function TForm1.RunProgramWait ( ProgramName, CommandLine : string; dwCreationFlags: dWord = 0; HowToShowWindow :dWord=SW_SHOWNORMAL) : integer;
var
StartupInfo : TStartupInfo;
ProcessInfo : TProcessInformation;
Code : Cardinal;
begin
FillChar(StartupInfo, sizeof(TStartupInfo),0)
with StartupInfo do //recreates record for start
begin
cb := SizeOf( StartupInfo);
dwFlags := STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
wShowWindow := HowToShowWindow;
end;
Code := 0;
Application.Hint := 'Starting ' + ProgramName + '...';
if CreateProcess(nil, PChar(ProgramName + ' ' + CommandLine),
nil, nil, False, dwCreationFlags, nil, PChar(ExtractFilePath(ProgramName)),
StartupInfo, ProcessInfo) then //starts the application
begin
caption := ProgramName + ' -Active';
//loop to check if application is terminated or not
while GetExitCodeProcess(ProcessInfo.hProcess, Code) and (Code = STILL_ACTIVE) do
begin
Application.ProcessMessages;
Sleep(1000); //to reduce CPU load the higher the better.
end;
Result := Code;
end
else
Result := 99;
caption := ProgramName + ' -NOT Active';
end;
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
i: integer;
begin
//you can use SW_SHOWNORMAL or SW_HIDE
i:=RunProgramWait('c:\WINNT\system32\cmd.exe', '', 0, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
if i=0 then
showmessage('Normal Termination')
else
showmessage('Abnormal Termination')
end;