Question

How to use the function ShellExecuteW to open an EXE file with arguments using the Win32 API in C++

Answer 1

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream> // wcerr

int wmain(int argc, wchar_t* argv[]) {
    // Path to the file (must be a wide string)
    // You can use an absolute path or a relative path
    LPCWSTR filePath = L"C:\\Windows\\System32\\notepad.exe";
    LPCWSTR fileArguments = L"C:\\temp\\file.txt";

    // Check if the file exists before trying to open it
    DWORD fileAttr = GetFileAttributesW(filePath);
    if (fileAttr == INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES || (fileAttr & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)) {
        std::wcerr << L"Error: File not found: " << filePath << std::endl;
        return 1;
    }

    // Open the file with the default associated application
    HINSTANCE result = ShellExecuteW(
        nullptr,       // No parent window
        L"open",       // Operation: "open", "print", etc.
        filePath,      // File to open
        fileArguments, // Arguments
        nullptr,       // Default directory
        SW_SHOWNORMAL  // Show window normally
    );

    // ShellExecuteW returns a value > 32 if successful
    if ((INT_PTR)result <= 32) {
        std::wcerr << L"Failed to open file. Error code: " << (INT_PTR)result << std::endl;
        return 1;
    }
}




/*
run:



*/

 

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