system() command on vista

[ekw]

Hello, ive searched many times and i cannot find a solution to my issue.
Im creating a program that starts on startup, launching programs after x seconds.
But i have an issue when i use system()

      system ("C:\\PROGRA~1\\vistaa~1\\val.exe"); //Works ok
      system ("C:\\PROGRA~1\\windows sidebar\\sidebar.exe"); //Fails to work 

when i dont use shortnames,

      system("C:\\program files\\...")

i get an error message C:\PROGRAM' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

i cant use the shortname for windows sidebar because there are 8 other's that begin with window, and window~8 doesnt work goes up to ~4

any solution other than renaming things or launching shortcuts?
Thanks for the help!

[z05DSL3A]

you could try:
system("\"C:\\program files\\...\"")

ie put \" at each end of your string.

[soldstatic]

i think you need to escape the spaces. ie
system("C:\\program files\\...")
becomes
system("C:\\program\ files\\...")

[rpgfan3233]

Grey Wolf's suggestion should work. I don't think escaped spaces shouldn't work in Windows because of the fact that '\' is the directory separator in Windows, and using the single '\' like that in C makes it think it is an escape sequence, which it isn't. In fact, gcc prints a warning when I use
system("dir C:\\Program\ Files");

Output:
test.c:5:10: warning: unknown escape sequence: '\040'

040 is the octal representation of the decimal number 32, which corresponds to the space character. Obviously that means it won't work either.

Grey Wolf's suggestion works though:
system("dir \"C:\\Program Files\"");

Output:

 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 42E9-9C76

 Directory of C:\Program Files

2008-04-27  14:47    <DIR>          .
2008-04-27  14:47    <DIR>          ..
2008-02-20  01:56    <DIR>          CCleaner
2008-01-04  19:08    <DIR>          Java
2008-04-22  21:47    <DIR>          Microsoft Office
2008-03-04  10:51    <DIR>          Notepad++
2008-03-18  19:46    <DIR>          Safari
2008-01-01  21:50    <DIR>          Skype
2008-04-20  23:49    <DIR>          The World
2008-01-02  03:27    <DIR>          Unlocker
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
              15 Dir(s)   2,040,344,576 bytes free

[ablya]

thanks.I need this.haha