Opening an external .exe?

Question

Hi
I have a button in my Air app that, when clicked, I want to open an .exe app (unrelated program that doesn't have to communicate with my air app).
I found the following code on the Adobe site to get me started, but a) I'm not sure how to run it from my Air app after I made the .as file - NativeProcessExample(); gives me an error telling me Flash expects at least 1 argument, and I have no idea what to put in it, and b) I'm wondering if this code is too complex for what I want to acheive - is there a simpler way to open an .exe?
Thanks for taking a look - Shaun.
package
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.desktop.NativeProcess;
    import flash.desktop.NativeProcessStartupInfo;
    import flash.events.Event;
    import flash.events.ProgressEvent;
    import flash.events.IOErrorEvent;
    import flash.events.NativeProcessExitEvent;
    import flash.filesystem.File;
    public class NativeProcessExample extends Sprite
        public var process:NativeProcess;
        public function NativeProcessExample()
            if(NativeProcess.isSupported)
                setupAndLaunch();
            else
                trace("NativeProcess not supported.");
        public function setupAndLaunch():void
            var nativeProcessStartupInfo:NativeProcessStartupInfo = new NativeProcessStartupInfo();
            var file:File = File.applicationDirectory.resolvePath("test.py");
            nativeProcessStartupInfo.executable = file;
            var processArgs:Vector.<String> = new Vector.<String>();
            processArgs[0] = "foo";
            nativeProcessStartupInfo.arguments = processArgs;
            process = new NativeProcess();
            process.start(nativeProcessStartupInfo);
            process.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.STANDARD_OUTPUT_DATA, onOutputData);
            process.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.STANDARD_ERROR_DATA, onErrorData);
            process.addEventListener(NativeProcessExitEvent.EXIT, onExit);
            process.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.STANDARD_OUTPUT_IO_ERROR, onIOError);
            process.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.STANDARD_ERROR_IO_ERROR, onIOError);
        public function onOutputData(event:ProgressEvent):void
            trace("Got: ", process.standardOutput.readUTFBytes(process.standardOutput.bytesAvailable));
        public function onErrorData(event:ProgressEvent):void
            trace("ERROR -", process.standardError.readUTFBytes(process.standardError.bytesAvailable));
        public function onExit(event:NativeProcessExitEvent):void
            trace("Process exited with ", event.exitCode);
        public function onIOError(event:IOErrorEvent):void
             trace(event.toString());

Answer 1

Hi,
Please see the following Code. this is executing exe file from AIR application
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:WindowedApplication xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import air.desktop.URLFilePromise;
import mx.controls.Alert;
// this is the process
public var process:NativeProcess;
public function CallBatchWithCMD():void {
if(NativeProcess.isSupported)
Alert.show("inside if");
var os:String = Capabilities.os.substr(0,3).toLowerCase();
if(os == "win")
var nativeProcessStartupInfo:NativeProcessStartupInfo = new NativeProcessStartupInfo();
var cmd:File = new File("C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cmd.exe");
var batfile:File = new File();
batfile = File.applicationDirectory.resolvePath("permission.bat");
var args:Vector.<String> = new Vector.<String>();
args.push("/c",batfile.nativePath,"write");
nativeProcessStartupInfo.arguments = args;
nativeProcessStartupInfo.executable = cmd;
var process:NativeProcess = new NativeProcess();
process.addEventListener(NativeProcessExitEvent.EXIT, onExit);
process.addEventListener(Event.STANDARD_ERROR_CLOSE, standardErrorClose);
process.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.STANDARD_ERROR_DATA, onErrorData);
process.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.STANDARD_ERROR_IO_ERROR, onIOError);
process.addEventListener(Event.STANDARD_INPUT_CLOSE, standardInputClose);
process.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.STANDARD_INPUT_IO_ERROR, onIOError);
process.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.STANDARD_INPUT_PROGRESS, standardInputProgress);
process.addEventListener(Event.STANDARD_OUTPUT_CLOSE, standardOutpoutClose);
process.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.STANDARD_OUTPUT_DATA, onOutputData);
process.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.STANDARD_OUTPUT_IO_ERROR, onIOError);
process.start(nativeProcessStartupInfo);
protected function exitHandler(event:NativeProcessExitEvent):void
Alert.show("Execution Complete");
public function standardOutpoutClose(evt:Event):void
trace("standardOutpoutClose");
public function standardInputProgress(evt:ProgressEvent):void
trace("standardInputProgress");
public function standardInputClose(event:Event):void
trace("standardInputClose");
public function standardErrorClose(event:Event):void
trace("standardErrorClose");
public function onOutputData(event:ProgressEvent):void
trace("Got: ", process.standardOutput.readUTFBytes(process.standardOutput.bytesAvailable));
public function onErrorData(event:ProgressEvent):void
trace("ERROR -", process.standardError.readUTFBytes(process.standardError.bytesAvailable));
public function onExit(event:NativeProcessExitEvent):void
trace("Process exited with ", event.exitCode);
public function onIOError(event:IOErrorEvent):void
trace(event.toString());
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:Panel >
<mx:Button id="cmdcall" label="Call" click="CallBatchWithCMD()"/>
</mx:Panel>
</mx:WindowedApplication>
The above code, i am executing batfile from Air .
args.push("/c",batfile.nativePath,"write");   -- this line i am passing parameter to my batch file (permission.bat)
Thanks,
Mani