using VB to send messages to command line

[FunkyChicken]

hi there guys (+ girls)

i would like to create a small program in vb that can send a string to the command line. for example i have a text box and a button, the user enters the desired command in the text box then they click the button. the string in the text box then gets out put to a new cmd window.

for example

they enter into the text box "ping www.google.co.uk"

once i understand how this can be done i could use my program to create more sophisticated commands.

i dont mind if i even have to ouput to the Start-Run dialog e.g.

cmd /C "ping www.google.co.uk"

cheers in advance guys

P.s. i do not expect you to simply tell me the code, but pointing me in the right direction where i can learn is prefered, cheers!!

just so you guys known i aint being lazy, i have tried this

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("cmd /C ping www.google.com")

but it doesnt work

gives the error:

A first chance exception of type 'System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception' occurred in System.dll

cheers again

[converge]

hrm.. been a few years.. but... check out the 'shell' command.

[FunkyChicken]

using VB to send messages to command line

        Dim retval As Double
        retval = Shell("cmd /C ping www.google.com", vbNormalFocus)

thanks very much converge, job done :-)

Shell("cmd /C ping www.google.com", vbNormalFocus)

hell, thats all i need! cheers for that!

P.s. basically, the reason for this is that i would like to create a very simple gui for the windows version of mplayer. I use mplayer but it comes onto windows as a cli command only, now i can create a simple GUI with option for things like full screen, frame dropping, subtitles, ect..

cheers again



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MESSAGE FOR BELOW, guess this is how i use the edit, sorry TheCotMan
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[TheCotMan]

4 of Funky Chicken's posts were merges into 2 posts above.

Copy of original posts (before merging) placed in /dev/null here.

As per converge's request (see below) poop has been relocated (read, "removed") to /dev/null, leaving this conversation (minus poop) "fixed" and available.

[converge]

hey mod, no pooping in the tech thread :p

FunkyChicken, iirc I used it as a lazy tactic for making a GUI frontend to waglue back in the day. Basically have the lazy folks click through the dir boxes and radios; it simply fed the arguments to the cl binary. Other than that.. I think the last time I used it was in QBASIC. Not sure how sanctioned the tactic is, but its definately a quick fix.

[GBHis]

VBScript can do such.

argument = wscript.arguments(0)
newln = chr(13)
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.Run "%comspec% /k " & argument
objShell.SendKeys argument & newln
Rem This will leave the cmd-prompt open. (so you can actually read the output.)

put it in test.vbs and run it: "test.vbs hostname".