Pipecom conversion to BAS only (MAJOR UPDATE!)

[SpriggsySpriggs]

No. At this point, @NOVARSEG , it would be beneficial to you to try googling this yourself.

[SMcNeill]

So it works for 64 bit and not for 32 bit.  I'm trying to figure out a way without the compiler directives.

Even with the compiler directives will 64 bit EXE work on 32 bit computer?

No.

[NOVARSEG]

google is mostly armchair experts

There is much talent on this forum.  I cant seem to tap into it.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

@NOVARSEG

How do you think I learned most of what I know about C++ and WinAPI?

Google

&

 

I implore you.... Do some research on Google and the MSDN. IT WORKS

[Pete]

DUCKDUCKGO

This message brought to as a public service message from people who don't want a bunch of communists running the planet.

In regard to talent on this forum, I agree, but a lot of that talent is being used on the pursuit of personal projects and work; so there isn't always the time or inclination to teach or contribute everything needed for a novice in a particular area. What I have always seen is people who make an effort, but get stuck at some point, they can usually just post what they have and more than likely, get the advice and help needed to move forward.

I've only done maybe four or five routines to date in Win API. That's enough to get me started, to know where to look, and if I get stuck on something, I would probably get helped by Zach, Dav, or someone else who has worked with something similar. The other thing is, this is a QB64 forum, and although QB64 can take advantage of other languages, not everyone here is an expert, or experienced, in those other languages, at least not to the degree they are in Qb64.

[Dav]

While people are sharing places to learn/research windows api, I thought Id share a resource that has helped me for many years. The site is outdated now, but most api's listed come with great short examples in VB that helped me learn and get them going in QB64: http://allapi.mentalis.org/apilist/apilist.php.

Hey,@Pete, ever used startpage? Its been around a long time too, like duckduckgo (which i also use) , doesnt get much mention for some odd reason.  I get good results when searching for programming examples. My browser likes it.

- Dav

[SpriggsySpriggs]

pipecom is a cross-platform utility for directly obtaining console output in Windows, Mac, and Linux. Previously, one would need to use files.

Below is the current state of pipecom and some basic usage:

For those of you who only need the console output for a given command:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. Print pipecom_lite("dir")

If you want exit code, stdout (the output one sees on a successful console app run), and stderr (the output one sees when the console command/app has failed execution):

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. Dim As Long exit_code
2. Dim As String cmd, stdout, stderr
3. cmd = "dir /b *.bas"
4. exit_code = pipecom(cmd, stdout, stderr)
5. If stderr <> "" Then
6.     Print stderr
7. Else
8.     Print stdout
9. End If
10.  

And the full include:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. $If PIPECOM = UNDEFINED Then
2.     $Let PIPECOM = TRUE
3.     Function pipecom& (cmd As String, stdout As String, stderr As String)
4.         stdout = "": stderr = ""
5.         $If WIN Then
6.             Type SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES
7.                 As Long nLength
8.                 $If 64BIT Then
9.                     As Long padding
10.                 $End If
11.                 As _Offset lpSecurityDescriptor
12.                 As Long bInheritHandle
13.                 $If 64BIT Then
14.                     As Long padding2
15.                 $End If
16.             End Type
17.  
18.             Type STARTUPINFO
19.                 As Long cb
20.                 $If 64BIT Then
21.                     As Long padding
22.                 $End If
23.                 As _Offset lpReserved, lpDesktop, lpTitle
24.                 As Long dwX, dwY, dwXSize, dwYSize, dwXCountChars, dwYCountChars, dwFillAttribute, dwFlags
25.                 As Integer wShowWindow, cbReserved2
26.                 $If 64BIT Then
27.                     As Long padding2
28.                 $End If
29.                 As _Offset lpReserved2, hStdInput, hStdOutput, hStdError
30.             End Type
31.  
32.             Type PROCESS_INFORMATION
33.                 As _Offset hProcess, hThread
34.                 As Long dwProcessId
35.                 $If 64BIT Then
36.                     As Long padding
37.                 $End If
38.             End Type
39.  
40.             Const STARTF_USESTDHANDLES = &H00000100
41.             Const CREATE_NO_WINDOW = &H8000000
42.  
43.             Const INFINITE = 4294967295
44.             Const WAIT_FAILED = &HFFFFFFFF
45.  
46.             Declare CustomType Library
47.                 Function CreatePipe%% (ByVal hReadPipe As _Offset, Byval hWritePipe As _Offset, Byval lpPipeAttributes As _Offset, Byval nSize As Long)
48.                 Function CreateProcess%% Alias "CreateProcessA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As _Offset, Byval lpCommandLine As _Offset, Byval lpProcessAttributes As _Offset, Byval lpThreadAttributes As _Offset, Byval bInheritHandles As Integer, Byval dwCreationFlags As Long, Byval lpEnvironment As _Offset, Byval lpCurrentDirectory As _Offset, Byval lpStartupInfor As _Offset, Byval lpProcessInformation As _Offset)
49.                 Function GetExitCodeProcess%% (ByVal hProcess As _Offset, Byval lpExitCode As _Offset)
50.                 Sub HandleClose Alias "CloseHandle" (ByVal hObject As _Offset)
51.                 Function ReadFile%% (ByVal hFile As _Offset, Byval lpBuffer As _Offset, Byval nNumberOfBytesToRead As Long, Byval lpNumberOfBytesRead As _Offset, Byval lpOverlapped As _Offset)
52.                 Function WaitForSingleObject& (ByVal hHandle As _Offset, Byval dwMilliseconds As Long)
53.             End Declare
54.  
55.             Dim As _Byte ok: ok = 1
56.             Dim As _Offset hStdOutPipeRead, hStdOutPipeWrite, hStdReadPipeError, hStdOutPipeError
57.             Dim As SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES sa: sa.nLength = Len(sa): sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = 0: sa.bInheritHandle = 1
58.  
59.             If CreatePipe(_Offset(hStdOutPipeRead), _Offset(hStdOutPipeWrite), _Offset(sa), 0) = 0 Then
60.                 pipecom = -1
61.                 Exit Function
62.             End If
63.  
64.             If CreatePipe(_Offset(hStdReadPipeError), _Offset(hStdOutPipeError), _Offset(sa), 0) = 0 Then
65.                 pipecom = -1
66.                 Exit Function
67.             End If
68.  
69.             Dim As STARTUPINFO si
70.             si.cb = Len(si)
71.             si.dwFlags = STARTF_USESTDHANDLES
72.             si.hStdError = hStdOutPipeError
73.             si.hStdOutput = hStdOutPipeWrite
74.             si.hStdInput = 0
75.             Dim As PROCESS_INFORMATION procinfo
76.             Dim As _Offset lpApplicationName
77.             Dim As String fullcmd: fullcmd = "cmd /c " + cmd + Chr$(0)
78.             Dim As String lpCommandLine: lpCommandLine = fullcmd
79.             Dim As _Offset lpProcessAttributes, lpThreadAttributes
80.             Dim As Integer bInheritHandles: bInheritHandles = 1
81.             Dim As Long dwCreationFlags: dwCreationFlags = CREATE_NO_WINDOW
82.             Dim As _Offset lpEnvironment, lpCurrentDirectory
83.             ok = CreateProcess(lpApplicationName, _Offset(lpCommandLine), lpProcessAttributes, lpThreadAttributes, bInheritHandles, dwCreationFlags, lpEnvironment, lpCurrentDirectory, _Offset(si), _Offset(procinfo))
84.  
85.             If ok = 0 Then
86.                 pipecom = -1
87.                 Exit Function
88.             End If
89.  
90.             HandleClose hStdOutPipeWrite
91.             HandleClose hStdOutPipeError
92.  
93.             Dim As String buf: buf = Space$(4096 + 1)
94.             Dim As Long dwRead
95.             While ReadFile(hStdOutPipeRead, _Offset(buf), 4096, _Offset(dwRead), 0) <> 0 And dwRead > 0
96.                 buf = Mid$(buf, 1, dwRead)
97.                 GoSub RemoveChr13
98.                 stdout = stdout + buf
99.                 buf = Space$(4096 + 1)
100.             Wend
101.  
102.             While ReadFile(hStdReadPipeError, _Offset(buf), 4096, _Offset(dwRead), 0) <> 0 And dwRead > 0
103.                 buf = Mid$(buf, 1, dwRead)
104.                 GoSub RemoveChr13
105.                 stderr = stderr + buf
106.                 buf = Space$(4096 + 1)
107.             Wend
108.  
109.             Dim As Long exit_code, ex_stat
110.             If WaitForSingleObject(procinfo.hProcess, INFINITE) <> WAIT_FAILED Then
111.                 If GetExitCodeProcess(procinfo.hProcess, _Offset(exit_code)) Then
112.                     ex_stat = 1
113.                 End If
114.             End If
115.  
116.             HandleClose hStdOutPipeRead
117.             HandleClose hStdReadPipeError
118.             If ex_stat = 1 Then
119.                 pipecom = exit_code
120.             Else
121.                 pipecom = -1
122.             End If
123.  
124.             Exit Function
125.  
126.             RemoveChr13:
127.             Dim As Long j
128.             j = InStr(buf, Chr$(13))
129.             Do While j
130.                 buf = Left$(buf, j - 1) + Mid$(buf, j + 1)
131.                 j = InStr(buf, Chr$(13))
132.             Loop
133.             Return
134.         $Else
135.             Declare CustomType Library
136.             Function popen%& (cmd As String, readtype As String)
137.             Function feof& (ByVal stream As _Offset)
138.             Function fgets$ (str As String, Byval n As Long, Byval stream As _Offset)
139.             Function pclose& (ByVal stream As _Offset)
140.             End Declare
141.  
142.             Declare Library
143.             Function WEXITSTATUS& (ByVal stat_val As Long)
144.             End Declare
145.  
146.             Dim As String pipecom_buffer
147.             Dim As _Offset stream
148.  
149.             Dim buffer As String * 4096
150.             If _FileExists("pipestderr") Then
151.             Kill "pipestderr"
152.             End If
153.             stream = popen(cmd + " 2>pipestderr", "r")
154.             If stream Then
155.             While feof(stream) = 0
156.             If fgets(buffer, 4096, stream) <> "" And feof(stream) = 0 Then
157.             stdout = stdout + Mid$(buffer, 1, InStr(buffer, Chr$(0)) - 1)
158.             End If
159.             Wend
160.             Dim As Long status, exit_code
161.             status = pclose(stream)
162.             exit_code = WEXITSTATUS(status)
163.             If _FileExists("pipestderr") Then
164.             Dim As Integer errfile
165.             errfile = FreeFile
166.             Open "pipestderr" For Binary As #errfile
167.             If LOF(errfile) > 0 Then
168.             stderr = Space$(LOF(errfile))
169.             Get #errfile, , stderr
170.             End If
171.             Close #errfile
172.             Kill "pipestderr"
173.             End If
174.             pipecom = exit_code
175.             Else
176.             pipecom = -1
177.             End If
178.         $End If
179.     End Function
180.  
181.     Function pipecom_lite$ (cmd As String)
182.         Dim As Long a
183.         Dim As String stdout, stderr
184.         a = pipecom(cmd, stdout, stderr)
185.         If stderr <> "" Then
186.             pipecom_lite = stderr
187.         Else
188.             pipecom_lite = stdout
189.         End If
190.     End Function
191. $End If

[SpriggsySpriggs]

Alright, the bug is fixed. Download and run, my minions!

[SpriggsySpriggs]

I've updated pipecom to be $NOPREFIX compatible and use precompiler checks to make sure you don't have issues including it if it is already $INCLUDEd somewhere else in your code.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

Fixed a bug (from copying and pasting) where a variable wasn't declared.

[George McGinn]

I have this version of pipecom. I am running this on Linux.

I have a program using Zenity as my GUI. I execute pipecom (not the lite one) as I need to know what stderr and stdout is. My program loops and does the Form a second time, based on the selection of the user.

However, pipecom is returning an exit_code of 2, which is causing me headaches.

If I execute pipecom more than once, do I need to kill it before executing it again?

Why would it work correctly the first time through the code and then not any subsequent times?

I have verified that it is not an issue with Zenity (As I executed my commands in the terminal and using SHELL in the program and it works fine).

UPDATE: I've decided to only use pipecom when I am retrieving data from a form. All else I am using the SHELL statement, which works.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

Try using _CLIPBOARD$ to capture the second call and paste it in your terminal

[George McGinn]

I'll take a look at that. Thanks.

Try using _CLIPBOARD$ to capture the second call and paste it in your terminal

[SpriggsySpriggs]

I have fixed a bug, mentioned by @George McGinn , that would cause stdout and stderr to be accumulated if reusing the variables for the call. I'm clearing out stdout and stderr before running the code which shouldn't cause this. I'd never experienced this because I was never making multiple calls per code.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

Updated pipecom to fix some typos and some incorrect variable declarations. So far, I don't notice any change in behavior so you might not have to download the latest version unless you absolutely want to.