Hi,
I have a wierd problem executing a *.bat file that
contains code to execute a perl file in windows 2000.
If I execute the *.bat file directly through windows,
the perl code launches fine.
The *.bat file contains:

(path to perl.exe) (path to perl file)file.pl < (inputfile with path) 
+> (outputfile with path)

example:

C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe C:\test.pl < C:\sometextfile.txt > C:\someresultf
+ile.txt

I call this *.bat file from within VB by using the following code:

iTask = Shell(Environ$("COMSPEC") & " /c " & sPath, vbHide)
   pHandle = OpenProcess(SYNCHRONIZE, False, iTask)
   If pHandle <> 0 Then
       WaitForSingleObject pHandle, INFINITE
       CloseHandle pHandle
   End If

' sPath is the path to the bat file.
' You can do sPath = AddBackSlash(App.Path)&"batchfile.bat"
' to create the proper path in vb
[download]

The *.bat file pops up and then immediately closes.
Any help would be greatly appreaciated :)
Thanks,
-Ajanth


Solution:
Hi everyone, thanks for all your suggestions. Here is how the problem was solved:
My main.pl script had the following lines at the beginning:

use Common;
use Output;
use Analysis;

&Output::beginlogging;


#process file line by line
while ( $record = <STDIN> )
{
etc...
[download]

When the *.bat file was executed via VB Shell() function, it couldn't find Common.pm in @INC.
To fix it, I added the following as part of the execute string in the *.bat file
-I(path to directory of modules) as a command line argument to perl
So the final string that appears in the *.bat file is:
(Assuming perl is already in the Win system PATH)

Section 1

perl -I(path to dir. of modules) (path to script)\script.pl < (path to
+ inputfile)\inputfile.txt > (path to outputfile)\outputfile.txt
[download]

In Visual Basic:
1) Let the user pick input/output files via common dialog
2) Form the string as shown in section 1
(note: my program accepts input and output files)
3) Write the string to a *.bat file
4) Execute the *.bat file via the following code:

This part goes in your general part of the vb file:>>>

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" _
   (ByVal hHandle As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" _
   (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
   
Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" _
   (ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, _
    ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long

Private Const INFINITE = -1&
Private Const SYNCHRONIZE = &H100000


This part goes in a function or subroutine:>>>

Dim iTask As Long, ret As Long, pHandle As Long

iTask = Shell(Environ$("COMSPEC") & " /c " & sPath, vbHide)
pHandle = OpenProcess(SYNCHRONIZE, False, iTask)
If pHandle <> 0 Then
     WaitForSingleObject pHandle, INFINITE
     CloseHandle pHandle
End If
[download]

You can use sPath = AddBackSlash(App.Path) & "temp.bat"
to create the path to the batch file. AddBackSlash is
a function I wrote that adds a backslash to the end of
the Path if one is necessary.

And that's it :) Now you have a VB frontend to run
all those fancy perl scripts.
-Ajanth