I have program in C++ that runs great but it has different steps in it. It opens a file first then does some calculations based on the data it gets from the file. Now I'm trying to run it through matlab. I tried mex but it got too complicated because I have VS 2010 Express and MATLAB 2007b. And so mex can never find my c compiler.
I'm now trying to just run it straight from the C++ program executable file. Here's how I tried to do it:
system('C:\path\file.exe')
it would run but the command window freezes and I have to close Matlab every time to get back on track. Then I tried to double click on the executable file it self. It flashes but I can see it outputs something from my file "file could not be uploaded" which is generated by a part of my program if it cant find the file.
So then I realized it's probably because of that that caused it to not run and crash.
So I wrote a sample code to open the file first before the system command open the .exe file. I've done something like fopen('fname','r'), but nothing works. Please note that this file I'm trying to open is a .COF file.
I tried running the .exe file using debug and release modes but nothing happens. It gives no errors which means it sees the .exe file but the command line doesn't come up and matland command window freezes.
After running, it's supposed to prompt the user at the command line then take input arguments and output something...
Please help....
I am guessing that your .COF file is in a different path than what's accessible by your binary. If you can recompile, try an absolute path name, and test it first without MATLAB.
There are more thorough ways to solve this, like passing the filename to your binary as a command line argument, or to read up what the rules are for the "current directory" when you use system, but perhaps you'd be happy with the quick solution.
Related
So I have a very specific question that I realize is a bit stupid, however regardless of how I search for it, nothing really shows up.
I am aware that I can use system() to execute commands in cmd, and I am so done with writing
g++ <filename.cpp> & a.exe & del a.exe
every time I want to compile, build and then delete the exe of a c++ app. Therefore I plan on making a simple handling software using c++ to open other c++ apps. It will just take the name of the app I am trying to run and do all of the things said in the above code. My problem is, when using cmd I can write the name of the file I am running, however how can I get the name of the file if I double click?
Example would be to always open cpp files with the program I am making. Upon double click, it will open a cmd console, type the code for me and execute the program. Then when I close the program, the cmd will close. I am aware how to do all of that, except how to get the file name of the file I am opening using the program.
I have tried using different libraries and have not found anything similar or at least nothing that states of this use. I am not expecting the whole program nor do I want it, I realize it is a simple project, however I am struggling with this one part and am unable to find a solution.
I simply want to make my own starting script. Then in file explorer I right click on any .cpp file, click open with and the dialog box shows up. I click the program I have created and there I compile the .cpp file with the script of my choice, however I do not understand how to get the path from right click, open with, and using my own program. This is all withing file explorer, not within the software I am making.
The IDE I'm using is VS2010 for writing C++
I want to execute the command cmd C:\utilities\unix\tail.exe -f -n15 $(ProjectDir)Log.txt every time the program I'm coding is run from within the IDE. (This command should open a console to track changes made to the file Log.txt)
There are ways to make a command run every time the program is built, but I can't find a way to make a command run whenever the program itself is run, even if it's already built. Where or how might I be able to set that kind of thing up?
I've tried putting $(TargetPath) & C:\utilities\unix\tail.exe -f -n15 $(ProjectDir)Log.txt into the project's Properties->Debugging->Command (TargetPath is the full name of the debug executable) but VS reads the entire thing as a filename and gets confused.
You can create a file run.cmd for example next to the vcxproj file, which would contain:
%1
C:\utilities\unix\tail.exe -f -n15 %2Log.txt
And then in Properties->Debugging->Command you write:
$(ProjectDir)\run.cmd
and in Command Arguments you write:
"$(TargetPath)" "$(ProjectDir)"
I may have misspelled the macros, but you get the idea: it executes first your program and then whatever you want.
Edit: Unfortunately it works only if you start without debugging (Ctrl+F5), because otherwise the debugger tries to attach to run.cmd and complains that the format is unsupported.
I am writing a fortran program and I would like to know if it is possible to open a file from the same directory where the program itself is placed.
I am using Ubuntu 12.04 BTW.
For example, if I put the compiled program at the directory "/home/username/foo" I would like the program to open the file "/home/username/foo/bar.txt" and write "Hello!" in it.
My minimal working example is the following:
program main
implicit none
open(unit=20,file="bar.txt",action="write")
WRITE(20,*) "Hello!"
close(20)
end program main
When I compile using gfortran it opens and writes in the file "/home/username/bar.txt" no matter where I put the program file.
On the other hand, when I compile it for windows (using mingw) making a .exe file and execute it in windows it does what I want, it opens the file where the executable file is placed.
[EDIT] I just found out that if I execute the program by double clicking it, it will open the file in the program directory but when I execute it from Terminal it opens at "/home/username/", so maybe is more about the way I send the command from Terminal, currently I am doing it by the following command "/home/username/foo/myprogram".
I too am running Ubuntu 12.04 with gfortran 4.6.3, but I do not experience this. Where ever it is that I place my executable, there is bar.txt after execution.
That said, if you want a file at a specific place, then declare a character string as follows:
character(26) :: filename
filename="/home/username/foo/bar.txt"
and then open the file as
open(unit=20, file=filename)
and you are home free.
EDIT
I just noticed your edit. I imagine that you open terminal and do not cd to the location of the executable, but run the command for execution. That would indeed cause you to always have the file open in whatever folder you are currently in.
I have a compiled fortran 90 code "NewSourceID.exe"in folder E:\TROUBLESHOOT. This uses input file MAIN.IN in the same folder. I use a batch script run_sa.BAT in the same folder E:\TROUBLESHOOT to run this executable. This batch script is generated at run time by another VB code (this is a requirement and cannot be done away with) and the batch script reads as following.
"E:\TROUBLESHOOT\NewSourceID.exe" "E:\TROUBLESHOOT\MAIN.IN".
There are two scenarios
1. When I go to the folder E:\TROUBLESHOOT and double click the batch script run_sa.BAT the NewSourceID.exe runs correctly without any problem. It runs on the command prompt window showing the path C:\WINDOWS\system32\command.exe.
When I run the same from the VB script by generating the batch script at runtime I get the following error.
"
C:\Documents and Settings\epsuser\My Documents>"E:\TROUBLESHOOT\NewSourceID.exe"
"E:\TROUBLESHOOT\MAIN.IN"
forrtl: severe (29): file not found, unit 31, file C:\Documents and Settings\eps
user\My Documents\MAIN.IN
The code tries to find the input file MAIN.IN on the path C:\Documents and Settings\epsuser\My Documents\MAIN.IN which is not the correct path to look for the file.
This happened when I replaced the NewSourceID.exe with a modified one. Earlier the code used to run correctly even from the VB with the following path. C:\WINDOWS\system32\command.exe -E:\TROUBLESHOOT\run_sa.BAT. How can this be done?
Are you sure, the Fortran program NewSourceID reads the command line argument you pass to it? Especially older Fortran programs (before Fortran 2003) had no standard way to parse command line arguments. I guess, the name MAIN.IN is hardwired in the code you use, and it always uses the MAIN.IN file from the current directory. You could work around this by issuing a change directory command before executing the program. I am not very familiar with Windows, but something like
cd E:\TROUBLESHOOT
E:\TROUBLESHOOT\NewSourceID.exe
in your batch script would probably work.
Alternatively, you could implement proper command line argument parsing in your Fortran code, using the command_argument_count() and get_command_argument() functions. You would need a Fortran 2003 compiler for that.
I was wondering how to open a file other than notepad... Our prof gave us an example:
s = "notepad.exe test.txt";
system(s.c_str());
That will open a file type of "notepad.exe" and the file name of "test.txt"
Main Question:
Now, I was wondering if there was a way to open other type of files, such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Visual Studio, or 7zip.
My attempt opened something in a new cmd.exe (because of the START keyword):
fileNeededtoBeOpened = "START \"New Microsoft Office Excel Worksheet.xlsx\"";
system(fileNeededtoBeOpened.c_str());
(This code is slightly different from my original, where I'm trying to open a file from a vector...) but all I really need to know is instead of "notepad.exe" or "START" is there a different command to open different file types that aren't .txt
Also, a side note, I was reading on the internet that it wasn't safe to use system() to open files, is this correct?
I found the answer by myself... for those who are curious, here an the answers:
To open a text file: system(notepad)
To open an excel file: system(start excel)
To open a word doc file: system(start winword)
To open a 7z file: system(start 7zFM)
To open a visual studio file: system(start devenv)
I think you're confused.
System executes a command as you would on the command line (type cmd into the run prompt under start menu to get that).
So, when you type notepad.exe test.txt it's saying:
Open the program notepad.exe which is on the system path (so the
command line can find it to execute that program), and pass the
parameter test.txt to it.
Notepad itself decides what to do with test.txt, in this case it opens it.
So, you can tell it to run any command (program/executable) and pass any parameters to it in reality. If excel's on your system path, you can probably just type excel.exe to open it from your system command. Otherwise, find the location excel is installed in, and refer to it with the whole path to excel.exe and it will work fine.
For example, on my computer, executing "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" would open excel from the command line. I can pass further parameters to it by having more information (like filenames) after the Excel.exe" portion, just as you did in your notepad example. Using your system command should have equivilent behavior when that line is executed.
If you are only targeting Windows systems you can use the ShellExecuteEx function (part of the Win32 API). You can just pass a filename to it and it will launch what ever program is registered to handle that file type (just as if you opened the file from windows explorer). Documentation is available on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb762154(v=vs.85).aspx
There is some examples on Launching Applications (ShellExecute, ShellExecuteEx, SHELLEXECUTEINFO) MSDN article and lots more elsewhere around the internet.
AS the other guys mentioned , the System function only executes a cmd command, .. notepad.exe is in the system's path by default so it works directly
but for example for me if I want to open a zip file on my desktop , I'd type something like
"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7zFM.exe" Desktop\zipfile.zip
that's when I'm currently at the my user's directory [by default] , or
"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7zFM.exe" C:\Users\JiMMaR\Desktop\zipfile.zip
[where JiMMaR is my user name on windows 7]
note that this certain command works only on windows , if you are using another OS this won't work as it is
try doing a
fileNeededtoBeOpened = "\"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7zFM.exe\" C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\Desktop\zipfile.zip";
and see if that executes or not
edit:
if you cannot escape the space , then try this one
fileNeededtoBeOpened = "C:\Program~1\7-Zip\7zFM.exe C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\Desktop\zipfile.zip";
Ok, firstly - system - is a function that starts a separate process to your program. Much the same as in a command window when you type the command. The command lines you provide will be dependent on the applications you want to launch.
Now, I was wondering if there was a way to open other type of files,
such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Visual Studio, or 7zip.
Yes I would be pretty shocked if there wasn't a command line parameter you could specify to load a document in these apps at start up. (Ok not shocked, but it is pretty standard)
Does this have anything to do with c++ - not really - you need to look at references for the applications you mention and see what the command lines parameters are for them. Then craft a string and system(...) to your hearts content.