Hi David, I know it´s pretty tiresome playing a game in which the other guy doesn´t know the rules. Truth is, I`m just trying to learn from this forum, which I think is very good, excellent. Now, my knowledge of c++ programming is rudimentary. Not a single person was born knowing all about it, and it´s really tough being bombarded with info which I don´t know how to use, yet. Anyway, thanks to all who answered.

Hi Richard, Sorry about that. What I mean is a program which only has to be executed once,and just runs all the time doing the work it`s supposed to. I´d thought of putting it into an endless loop using "while (condition which never happens)" >> run sort of thing, but that´s not ideal. Maybe you know a different more effective way? Thanks for answering so promplty.

Hello, I´d appreciate it if anyone can tell me how to execute a dev-c++ program in the background as stand-alone. Kindest regards

Hi Pranit, Thanks a lot. I thence dowloaded the latest version and installed it.

Hi Chuck, Your reply seems just what I need. Sorry about the lack of information, it´s just lack of experience on my part. What I´m trying to do is to read an entering car´s number plate, which is done by ANPR camera and software (bought) which includes OCR,get the number plate from this program, then compare it with about 400 registered cars. If a match is found, another program sets one of the pins of the parallel port, so I´ve got to execute my 3 programs sequentially to achieve the desired result. The main program fills in a database with number plate, address and owner name, with editing facility. My second program gets the entering number plate and checks it against the forementioned list, and the third program lets the car in by opening the gate if the compare is true. Well, that´s about it. Of course, I´m struggling along trying to keep afloat, and the replies I´ve had have all pointed in the right direction, I think. If you have any suggestions at all which could help, I´ll gratefully accept. Thanks again..

Hi Pranit, Thanks for the info. Do I need a special header for ::ShellExecute, type include for devc++?

Hello, I tried to put a programme into the main one as a function, but it didn´t work. Is there a way to "call" another program from the main one? Please don´t use much technical language, as I´m only beginning. All help would be much appreciated.

Hi David, Thanks a lot. Yes I threw out the code I was trying compile, and just started anew, using suggestion from just-in-time. I still don´t know if the code actually works, but at least it´s compiled ok. Kindest regards

Thanks for kindly answering. Using your sugestion solved the problem. Thanks again, Kindest regards

Hello, I´m trying to output a byte to parallel printer port using dev-c++. I´ve included dos.h and conio.h, and I´ve put inpout32.dll in the system32 dll folder, but when I try to compile, the compiler stops at the "using system" instruction. I`m not very experienced with C programming and am feeling my way around, as yet.What I´m trying to do is to send a signal which can be read by a PLC which will in turn open an automatic barrier to let a registered vehicle in. Can anybody help me out? Many anticipated thanks Andrew