WScript Command - Run Minimized? (MSAccess/VBA) - ms-access

Question

I am performing a quick PING against the user-selected server IP to confirm it is reachable.
The following code does exactly what I need, except I would like to avoid the quick flash of the Command Shell window.
What do I need to modify to minimize that pesky CMD window?
SystemReachable (myIP)
If InStr(myStatus, "Reply") > 0 Then
' IP is Confirmed Reachable
Else
' IP is Not Reachable
End If
''''''''''''''''''''''
Function SystemReachable(ByVal strIP As String)
Dim oShell, oExec As Variant
Dim strText, strCmd As String
strText = ""
strCmd = "ping -n 1 -w 1000 " & strIP
Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oExec = oShell.Exec(strCmd)
Do While Not oExec.StdOut.AtEndOfStream
strText = oExec.StdOut.ReadLine()
If InStr(strText, "Reply") > 0 Then
myStatus = strText
Exit Do
Else
myStatus = ""
End If
Loop
End Function

Answer 1

This question may be a little old but I figure that this answer may still be able to help.
(Tested with Excel VBA, have not been able to test with Access)
The WshShell.Exec Method enables the use of .StdIn, .StdOut, and .StdErr functions to write to and read from the consol window.
The WshShell.Run Method does not allow this functionality so for some purposes using Exec is required.
While it's true that there is no built in function to start the Exec method minimized or hidden you can use API's to quickly find the Exec window hwnd and minize/hide it.
My below script takes the ProcessID from the Exec object to find the window's Hwnd. With the Hwnd you can then set the window's show state.
From my testing with Excel 2007 VBA, in most cases I never even see the window... In some cases it might be visible for a few milliseconds but would only appear a quick flicker or blink... Note: I had better results using SW_MINIMIZE than I did with SW_HIDE, but you can play around with it.
I added the TestRoutine Sub to show an example of how to use the 'HideWindow' function.
The 'HideWindow' function uses the 'GetHwndFromProcess' function to get the window hwnd from the ProcessID.
Place the below into a Module...
Option Explicit
' ShowWindow() Commands
Public Const SW_HIDE = 0
Public Const SW_MINIMIZE = 6
'GetWindow Constants
Public Const GW_CHILD = 5
Public Const GW_HWNDFIRST = 0
Public Const GW_HWNDLAST = 1
Public Const GW_HWNDNEXT = 2
Public Const GW_HWNDPREV = 3
Public Const GW_OWNER = 4
' API Functions
Public Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function GetWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wCmd As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
Public Declare Function GetWindowThreadProcessId Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, lpdwProcessId As Long) As Long
Sub TestRoutine()
Dim objShell As Object
Dim oExec As Object
Dim strResults As String
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oExec = objShell.Exec("CMD /K")
Call HideWindow(oExec.ProcessID)
With oExec
.StdIn.WriteLine "Ping 127.0.0.1"
.StdIn.WriteLine "ipconfig /all"
.StdIn.WriteLine "exit"
Do Until .StdOut.AtEndOfStream
strResults = strResults & vbCrLf & .StdOut.ReadLine
DoEvents
Loop
End With
Set oExec = Nothing
Debug.Print strResults
End Sub
Function HideWindow(iProcessID)
Dim lngWinHwnd As Long
Do
lngWinHwnd = GetHwndFromProcess(CLng(iProcessID))
DoEvents
Loop While lngWinHwnd = 0
HideWindow = ShowWindow(lngWinHwnd, SW_MINIMIZE)
End Function
Function GetHwndFromProcess(p_lngProcessId As Long) As Long
Dim lngDesktop As Long
Dim lngChild As Long
Dim lngChildProcessID As Long
On Error Resume Next
lngDesktop = GetDesktopWindow()
lngChild = GetWindow(lngDesktop, GW_CHILD)
Do While lngChild <> 0
Call GetWindowThreadProcessId(lngChild, lngChildProcessID)
If lngChildProcessID = p_lngProcessId Then
GetHwndFromProcess = lngChild
Exit Do
End If
lngChild = GetWindow(lngChild, GW_HWNDNEXT)
Loop
On Error GoTo 0
End Function
ShowWindow function:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms633548%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
GetWindow function:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms633515%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
GetDesktopWindow function:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms633504%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
GetWindowThreadProcessId function:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms633522%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
If you need more information on how the API's work, a quick google search will provide you with a ton of information.
I hope that this can help... Thank You.

Answer 2

Found a very workable and silent approach:
Dim strCommand as string
Dim strPing As String
strCommand = "%ComSpec% /C %SystemRoot%\system32\ping.exe -n 1 -w 500 " & myIP & " | " & "%SystemRoot%\system32\find.exe /i " & Chr(34) & "TTL=" & Chr(34)
strPing = fShellRun(strCommand)
If strPing = "" Then
MsgBox "Not Connected"
Else
MsgBox "Connected!"
End If
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Function fShellRun(sCommandStringToExecute)
' This function will accept a string as a DOS command to execute.
' It will then execute the command in a shell, and capture the output into a file.
' That file is then read in and its contents are returned as the value the function returns.
' "myIP" is a user-selected global variable
Dim oShellObject, oFileSystemObject, sShellRndTmpFile
Dim oShellOutputFileToRead, iErr
Set oShellObject = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Set oFileSystemObject = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
sShellRndTmpFile = oShellObject.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%temp%") & oFileSystemObject.GetTempName
On Error Resume Next
oShellObject.Run sCommandStringToExecute & " > " & sShellRndTmpFile, 0, True
iErr = Err.Number
On Error GoTo 0
If iErr <> 0 Then
fShellRun = ""
Exit Function
End If
On Error GoTo err_skip
fShellRun = oFileSystemObject.OpenTextFile(sShellRndTmpFile, 1).ReadAll
oFileSystemObject.DeleteFile sShellRndTmpFile, True
Exit Function
err_skip:
fShellRun = ""
oFileSystemObject.DeleteFile sShellRndTmpFile, True
End Function

Answer 3

the run method of wscript already contains argumewnts to run minimized. So without all that effort shown above simply use
old code
oShellObject.Run sCommandStringToExecute & " > " & sShellRndTmpFile, 0, True
new code
oShellObject.Run sCommandStringToExecute & " > " & sShellRndTmpFile, 7, True
see Microsoft help for using the run method in wscript.
regards
Ytracks