ShellExecute() launch .CHM and PDF file not work in Window 7

[enhzflep]

Not sure about what it could be. As a test, I set my Acrobat to always run as admin. When I ran the code, I was just asked if I want to run Acrobat.exe or not. When controlling COM objects - e.g MS Office. This behaviour is different. I have office apps set to run as Admin, so I can write files anywhere I like. If I try to create (say) an 'Excel.Application' or 'Word.Application' object from php, C++, VB or javascript, it fails unless the calling application also has admin rights. It sure sounds interesting. (but no-fun)

[Andraw111]

So what should I do now?

[enhzflep]

Find out and tell me, so I know too! ;P (ducks and runs for cover) Nah, on a more serious note - did you try with lpOperation holding a pointer to the string "open"? I've not seen the function used like this before, I've only ever seen it used with open specified. HOWEVER - I just remembered David's comment about it being memory related earlier and thought to check-out the integer values for the error-codes. Looking into winerror.h we see the following:

#define ERROR_SUCCESS 0L #define NO_ERROR 0L #define ERROR_INVALID_FUNCTION 1L #define ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND 2L #define ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND 3L #define ERROR_TOO_MANY_OPEN_FILES 4L #define ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED 5L #define ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE 6L #define ERROR_ARENA_TRASHED 7L #define ERROR_NOT_ENOUGH_MEMORY 8L #define ERROR_INVALID_BLOCK 9L #define ERROR_BAD_ENVIRONMENT 10L #define ERROR_BAD_FORMAT 11L #define ERROR_INVALID_ACCESS 12L #define ERROR_INVALID_DATA 13L #define ERROR_OUTOFMEMORY 14L

Which makes me feel foolish for not checking earlier, then going on to ask about the "open" verb. I guess your next bet would be to trawl the net for reports of it failing with an error of 8 (ERROR_NOT_ENOUGH_MEMORY) Like I said - Interesting problem (but not a fun one) Best, Simon

[Software_Developer]

Try passing 0

handle = ShellExecute(0, NULL, strPdfFile, NULL, NULL, SW_SHOW);

or Try using 'open' instead of 'NULL'

handle = ShellExecute(NULL, "open", strPdfFile, NULL, NULL, SW_SHOW);

or both

[Software_Developer]

Try passing a 0 instead of a NULL.

HINSTANCE handle = ShellExecute(0, NULL, strPdfFile, NULL, NULL, SW_SHOW);

[Lost User]

Parameter 1 is an HWND so NULL is the correct value, and is equal to 0 so it would not have any effect. See here[^] for the full specification.

One of these days I'm going to think of a really clever signature.

[Software_Developer]

True, Windows 7 UAC (User Account Control) screws things up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Account_Control[^] says this about ShellExecute:

ShellExecute(hwnd, "runas", "C:\\Windows\\Notepad.exe", 0, 0, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

In the absence of a specific directive stating what privileges the application requests, UAC will apply heuristics, to determine whether or not the application needs administrator privileges. For example, if UAC detects that the application is a setup program, from clues such as the filename, versioning fields, or the presence of certain sequences of bytes within the executable, in the absence of a manifest it will assume that the application needs administrator privileges.

[Andraw111]

Now we have another small project also created in C++, it also launch .CHM file from help menu: void CMainFrame::LaunchHelp(CString FilePath) { SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei; sei.cbSize = sizeof(SHELLEXECUTEINFO); sei.fMask = NULL; sei.hwnd = NULL; sei.lpVerb = "open"; sei.lpFile = FilePath; sei.lpParameters= NULL; sei.nShow = SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED; sei.hInstApp = NULL; sei.lpIDList = NULL; sei.lpClass = NULL; sei.hkeyClass = NULL; sei.dwHotKey = NULL; sei.hIcon = NULL; sei.hProcess = NULL; sei.lpDirectory = NULL; int ReturnCode = ::ShellExecuteEx(&sei); switch(ReturnCode) { case ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND: AfxMessageBox("The specified file was not found."); break; case ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND: AfxMessageBox("The specified path was not found."); break; case ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED: AfxMessageBox("Access to the specified file is denied."); break; } } I works fine in Window 7, I copy this function to my application (also created in C++), but after compile and test it in Window 7, still doesn't work, do we need change some settings to make app work in Window 7? I compare the settings, the only difference are that 1: in C++ - >Code Generation -> Use run time library: I use Multithreaded DLL, they use Multlhreaded; 2: in General Microsoft Foundation Classes: I use Use MFC in a Shared Library; they use Use MFC in a Static Library. Thanks!

[Software_Developer]

The code below works and launches a helpfile in Windws 7.

#include
#include
#include

int main()
{

  SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei = {0};
  sei.cbSize = sizeof(SHELLEXECUTEINFO);
  sei.lpVerb = \_T("open");
  sei.lpFile = \_T("C:\\\\windows\\\\help.CHM");
  sei.fMask = SEE\_MASK\_INVOKEIDLIST;
  sei.nShow = SW\_SHOWDEFAULT;

  DWORD exitCode;
  int RetVal = GetExitCodeProcess(sei.hProcess, &exitCode);
  cout<<"Errorcode "<

[Charles Oppermann]

Have you initialized COM first? From the remarks section on ShellExecute()[^]:

CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED | COINIT_DISABLE_OLE1DDE)

Can you use ShellExecuteEx[^]? ShellExecuteEx is preferable in this case because you'll get better result information.

Andraw111 wrote:

I try to use system() to launch .CHM or PDF file, it works fine in both Window XP and Window 7, but it has MS-DOS black screen there, how can I let MS-DOS not shown?

The system() C runtime function would not be appropriate here, as you are a Win32 application. Try this, from a command prompt, type start myfile.chm and report on what happens. Same for Runas.

/* Charles Oppermann */ http://weblogs.asp.net/chuckop

[Charles Oppermann]

You're calling ShellExecute_**Ex**_ but testing the return value for the for SE_ERR_ values? With ShellExecuteEx[^], the return value is true/false and the more information is provided by GetLastError(). For backward compatibility, the SE_ERR_ codes are placed in hInst member of the structure. Try this instead:

SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei = { sizeof(sei) }; // Will zero out the structure, no need to set NULL on everything
sei.fMask = SEE_MASK_NOASYNC // Important when you don't have a message loop
sei.lpFile = FilePath;
sei.nShow = SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED; // Annoying to force apps to open full screen
if (false == ShellExecuteEx(&sei))
{
// Check GetLastError() here
}

/* Charles Oppermann */ http://weblogs.asp.net/chuckop

[Software_Developer]

Right, GetExitCodeProcess() likewise also gets the error code.

#include
#include
#include

int main()
{

  SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei = {0};
  sei.cbSize = sizeof(SHELLEXECUTEINFO);
  sei.lpVerb = \_T("open");
  sei.lpFile = \_T("C:\\\\windows\\\\help.CHM");
  sei.fMask = SEE\_MASK\_INVOKEIDLIST;
  sei.nShow = SW\_SHOWDEFAULT;

  DWORD exitCode;
  int RetVal = GetExitCodeProcess(sei.hProcess, &exitCode);
  cout<<"Errorcode "<

[Andraw111]

Now I cannot simply say that ::ShellExecuteEx(&sei) doesn't work in Window 7. The problem is that it doesn't work in my application created before. I have a app created using VC++ 6.0 last year, everything is fine except that I cannot open .CHM file from it. Today I create a new application in MFC in VC++ 6.0, then use the exactly same function as the old application, it can open the .CHM file without any problem. I check all the project settings for both application, they are same, why same function works in one application, but failed in another application?

[Andraw111]

Yes, you are right, ShellExecuteEx() return true or false. But still cannot solve my problem.

[Andraw111]

I check the return code by: int RetVal = GetExitCodeProcess(sei.hProcess, &exitCode); both XP and window 7 return 0.

[Charles Oppermann]

Andraw111 wrote:

Yes, you are right, ShellExecuteEx() return true or false.
But still cannot solve my problem.

Okay, but what is it returning? True or False? If false, did you check GetLastError()? What was it's value?

/* Charles Oppermann */ http://weblogs.asp.net/chuckop

[Andraw111]

Thanks for reply, it return 8. But strange thing is that if I create a brand new MFC project and use the same codes to open .CHM file, it works fine, why?

[Andraw111]

Finally I found what cause the .CHM file cannot open in Window 7. In my MFC application, I have a project setting: Link -> Output ->Reserve field, I put "0x40000000". I create a testing application, if I don't set "0x40000000" to Reserve field, it works fine, otherwise, it cannot open .CHM file in Window 7. Even I know the reason, I still cannot solve the problem, since our project is very large, if I remove that setting, when I run my application I get "XX MFC application has encountered a problem and needs to close....".

[Charles Oppermann]

I strongly suspect that COM initialization is at issue here[^]. Earlier, I mentioned that COM has to be initialized as follows:

CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED | COINIT_DISABLE_OLE1DDE)

This is why I think you're new project works and the old one doesn't. Is your old project using multithreaded COM? If so, the calls might fail. [Just saw your other post that resolves your issue. I'm posting this for other people who might encounter ShellExecute problems.]

/* Charles Oppermann */ http://weblogs.asp.net/chuckop

[Andraw111]

Ok, I will add them, thanks!