Hey everyone! I'm currently working on a project that is going to require access to various command line applications. Mostly in order to grab status updates from various processes that are running on the system. A sample of the command line program would be as follows:

C:\Program\Folder>System.exe -Enable "10:22:00" -Disable "10:23:00"
SYSTEM ONLINE - 11/25/2009 10:22:35 GMT
SYSTEM ONLINE - 11/25/2009 10:22:40 GMT
SYSTEM ONLINE - 11/25/2009 10:22:45 GMT
SYSTEM ONLINE - 11/25/2009 10:22:50 GMT
SYSTEM ONLINE - 11/25/2009 10:22:55 GMT
SYSTEM OFFLINE - 11/25/2009 10:23:00 GMT
SYSTEM OFFLINE - 11/25/2009 10:23:05 GMT
SYSTEM OFFLINE - 11/25/2009 10:23:10 GMT

Etc. Etc. Etc. I need to be able to grab that system status from this and other programs and return them to a GUI application in Visual C++. How can I grab the resultant output of the console as a string? I realize that many people simply dump the data to a file and then read from the file, but I'm looking for something a bit more direct. Is this even the correct way to approach the problem of grabbing status from an external process? My restrictions are that it does have to be for Windows and in Visual C++. Thanks for the help! -N. Rackley

First of all, are there any previous languages that you have learned, or is this your first one? Knowing which languages you might already use can help to direct you to decent learning resources. There are differences between C and C++. C is a standardized language. One of the major benefits of C is the fact that it does not change (as quoted from one of my CS professors). C can be compiled to many systems, and it is very, very fast. However, C also has a few drawbacks to the language. Dynamic memory is one issue (having a variable that stores strings of various sizes, for example) and requires more complex programming requiring things such as Malloc() and Free(). Another element is the fact that C is not an Object Oriented language. This is why C++ was developed. C++ is an Object Oriented language. It builds upon the basic building blocks of C and extends it quite a bit. Classes are the biggest difference, allowing to group your various functions into "objects" (hence the Object Oriented). The nice thing about C++ is that it is backwards compatible with C. All right. Resources. CPlusPlus.com is a wonderful resource. They have one of the most comprehensive sets of documentation that I've seen on C and C++ to date. Also, they have very good, detailed tutorials. You may also consider purchasing a textbook on the subject. The industry standard for C appears to be The C Programming Language by Kerrigan and Ritchie. I own both the first and second editions of this text, and I have used them extensively. Hopefully this will be of help to you. Best of luck!

Thank you, Hristo. Those resources look good (much better than my searches were yielding). I will read up on them and I will attempt to test them within GraphEdit.

Thank you for the quick response to my question! Yes, I've heard mention of DirectShow. I have tried reading some of the DirectShow documentation, but I am not exactly sure where I should get started with the API. Do you have any suggestions of resources that I should read? The regular MSDN documentation seems a bit clunky to navigate, and I'm not exactly sure what my starting point should be.

Hey everyone! I am currently working on a project that requires the capture of video from a video capture card. This video needs to be recorded for later analysis. There are many different examples online, and a few here on CodeProject, but I would really like some advice. Which API or method is the best for video capture with the requirements below? 1. Ability to select from multiple devices. In this particular case, I need support for a TV capture card or a webcam. 2. Ability to preview video in realtime. 3. Ability to record the output to a file or series of files. 4. Has to be compatible with Visual C++. Thanks for the help! -Nathan

modified on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 2:49 PM