digitalmars.D.learn - capturing process output on windows

Carlos Santander B. (109/109) Apr 17 2005 What's the correct way of capturing a process output on Windows? I found...

Andrew Fedoniouk (6/6) Apr 17 2005 It should not be so complicated....

Carlos Santander B. (6/16) Apr 18 2005 Thanks for that. It seems to work. Well, sort of, I still have a couple

Unknown W. Brackets (6/10) Apr 18 2005 http://www.digitalmars.com/drn-bin/wwwnews?digitalmars.D/14470

Carlos Santander B. (6/15) Apr 18 2005 Thanks. However I'd like to do both reading and writing. What I have so

Carlos Santander B. (7/11) Apr 18 2005 It's not like it's really working on Windows, but I've uploaded it to
David Medlock (4/131) Apr 18 2005 You can get the source to DManager, which is in Delphi but uses the
Regan Heath (5/111) Apr 18 2005 I have some Win32 C code for doing just this.. I reckon I can whip it in...

Regan Heath (7/138) Apr 19 2005 As promised... Tho it should be noted that you cannot simply run "dir"

Regan Heath (3/147) Apr 19 2005 Err.. I forgot to mention the linux version of this code is _totally_
Ben Hinkle (15/20) Apr 19 2005 Cool stuff. My first thought is that it would be more standard to have

Regan Heath (8/32) Apr 19 2005 Sounds good. I wasn't really sure how it was all supposed to "hang

Georg Wrede (2/36) Apr 19 2005

Regan Heath (4/23) Apr 20 2005 :) I have actually. I started coding a new version using Ben's idea.

Regan Heath (4/27) Apr 20 2005 And here it is!

Ben Hinkle (6/9) Apr 20 2005 Sounds reasonable. It might be worth subclassing (or maybe even just

Regan Heath (11/21) Apr 20 2005 They do.. if anything I would think that std.stream.File would use

Carlos Santander B. (4/13) Apr 19 2005 Great. Thanks. Maybe this should go to Phobos? What do you guys think?

Regan Heath (6/15) Apr 19 2005 It's fine by me :)

jicman (3/19) Apr 20 2005 Well, what are you waiting for? Get at it! :-)

"Carlos Santander B." <csantander619 gmail.com> writes:

What's the correct way of capturing a process output on Windows? I found 
a piece of code on the net, and I tried it, but since I haven't worked 
with pipes before, I don't know what's going on. Anyway, here's what I'm 
trying (using the core32 library):

//-------------------------------------------
//code found in
//http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Programming_Languages/Delphi/Q_20682069.html

void main()
{
     char [] stdoutname=r"\\.\pipe\my_output_tmp",
         stderrname=r"\\.\pipe\my_error_tmp",
         stdinname=r"\\.\pipe\my_input_tmp";
     Stream fstderr, fstdout, fstdin;
     HANDLE hstderr, hstdout, hstdin;
     HANDLE outstreamhandle, errstreamhandle, instreamhandle;
     char * pOutputFile=toStringz(stdoutname), 
pInputFile=toStringz(stdinname);

     SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES SecAttrs;
     SecAttrs.nLength=SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES.sizeof;
     SecAttrs.bInheritHandle=true;

     outstreamhandle = CreateNamedPipeA(
         pOutputFile,
         PIPE_ACCESS_DUPLEX,
         PIPE_TYPE_BYTE | PIPE_WAIT,
         PIPE_UNLIMITED_INSTANCES,
         8192,
         8192,
         10000,
         &SecAttrs);

     assert(outstreamhandle!=INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);

     hstdout = CreateFileA(
         pOutputFile,
         GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
         FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
         &SecAttrs,
         CREATE_ALWAYS,
         FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY,
         null );

     assert(hstdout!=INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);

    instreamhandle= CreateNamedPipeA(
           pInputFile,
         PIPE_ACCESS_DUPLEX,
         PIPE_TYPE_BYTE | PIPE_WAIT,
         PIPE_UNLIMITED_INSTANCES,
         8192,
         8192,
         10000,
         &SecAttrs);

     assert(instreamhandle!=INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);

     hstdin = CreateFileA(
          pInputFile,
          GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
          FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
          &SecAttrs,
          OPEN_ALWAYS,
          FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY,
          null );

     assert(hstdin!=INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);

     STARTUPINFOA sui;
     sui.cb          = STARTUPINFOA.sizeof;
     sui.dwFlags     = STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW | STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
     sui.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
     sui.hStdOutput  = hstdout;
     sui.hStdInput   = hstdin;

     PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
     int res = CreateProcessA(null,
         "dir",
         null,
         null,
         true,
         CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE | REALTIME_PRIORITY_CLASS,
         null,
         null,
         &sui,
         &pi);

     DWORD size;
     size = GetFileSize(outstreamhandle, null);
     printf("%d\n", size);
     size = GetFileSize(hstdout, null);
     printf("%d\n", size);
     size = GetFileSize(instreamhandle, null);
     printf("%d\n", size);
     size = GetFileSize(hstdin, null);
     printf("%d\n", size);
     assert (size != INVALID_FILE_SIZE);

     /*
     fstdout=new BufferedFile(new File(cast(std.stream.HANDLE) 
outstreamhandle, FileMode.In | FileMode.Out ));
     foreach(char[] ln;fstdout)
         stdout.writeLine(ln);
     */

     /*
     fstdin=new BufferedFile(new File(cast(std.stream.HANDLE) 
instreamhandle, FileMode.In | FileMode.Out));
     foreach(char[] ln;fstdin)
         stdout.writeLine(ln);
     */
}
//-------------------------------------------

All asserts pass. All sizes return 0. Obviosly, even in an empty 
directory, "dir" outputs something.

Eventually, I'd like to do what's commented out.

BTW, I've never worked with pipes before on linux, but I also found some 
code to do the same, and it's unbelievably easy. When/if I get this 
Windows thing sorted out (a couple of days, maybe?) I'll release the 
code for anyone in need of it.

-- 
Carlos Santander Bernal

JP2, you'll always live in our minds

Apr 17 2005

"Andrew Fedoniouk" <news terrainformatica.com> writes:

It should not be so complicated....

Read this:
http://www.developersdomain.com/vb/articles/redirectpipe.htm
Or this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q173085/

Funny, google returns VB links mostly....

Apr 17 2005

"Carlos Santander B." <csantander619 gmail.com> writes:

Andrew Fedoniouk wrote:
 It should not be so complicated....
 
 Read this:
 http://www.developersdomain.com/vb/articles/redirectpipe.htm
 Or this:
 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q173085/
 
 Funny, google returns VB links mostly.... 
 
 

Thanks for that. It seems to work. Well, sort of, I still have a couple 
of things to check.

-- 
Carlos Santander Bernal

JP2, you'll always live in our minds

Apr 18 2005

"Unknown W. Brackets" <unknown simplemachines.org> writes:

http://www.digitalmars.com/drn-bin/wwwnews?digitalmars.D/14470
news://news.digitalmars.com:119/cscp40$pee$1 digitaldaemon.com

I posted this earlier.  It's popen for Windows, which is probably that 
"unbelievably easy" method you mentioned.  Syntax is the same, or you 
cna use the ProcessStream implementation.

-[Unknown]


 What's the correct way of capturing a process output on Windows? I found 
 a piece of code on the net, and I tried it, but since I haven't worked 
 with pipes before, I don't know what's going on. Anyway, here's what I'm 
 trying (using the core32 library):

Apr 18 2005

"Carlos Santander B." <csantander619 gmail.com> writes:

Unknown W. Brackets wrote:
 http://www.digitalmars.com/drn-bin/wwwnews?digitalmars.D/14470
 news://news.digitalmars.com:119/cscp40$pee$1 digitaldaemon.com
 
 I posted this earlier.  It's popen for Windows, which is probably that 
 "unbelievably easy" method you mentioned.  Syntax is the same, or you 
 cna use the ProcessStream implementation.
 
 -[Unknown]
 

Thanks. However I'd like to do both reading and writing. What I have so 
far works that way on linux, and is kinda buggy on Windows.

-- 
Carlos Santander Bernal

JP2, you'll always live in our minds

Apr 18 2005

"Carlos Santander B." <csantander619 gmail.com> writes:

Carlos Santander B. wrote:
 
 When/if I get this Windows thing sorted out (a couple of days,
 maybe?) I'll release the code for anyone in need of it.
 

It's not like it's really working on Windows, but I've uploaded it to 
dsource. It's in 
http://svn.dsource.org/svn/projects/walnut/downloads/some_other_things/

-- 
Carlos Santander Bernal

JP2, you'll always live in our minds

Apr 18 2005

David Medlock <nospam nospam.com> writes:

Carlos Santander B. wrote:
 What's the correct way of capturing a process output on Windows? I found 
 a piece of code on the net, and I tried it, but since I haven't worked 
 with pipes before, I don't know what's going on. Anyway, here's what I'm 
 trying (using the core32 library):
 
 //-------------------------------------------
 //code found in
 //http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Programming_Languages/De
phi/Q_20682069.html 
 
 
 void main()
 {
     char [] stdoutname=r"\\.\pipe\my_output_tmp",
         stderrname=r"\\.\pipe\my_error_tmp",
         stdinname=r"\\.\pipe\my_input_tmp";
     Stream fstderr, fstdout, fstdin;
     HANDLE hstderr, hstdout, hstdin;
     HANDLE outstreamhandle, errstreamhandle, instreamhandle;
     char * pOutputFile=toStringz(stdoutname), 
 pInputFile=toStringz(stdinname);
 
     SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES SecAttrs;
     SecAttrs.nLength=SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES.sizeof;
     SecAttrs.bInheritHandle=true;
 
     outstreamhandle = CreateNamedPipeA(
         pOutputFile,
         PIPE_ACCESS_DUPLEX,
         PIPE_TYPE_BYTE | PIPE_WAIT,
         PIPE_UNLIMITED_INSTANCES,
         8192,
         8192,
         10000,
         &SecAttrs);
 
     assert(outstreamhandle!=INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);
 
     hstdout = CreateFileA(
         pOutputFile,
         GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
         FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
         &SecAttrs,
         CREATE_ALWAYS,
         FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY,
         null );
 
     assert(hstdout!=INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);
 
    instreamhandle= CreateNamedPipeA(
           pInputFile,
         PIPE_ACCESS_DUPLEX,
         PIPE_TYPE_BYTE | PIPE_WAIT,
         PIPE_UNLIMITED_INSTANCES,
         8192,
         8192,
         10000,
         &SecAttrs);
 
     assert(instreamhandle!=INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);
 
     hstdin = CreateFileA(
          pInputFile,
          GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
          FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
          &SecAttrs,
          OPEN_ALWAYS,
          FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY,
          null );
 
     assert(hstdin!=INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);
 
     STARTUPINFOA sui;
     sui.cb          = STARTUPINFOA.sizeof;
     sui.dwFlags     = STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW | STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
     sui.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
     sui.hStdOutput  = hstdout;
     sui.hStdInput   = hstdin;
 
     PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
     int res = CreateProcessA(null,
         "dir",
         null,
         null,
         true,
         CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE | REALTIME_PRIORITY_CLASS,
         null,
         null,
         &sui,
         &pi);
 
     DWORD size;
     size = GetFileSize(outstreamhandle, null);
     printf("%d\n", size);
     size = GetFileSize(hstdout, null);
     printf("%d\n", size);
     size = GetFileSize(instreamhandle, null);
     printf("%d\n", size);
     size = GetFileSize(hstdin, null);
     printf("%d\n", size);
     assert (size != INVALID_FILE_SIZE);
 
     /*
     fstdout=new BufferedFile(new File(cast(std.stream.HANDLE) 
 outstreamhandle, FileMode.In | FileMode.Out ));
     foreach(char[] ln;fstdout)
         stdout.writeLine(ln);
     */
 
     /*
     fstdin=new BufferedFile(new File(cast(std.stream.HANDLE) 
 instreamhandle, FileMode.In | FileMode.Out));
     foreach(char[] ln;fstdin)
         stdout.writeLine(ln);
     */
 }
 //-------------------------------------------
 
 All asserts pass. All sizes return 0. Obviosly, even in an empty 
 directory, "dir" outputs something.
 
 Eventually, I'd like to do what's commented out.
 
 BTW, I've never worked with pipes before on linux, but I also found some 
 code to do the same, and it's unbelievably easy. When/if I get this 
 Windows thing sorted out (a couple of days, maybe?) I'll release the 
 code for anyone in need of it.
 


You can get the source to DManager, which is in Delphi but uses the 
Win32 API to capture output.  Look in MyUtils.pas

-David

Apr 18 2005