(C++/win32) How to call an external console-mode exe, without showing the console window, and optionally capturing the output?

[Petruza]

( lang: C/C++. platform: windows ) Hi, I want to do the following from my win32 app (could be mfc or whatever): 1) Call php.exe, send as command line parameter the name of a .php script to execute. 2) The console window must not show up. 3) (optional) Grab php's output. An alternative to 3) would be executing something like "php.exe script.php > temp_output.html" and then reading temp_output.html I've tried ShellExecute(), CreateProcess() and System(), all of which show the console window, and with none of them I've been able to capture the process' output. Any [ hints | tutorials | code | help ] would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Force Code]

  SECURITY\_ATTRIBUTES sa = {sizeof(sa),NULL,TRUE};
  HANDLE hProcOut = CreateFile("proc.out",GENERIC\_READ|GENERIC\_WRITE,
     FILE\_SHARE\_READ,&sa,CREATE\_ALWAYS, FILE\_ATTRIBUTE\_NORMAL, 0);
  .
  .
  .
      STARTUPINFO   si;
      ZeroMemory((PVOID)&si,sizeof(si));
      si.cb = sizeof(si);
      si.dwFlags = STARTF\_USESHOWWINDOW | STARTF\_USESTDHANDLES;
      si.wShowWindow = SW\_HIDE;
      si.hStdOutput = hProcOut;
      si.hStdError = hProcOut;

      PROCESS\_INFORMATION  pi;

      if (CreateProcess(0,cmd,0,0,TRUE,
          CREATE\_DEFAULT\_ERROR\_MODE,0,default\_dir,&si,&pi)) {

        DWORD  ExitCode;
        float elpsed\_crnt=0;

        while (1) {

          Sleep(250);

          GetExitCodeProcess(pi.hProcess,&ExitCode);
          if (bCancel || (ExitCode != STILL\_ACTIVE)) {
            if (bCancel) TerminateProcess(pi.hProcess,0);
            CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
            CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
            break;
          }

        }
      }

[Force Code]

Probably should add that whole thing is running in a seperate thread from the UI. (CreateThread, etc.)