opening an external program

[Tyler151]

I am tying to open a program by using the system command.
system ("C:\\Users\\someone\\Desktop\\somthing.exe");
And that works fine, but if I do something like this it will not work because of the space between Program and Files.
system ("C:\\Program Files\\something.exe");

how do I fix this?

[AceDawg45]

You could use ShellExecute, part of the Windows' Library. I assume you are fond of the WinAPI due to you posting this in Windows Forum, but you may not know what I am talking about.
Anyway, ShellExecute can open a file. So, example:

// To open a program:
ShellExecute(NULL, "open", "C://Program Files (x86)//something.exe", NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

What that will do is open the program (or according to the function, open the file). Example 2:

// This will open Notepad, using a char.
char notepad[] = "notepad.exe";
ShellExecute(NULL, "open", notepad, NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

I assume you know to include <windows.h> at the top of your file, but just in case you don't, put this at the top:
#include <windows.h>

If you need a better reference, here is a link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb762153(v=vs.85).aspx

[Tyler151]

I get this error when I tried it

error: cannot convert 'const char*' to 'LPCWSTR {aka const wchar_t*}' for argument '2' to 'HINSTANCE__* ShellExecuteW(HWND, LPCWSTR, LPCWSTR, LPCWSTR, LPCWSTR, INT)'
ShellExecute(NULL, "open", "C://Program Files (x86)//something.exe", NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

I am including windows.h
^

[AceDawg45]

ShellExecuteW(HWND, LPCWSTR, LPCWSTR, LPCWSTR, LPCWSTR, INT)'

That would be because ShellExecuteW is for wide strings, aka, wchar_t, as said in your error. You can use ShellExecuteW, and to do so, you would just change the parameters to L"", instead of just regular "". So, example time:

ShellExecuteW(NULL, L"open", L"C://Program Files (x86)//something.exe", NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

You could also use ShellExecuteA, which is just ShellExecute, except using chars. Example time 2:

ShellExecuteA(NULL, "open", "File Path To .exe File", NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

I always use A functions in windows, due to my passionate hate for wide strings.
And really (irrelevant) I don't use the WinAPI much anymore. I use cross platform stuff. But, the choice is always yours, however.

[Computergeek01]

I'd suggest "CreateProcessA()":

#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN

#include <windows.h>


struct Process_Info: public PROCESS_INFORMATION
{
public:
    Process_Info() = default;

    ~Process_Info()
    {
        CloseHandle(this->hThread);
        CloseHandle(this->hProcess);
    }
};


struct Startup: public STARTUPINFO
{
public:
    Startup(): STARTUPINFO(), cb(sizeof(Startup)) {}

    DWORD cb;
};

int main(int NumOfArgs, char* Args[])
{
     Startup si;
     Process_Info pi;

     CreateProcessA("C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe", NULL, NULL, NULL, FALSE, 0, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi);

    return 0;
}

Just another option to consider.

[Tyler151]

Thank you, using this worked!
ShellExecuteA(NULL, "open", "File Path To .exe File", NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

[AceDawg45]

Your welcome, glad to help! Just remember that WinAPI has functions for all string types (in most cases, at least). So, for CreateProcess, there is CreateProcessA, CreateProcessW... For CreateWindow: CreateWindowA, CreateWindowW, and so on