Does wscript.exe require a path to a script to work? - vba

I have written some code which runs a script using wscript.exe.
Set oShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
oShell.ShellExecute "wscript.exe", strPath2Script, , "runas", 1
Key to this is the "runas" which allows us to run as an admin. This all works fine, but I also have to have additional code elsewhere to create a script file. This seems like a waste, and I would prefer to just send in the code in the file located at strPath2Script as a parameter to wscript.
It doesn't seem like that is possible, and if I have to generate the script, so be it, but is it possible to just send code as a string into wscript.exe rather than have to provide a path to a text file which has the script code?
Thanks for any insights.
Chris

No, you can't just pass code into wscript.exe or cscript.exe. You'll have to write it to a file and pass the filename to wscript.exe or cscript.exe.

Related

How To Compress Folder-Contents in 1 Statement on Windows?

I'm attempting to zip a folder containing subfolders and items, using Windows shell CopyHere command:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb787866(v=vs.85).aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms723207(v=vs.85).aspx
Update: Note, prefer a native solution-- this is for a distributed Excel VBA tool, so bundling 3rd-party files is not ideal. And, need synchronous compression.
I can easily add a folder and its contents to the zip:
oShell.Namespace(sZipPath).CopyHere "C:\My Folder"
So we know CopyHere can process multiple objects inside a folder in 1 statement.
The problem is, the above command puts the containing-folder at the root of the zip, and it's contents inside of it. But, i don't want the containing folder-- just its contents.
The doc mentions a wildcard (option 128), but when i use a wildcard, i get an error:
oShell.Namespace(sZipPath).CopyHere "C:\My Folder\*"
The file name you specified is not valid or too long.
Perhaps there's a way to use my 1st command above, and then move the items in the zip to the root of the zip?
It would be acceptable to loop through each item in the source folder, adding one at a time to the zip. But, because CopyHere is asynchronous, each subsequent CopyHere fails if the previous CopyHere is not finished. None of the fixes work for this issue:
Comparing number of items in source-folder and destination-zip fail, because if the zip contains a folder, that counts as only 1 item (the items it contains are not counted. https://stackoverflow.com/a/16603850/209942
Waiting a while between each item works, but a timer is unacceptable: it's arbitrary. I cannot guess in advance the size or compress-time of each object.
Checking to see if the zip is locked for access failed for me. If I block my loop until the file is not locked, I still get a file-access error. https://stackoverflow.com/a/6666663/209942
Function FileIsOpen(sPathname As String) As Boolean ' true if file is open
Dim lFileNum As Long
lFileNum = FreeFile
Dim lErr As Long
On Error Resume Next
Open sPathname For Binary Access Read Write Lock Read Write As #lFileNum
lErr = Err
Close #lFileNum
On Error GoTo 0
FileIsOpen = (lErr <> 0)
End Function
Update: VBA can call shell commands synchronously (instead of creating a shell32.shell object in VBA), so if CopyHere works on command-line or PowerShell, that could be the solution. Investigating...
Automating Shell objects really isn't a viable approach as you have already discovered. The Explorer Shell doesn't really expose this capability in any other manner though, at least not before Windows Vista and then not in any fashion easily used from VB6 programs or VBA macros.
Your best bet is a 3rd party ActiveX library, but be careful about 64-bit VBA hosts where you'll need a 64-bit version of such a library.
Another option is to acquire a later copy of the zlibwapi.dll and use some VB6 wrapper code with it. This is also a 32-bit solution.
That's what Zipper & ZipWriter, Zipping from VB programs does. Considering your requirements (which for some reason includes a fear of the Timer control) you could use the synchronous ZipperSync Class. See post #4 there. That code includes a simple AddFolderToZipperSync bundling up the logic to add a folder instead of just a single file.
The downside of the synchronous class is that a large archival operation freezes your program UI until it completes. If you don't want that use the Zipper UserControl instead.
You could also take the ideas from that to write your own wrapper class.
Solution:
Windows contains another native compression utility: CreateFromDirectory at a PowerShell prompt.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.compression.zipfile.createfromdirectory(v=vs.110).aspx
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/heyscriptingguy/2015/03/09/use-powershell-to-create-zip-archive-of-folder/
This requires .Net 4.0 or later:
> Add-Type -AssemblyName System.IO.Compression
> $src = "C:\Users\v1453957\documents\Experiment\rezip\aFolder"
> $zip="C:\Users\v1453957\Documents\Experiment\rezip\my.zip"
> [io.compression.zipfile]::CreateFromDirectory($src, $zip)
Note, you may have to provide the complete pathnames-- active directory was not implicit on my machine.
The above compression is synchronous at the PowerShell prompt, as the OP requests.
Next step is executing synchronously from VBA. The solution there is the .Run method in Windows Script Host Object Model. In VBA, set a reference to that, and do the following, setting the 3rd parameter of .Run command, bWaitOnReturn to True:
Function SynchronousShell(sCmd As String)As Long
Dim oWSH As New IWshRuntimeLibrary.WshShell
ShellSynch = oWSH.Run(sCmd, 3, True)
Set oWSH = Nothing
End Function
Now call SynchronousShell, and pass it the entire compression script.
I believe the only way for this process to work is if CreateFromDirectory is executed in the same session as Add-Type.
So, we must pass the whole thing as 1 string. That is, load all 4 commands into a single sCmd variable, so that Add-Type remains associated with the subsequent CreateFromDirectory. In PowerShell syntax, you can separate them with ;
https://thomas.vanhoutte.be/miniblog/execute-multiple-powershell-commands-on-one-line/
Also, you'll want to use single-quotes instead of double-quotes, else double quotes around the strings are removed when the daisy-chained commands are passed to powershell.exe
https://stackoverflow.com/a/39801732/209942
sCmd = "ps4 Add-Type -AssemblyName System.IO.Compression; $src = 'C:\Users\v1453957\documents\Experiment\rezip\aFolder'; $zip='C:\Users\v1453957\Documents\Experiment\rezip\my.zip'; [io.compression.zipfile]::CreateFromDirectory($src, $zip)"
Solved. The above constitutes the complete solution.
Extra info: Additional comments below are for special circumstances:
Multi-version .Net environments
If a .NET < 4.0 is the active environment on your OS, then System.IO.Compression does not exist-- the Add-Type command will fail. But if your machine has the .NET 4 assemblies available, you can still do this:
Create a batch file which runs PowerShell with .Net 4. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/31279372
In your Add-Type command above, use the exact path to the .Net 4 Compression assembly. On my Win Server 2008:
Add-Type -Path "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.IO.Compression.FileSystem\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.IO.Compression.FileSystem.dll"
Portability
Turns out, on my machine, I can copy the compression dll to any folder, and make calls to the copy and it works:
Add-Type -Path "C:\MyFunnyFolder\System.IO.Compression.FileSystem.dll"
I don't know what's required to ensure this works-- it might require the full .Net 4.0 or 2.0 files to be located in their expected directories. I assume the dll makes calls to other .Net assemblies. Maybe we just got lucky with this one :)
Character Limit
Depending on the depth of our paths and filenames, character-count may be a concern. PowerShell may have a 260-character limit (not sure).
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/830473
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/f895d766-5ffb-483f-97bc-19ac446da9f8/powershell-command-size-limit?forum=winserverpowershell
Since .Run goes through the Windows shell, you also have to worry about that character limit, but at 8k+, it's a bit roomier:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20031210-00/?p=41553
https://stackoverflow.com/a/3205048/209942
Site below offers a 24k+ character method, but i've not studied it yet:
http://itproctology.blogspot.com/2013/06/handling-freakishly-long-strings-from.html
At minimum, since we can put the dll wherever we like, we can put it in a folder near C: root-- keeping our character-count down.
Update: This post shows how we can put the whole thing in a script-file, and call it with ps4.cmd. This may become my preferred answer:
.\ps4.cmd GC .\zipper.ps1 | IEX
-- depending on answer here.
CopyHere:
Re the question: can CopyHere command execute on command-line?
CopyHere can be executed directly at PowerShell prompt (code below). However, even in powershell it's asynchronous-- control returns to PowerShell prompt before the process is finished. Therefore, no solution for the OP. Here's how it's done:
> $shellapp=new-object -com shell.application
> $zippath="test.zip"
> $zipobj=$shellapp.namespace((Get-Location).Path + "\$zippath")
> $srcpath="src"
> $srcobj=$shellapp.namespace((Get-Location).Path + "\$srcpath")
> $zipobj.Copyhere($srcobj.items())

Pipe Console App to file from batch file

I have a console app (Visual Studio - VB), it runs, it does it's job.
I also have a batch file that runs the program and everything, but I want the output of my console app to also send to a text file.
This is my current batch, which creates the text file, but nothing is in it.
Start "" "C:\Users\wrossi\Desktop\NetLogOnSysInfo Solution\NetLogOnSysInfo Project\bin\Debug\NetLogOnSysInfo Project.exe" -all >>%ComputerName%.txt
Exit
Not sure if the batch is wrong, or if I should look at my program. Also, how do I define a path so I can put the output file exactly where I want it?
"C:\Users\wrossi\Desktop\
NetLogOnSysInfo Solution\NetLogOnSysInfo Project\bin\Debug\NetLogOnSysInfo Project.exe"
-all > %ComputerName%.txt
No need to use Start.
You are pretty close to what I think you want to do:
c:\console.exe > c:\output.exe
c:\console.exe or wherever the location of your console app > redirect stdout (use >> to append) c:\output.txt or wherever you want to create the text file.
Hope this helped.
Also just in case:
type stdin.txt | console.exe > stdout.txt
In the above example you can redirect an input from stdin.txt and pipe it into console.exe then redirect the output of console.exe to stdout.txt
I found one code recently after searching alot
if u wanna run .bat file in vb or c# or simply
just add this in the same manner in which i have written
here is the code
code > C:\Users\Lenovo\Desktop\output.txt
just replace word "code" with your .bat file code or command and after that the directory of output file

TCL: how to execute program using enviorment PATH variable

I've got following line in my script
exec $::env(PATH)/program.exe
In my env PATH variable I've got a directory where I've got this executable file. For example:
PATH env variable got among other this - D:\my_program\bin
I've got error:
Error:
couldn't execute C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;D:\my_program\bin;\program": no such file or directory
Any suggest how to execute .exe file using system variable like PATH in tcl?
Thanks
PS
OK, when I've create a new env variable (PATH1 - without any other paths, just one) and set .exe file path to it, it seems to work. Any solution to do with PATH (with multiple paths) excluding set D:\my_program\bin in first place?
You should simply use the Tcl library function made for this auto_execok.
Try this:
exec {*}[auto_execok program.exe]
It automatically searches the PATH and constructs the right path for using with exec.
For example, to start notepad.exe:
% auto_execok notepad.exe
C:/windows/system32/notepad.exe
% exec {*}[auto_execok notepad.exe]
To see why the {*} is needed, have a look at http://wiki.tcl.tk/765. Basically auto_execok is pretty smart and can return a list, if needed, e.g. for running start on windows, which needs the expansion to work properly with exec.

Providing input files during compilation

To run a CUDA C program we build the program and then run the binary file created from the command line as
/.prgm_bin_file
If for example the program needs some input files like for programs to image processing, I want to supply the data files or the input files at the time of compilation.
How can I do that. How the above command can be edited to give the required files.
Thanks in advance.
If your program opens data files to use for input, it's using some file I/O API to do so. For example, one possible method is to use fopen.
Just to use it as an example, if you are using fopen, it expects a filename (a character string) passed as the first parameter.
Many programs will take this filename from a the command line used to invoke the program. But there's nothing that would prevent you from hard-coding the filename:
fp=fopen("mydata", "r");
In that case, the program would always attempt to open the file mydata
But if your program is already designed to use the filename as a command line parameter, it's not clear that this is any more useful than just invoking your program that way:
./prgm_bin_file mydata

Automatically locating a file

By default AutoCAD installs a text based file called acad2010.lsp at the set location below
Dim FILE_NAME As String = "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2010\Support\acad2010.lsp"
However it my be that the user/ administrator/ or third party has changed the location of this file. Is it possible to then locate it using the following
Dim FILE_NAME As String = "C:\*\acad2010.lsp"
In other words search the entire c:\ drive for file acad2010.lsp?
If this doesn't work can you please let me know what would?
You could search for it with an FSO. It's not going to be fast however you do it but this is the fastest way I can think of.
http://www.microbion.co.uk/developers/fso.htm should give you a rough idea of how it's done.
Your solution will not work. Is not possible to locate it using *. (BTW is possible in ms-builds scripts). The only way of doing it is:
1- Create a FindFile function (check for example
http://xlvba.3.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=125)
2- Use it to locate the exact path of the file. (It could be really time
consuming)
3- From this point your code is the same...
Unfortunately, you can't use wildcards in a filepath. You have two options:
Prompt the user for the file location using the "Open File" dialog. The code to do this varies based on which Office product you are using. In Excel, you would use the Application.FindFile method (more info here).
Write your own function to search the filesystem for the file. Microsoft provides an example here.
If that file is used by internal functions of the application, the installer will have recorded a registry key for the file's location.
Open regedit.exe and search for the file name and path.
You can read a registry entry using this VBA one-liner:
CreateObject("WScript.Shell").RegRead(strRegPath)
You may need a terminating backslash on the key address, but that's a safe and simple registry access method. More details on the MSDN site:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x05fawxd%28v=vs.84%29.aspx