the info into a MsgBox...
Dim Shell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Shell.run("cmd /c ipconfig /displaydns >> C:\ipconfig.txt")
Dim reader as As New IO.StreamReader("C:\ipconfig.txt")
MsgBox(reader.ReadToEnd.ToString, MsgBoxStyle.Information)

Execute a command in command prompt using excel VBA

I have a fixed command which i need to pass to command prompt using VBA and then the command should run.
e.g. "perl a.pl c:\temp"
following is the command i am trying to use but it just opens command prompt and doesn't run the command.
Call Shell("cmd.exe -s:" & "perl a.pl c:\temp", vbNormalFocus)
Please check.
The S parameter does not do anything on its own.
/S Modifies the treatment of string after /C or /K (see below)
/C Carries out the command specified by string and then terminates
/K Carries out the command specified by string but remains
Try something like this instead
Call Shell("cmd.exe /S /K" & "perl a.pl c:\temp", vbNormalFocus)
You may not even need to add "cmd.exe" to this command unless you want a command window to open up when this is run. Shell should execute the command on its own.
Shell("perl a.pl c:\temp")
-Edit-
To wait for the command to finish you will have to do something like #Nate Hekman shows in his answer here
Dim wsh As Object
Set wsh = VBA.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Dim waitOnReturn As Boolean: waitOnReturn = True
Dim windowStyle As Integer: windowStyle = 1
wsh.Run "cmd.exe /S /C perl a.pl c:\temp", windowStyle, waitOnReturn