Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - Backgrounding in XP Batch Files[moved from Web design]

alexandicity · 06-18-2009, 08:21 AM

Hi all!

I need a shortcut to start up two applications concurrently on an XP box. I think that Batch files are the way to go here.

Experimenting, I find that a file that looks like:

Code:

echo on
START notepad
notepad

works well. I run this, and two instances of Notepad appear. Note the START command; without this the batch file waits for the first notepad to complete, which is not what I wanted.

So that's all great, except I don't want to run Notepad. I want to run some obscure corporate binary instead. But, when I substitute the command names and add a needed argument (config file), it doesn't work. It waits for the first commend to complete, despite the START

Code:

echo on
START my_prog.exe config_file
 my_prog.exe config_file2

My question is: what exactly is START or the Batch interpreter waiting for when running a command via START or otherwise? Why would notepad be fine and start two instances but my binary is causing it to wait on teh first one?

Is there a better way to start two apps concurrently? Is there a way to put the application into the background (perhaps equivalent to a " &" suffix in Linux?)

Thanks a load!

06-18-2009, 08:21 AM	#1 (permalink)
alexandicity Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1 OS: Ubuntu Intrepid	Backgrounding in XP Batch Files[moved from Web design] Hi all! I need a shortcut to start up two applications concurrently on an XP box. I think that Batch files are the way to go here. Experimenting, I find that a file that looks like: Code: echo on START notepad notepad works well. I run this, and two instances of Notepad appear. Note the START command; without this the batch file waits for the first notepad to complete, which is not what I wanted. So that's all great, except I don't want to run Notepad. I want to run some obscure corporate binary instead. But, when I substitute the command names and add a needed argument (config file), it doesn't work. It waits for the first commend to complete, despite the START Code: echo on START my_prog.exe config_file my_prog.exe config_file2 My question is: what exactly is START or the Batch interpreter waiting for when running a command via START or otherwise? Why would notepad be fine and start two instances but my binary is causing it to wait on teh first one? Is there a better way to start two apps concurrently? Is there a way to put the application into the background (perhaps equivalent to a " &" suffix in Linux?) Thanks a load!