Oracle 11g on CITRIX ( windows 2008 R2 ) OS batch file call fails

Question

Hello Sir/Madam,
I've been using HOST built-in to invoke a command window to call another application from my oracle application form. The application is GFS Forms 6i on Oracle 11g db w/ XP OS. This logic works.
--XP OS logic:
declare
cmd varchar2(200);
url varchar2(200) := 'C:\PROGRA~1\ADVANT~1\GFS\start_grids_with_coords_pd.bat';
location1 varchar2(100);
location2 varchar2(100);
     begin
          go_block('GAS_SERVICES');
     location1 := substr(:gas_services.location_coord, 1, 5);
     location2 := substr(:gas_services.location_coord, 6, 5);
          tool_env.getvar('comspec', cmd);
     host('cmd /c start '||url ||' '||location1||' '||location2);
     end;
Now, we are upgrading to W7 OS also, we would like use this function on CITRIX ( Windows server 2008 R2 ) server. For some reason, we are encountering errors when tilda /( squiggly ) line is used or a double quote
-- CITRIX/W7 logic:
declare
cmd varchar2(200);
url varchar2(200) := 'C:\PROGRA~2\ADVANT~1\GFS\start_grids_with_coords_pd.bat';
location1 varchar2(100);
location2 varchar2(100);
     begin
go_block('GAS_SERVICES');
     location1 := substr(:gas_services.location_coord, 1, 5);
     location2 := substr(:gas_services.location_coord, 6, 5);
tool_env.getvar('comspec', cmd);
     host('cmd /c start '||url ||' '||location1||' '||location2);
     end;
I'll appreciate your help!
Regards,
Vani Sonti
Edited by: user11141511 on May 21, 2013 1:46 PM

Answer 1

Hello,
Have you tried using long filename instead of short filename ? When using long filename, you need to enclose it with double quotes.
Exemple :
url varchar2(200) := 'C:\PROGRA~1\ADVANT~1\GFS\start_grids_with_coords_pd.bat';
become
url varchar2(200) := 'C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADVANT_WHATEVER HERE\GFS\start_grids_with_coords_pd.bat';
and
host('cmd /c start '||url ||' '||location1||' '||location2);
become
host('cmd /c start '|| chr(34) || url || chr(34) || ' '||location1||' '||location2);
This work fines with Forms 6i on Windows 2003 and Citrix, but didn't try on Windows 2008.