Recognizing a running program and then waiting ...

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July 28th, 2008, 10:27 AM

Hangman

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VBScript - Recognizing a running program and then waiting ...

Hey guys,
I was wondering if anyone could help me with another problem I ran into.
Simply put, How can I check to see if a program is currently running, and if so, cause my script to wait until it stops ??

If I am causing the disk cleanup to run in my script, I need to make my script wait until it is finished before continuing with another program. I tried the WScript.Sleep(), but it isn't working as needed.

Any thoughts and idea's are very welcome and appreciated.

Thanks, Hangman.

July 29th, 2008, 02:07 AM

Nilpo

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There are two common methods of monitoring programs in WSH. Since Disk Cleanup runs in a window, you can use the WshShell object's AppActivate method to effectively see whether the window is open. You'll need to know the window's title screen and then attempt to activate it. The method returns true if the window can be activated and false if it can't. You can then create a simple loop to pause your script while the window is open.

vb Code:

Original - vb Code
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Do While WshShell.AppActivate("Disk Cleanup") WScript.Sleep 1000 ' Wait while window is open Loop WScript.Echo "Disk Cleanup has completed."

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
 
Do While WshShell.AppActivate("Disk Cleanup")
    WScript.Sleep 1000 ' Wait while window is open
Loop
 
WScript.Echo "Disk Cleanup has completed."

Perhaps a more proper way to monitor the Disk Cleanup Wizard is to watch the cleanmgr.exe process using WMI. When done within a function, you can easily create a timer loop as before.

vb Code:

Original - vb Code
Do While IsRunning WScript.Sleep 1000 Loop WScript.Echo "Disk Cleanup has completed." Function IsRunning Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\cimv2") Set colProcesses = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * From Win32_Process " & _ "Where Name = 'cleanmgr.exe'") If colProcesses.Count > 0 Then IsRunning = True Else IsRunning = False End If End Function

Do While IsRunning
    WScript.Sleep 1000
Loop
 
WScript.Echo "Disk Cleanup has completed."
 
Function IsRunning
    Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\cimv2")
    Set colProcesses = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * From Win32_Process " & _
        "Where Name = 'cleanmgr.exe'")
 
    If colProcesses.Count > 0 Then
        IsRunning = True
    Else
        IsRunning = False
    End If
End Function

Either of these methods should be effective for you.

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Last edited by Nilpo : July 29th, 2008 at 02:09 AM.

July 29th, 2008, 02:20 AM

Nilpo

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I see now that you are launching the Disk Cleanup Wizard from your script. There is a much easier way to accomplish this.

vb Code:

Original - vb Code
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") WshShell.Run "cleanmgr.exe /d C:",, True

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
 
WshShell.Run "cleanmgr.exe /d C:",, True

The WshShell object's Run method accepts a Boolean value as its third parameter that indicates whether the script should wait for the program to terminate before continuing. Using a value of True will effectively wait until the Wizard finishes.

The Disk Cleanup Wizard can be fully automated from the command line. For more information, see the following Knowledgebase Article.

How to Automate the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP

Lots of info here. Hope this helps!

Last edited by Nilpo : July 29th, 2008 at 02:24 AM. Reason: Added KB Link

July 29th, 2008, 04:01 PM

Hangman

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Nilpo

I see now that you are launching the Disk Cleanup Wizard from your script. There is a much easier way to accomplish this.[highlight=vb]Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

Yes, here is my code:

Code:

Function ExecuteCleanupUtility()  'Run the Windows Disk Cleanup utility
  objWshShl.Run "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\cleanmgr /sagerun:64"
  WScript.Sleep(300000)
End Function

Although I am using the /sagerun:# function rather than the /d function you mentioned below, but it works superbly.

Here's what I changed:

Code:

Function ExecuteCleanupUtility()  'Run the Windows Disk Cleanup utility
  objWshShl.Run "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\cleanmgr /sagerun:64",, True
End Function

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nilpo

... The Disk Cleanup Wizard can be fully automated from the command line. For more information, see the following Knowledgebase Article.

How to Automate the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP

Lots of info here. Hope this helps!

When I first set this up, I was looking at that paper, good stuff there, thanks.
I am however, really interested in knowing where I can find all those little tidbits of information you have, like the following you mentioned:

Quote:

I haven't been able to find a description of the WshShell object's Run method that describes this. Of course I haven't looked too deeply yet since reading your post.

Thank you though, this looks & works much better now.

July 29th, 2008, 09:45 PM

Nilpo

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I'm glad that worked out for you!

I was hoping you'd be using sagerun but it was too much info to get into in one post.

Most of my "tidbits" come from experience, tbh. However, the MSDN is a great place to find them if you're not afraid to do some digging. Here's a link to the MSDN section that describes the Run method and its parameters.

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