Hide console window when gui program sends commands to a cli program? - c++

Question

In my project, I have made a GUI program that will occasionally send commands to a cli program. I do it like this:
system("folder\\program.exe -d folder\\inputFile.dat folder\\outputPath");
Obviously without those names but you get the idea. This works fine, except when my GUI program sends these commands, a command prompt window opens and does whatever the cli program is supposed to do. It looks very bad and unclean.
Is there any way I could "hide" the cli program window but still have it silently do what it needs to do?
Thanks for your time :)
EDIT: I tried olive's technique which was to use QDesktopServices and QUrl to call the program:
QDesktopServices::openUrl(QUrl("folder\\program.exe -d folder\\inputFile.dat folder\\outputPath"));
The console window isn't showing up, however, the program wasn't called at all. Are there any changes that need to be made to the path when using olive's technique rather than my original system() command?

Answer 1

I cannot determine whether you need a cross platform solution or not. On windows execution using start generally hides the command window.
system("start program.exe -d inputFile.dat outputPath");

Answer 2

I solved this problem like so:
QProcess::execute("start program.exe -d inputFile.dat outputPath");
The problem is, I can only do this once. Everytime I try to call it again, it will not work. The thing that makes this hidden is "start." Taking it out allows the console to be seen, it's just blank.
It seems like I need a way to "end" the program or whatever before running it again. (I say or whatever because I have no clue what/why adding "start" to the path does)

Answer 3

QDesktopServices::openUrl() is usually used if you wish to open a document (eg PDF document, web page) in a viewing or editing program and you're not sure which programs have been installed. This function lets the operating system choose for you from the list of default programs with respect to the file types.
Although you can also use the function to open executable files (eg console programs), an alternative to that would be using QProcess. If you don't need to communicate with the console program or wait for it to complete, you can just launch it in a fire-and-forget fashion using one of the two QProcess::startDetached() static functions
QProcess::startDetached

Answer 4

Sorry for misleading with QDesktopService::URL, later i understood that it wont accept parameter.
So implemented by improving error handling, if process not started/exited badly or waitfor the process to finish the task..I think this is useful
In QProcess, execute is blocking thread, but start is resuming the thread.
Current code is using start() API, but more or less featurewise like execute..
Code is copied from SO and modified little for the current requirements.
> Mainwindow.cpp
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "ui_mainwindow.h"
#include <QProcess>
#include <QShortcut>
#include <QDebug>
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
cameraControl = new QProcess(this);
}
MainWindow::~MainWindow()
{
delete ui;
cameraControl->close();
delete cameraControl;
}
void MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()
{
// connect the camera control finished signal to the slot that will read the exit code and
// place the std output string from the process into a label on the form
connect(cameraControl, SIGNAL(finished(int , QProcess::ExitStatus )),
this, SLOT(on_cameraControlExit(int , QProcess::ExitStatus )));
// Disable the ui button do we don't get double presses
ui->pushButton->setDisabled(true);
// setup the gphoto2 arguments list
QStringList args;
args.append("d:\\text.txt");
// start the camera control
cameraControl->start("notepad",args);
// // wait for the process to finish or 30 seconds whichever comes first
cameraControl->waitForFinished(30000);
}
void MainWindow::on_cameraControlExit(int exitCode, QProcess::ExitStatus exitStatus)
{
qDebug() << cameraControl->errorString();
qDebug() << cameraControl->readAllStandardError();
qDebug() << cameraControl->readAllStandardOutput();
ui->pushButton->setEnabled(true);
}
MainWindow.h
#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
#define MAINWINDOW_H
#include <QMainWindow>
#include <QString>
#include <QProcess>
#include <QObject>
namespace Ui {
class MainWindow;
}
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit MainWindow(QWidget *parent = 0);
~MainWindow();
void reply2();
private slots:
void on_pushButton_clicked();
void on_cameraControlExit(int exitCode, QProcess::ExitStatus exitStatus);
private:
Ui::MainWindow *ui;
QProcess* cameraControl;
};
#endif // MAINWINDOW_H
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include <QApplication>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
MainWindow w;
w.show();
return a.exec();
}

Answer 5

in your Qt program,there is a .pro file.You can add this line into the file:
config+=console