Problem running a command when the path has spaces in its name.

[David Mujica]

Backgroud: I'm trying to automate the printing of PDF files. I found that by invoking

acrord32.exe /N /T pdfFile printerName

on the command line you can print PDFs silently. Great. I'm trying to automate this in VB via

Dim p As Process = New Process()
Dim pi As ProcessStartInfo = New ProcessStartInfo()
Dim command As String = Chr(34) & "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 11.0\Reader\acrord32.exe" & Chr(34) & " /N /T "

    Try

        pi.Arguments = String.Format("{0} {1} {2} {3}{4}{5}", " /C ", command, sFilename, Chr(34), sPrinter, Chr(34))

        pi.UseShellExecute = False
        pi.RedirectStandardError = True
        pi.RedirectStandardOutput = True
        pi.CreateNoWindow = True

        pi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal

        pi.FileName = "cmd.exe"
        p.StartInfo = pi

        p.Start()

        Do Until p.HasExited : Loop

        outp = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd

        Debug.Print(outp)

        outp = p.StandardError.ReadToEnd

        Debug.Print(outp)

    Catch ex As Exception
        Debug.Print(ex.Message)

    End Try

The error message I get from StdErr is

Quote:

'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I've tried putting quotes around the command string, but it just doesn't work. Turning to the community for guidance. :java:

[Dave Kreskowiak]

You have to separate the command line options from the command you're trying to execute. For your "filename", you've got:

"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Adobe\\Reader 11.0\\Reader\\acrord32.exe" /N /T

That doesn't work. Your filename and arguments must be specified separately:

Dim command As String = """C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Adobe\\Reader 11.0\\Reader\\acrord32.exe"""
Dim arguments As String = String.Format("/n /t ""{0}"" ""{1}"" ""{2}"" ""{3}""", pdfFilePath, printerName, driverName, portName)

Dim process As New Process
Dim pi As New ProcessStartInfo

pi.Filename = command
pi.Arguments = arguments
process.StartInfo = pi
process.Start

Yes, the double quotes are there for a reason. It's shorter to type "" than it is to type Chr$(34) &.

Asking questions is a skill CodeProject Forum Guidelines Google: C# How to debug code Seriously, go read these articles.
Dave Kreskowiak

[David Mujica]

Your suggestion worked perfectly. I was over-thinking the problem. I was trying to run cmd.exe and pass the acrord32.exe as a parameter. Your solution of running acrord32.exe directly worked. Thank you.