NAME

Win32::Process - Create and manipulate processes.

SYNOPSIS

    use Win32::Process;
    use Win32;

    my $ProcessObj;

    sub ErrorReport{
	print Win32::FormatMessage( Win32::GetLastError() );
    }

    Win32::Process::Create($ProcessObj,
				"C:\\winnt\\system32\\notepad.exe",
				"notepad temp.txt",
				0,
				NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS,
				".")|| die ErrorReport();

    $ProcessObj->Suspend();
    $ProcessObj->Resume();
    $ProcessObj->Wait(INFINITE);

DESCRIPTION

This module provides access to the process control functions in the Win32 API.

METHODS

Win32::Process::Create($obj,$appname,$cmdline,$iflags,$cflags,$curdir)

Creates a new process.

    Args:

	$obj		container for process object
	$appname	full path name of executable module (can be 'undef')
	$cmdline	command line args (can be 'undef')
	$iflags		flag: inherit calling processes handles or not
	$cflags		flags for creation (see exported vars below)
	$curdir		working dir of new process

Returns non-zero on success, 0 on failure.

$appname can be 'undef' to allow $cmdline to specify the command without an absolute path; $ENV{PATH} will be searched to find the executable. eg:

Win32::Process::Create($ProcessObj,
                       undef,
                      "netstat -an",      # finds "netstat.exe" from $ENV{PATH}
                      0,
                      NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS,
                      ".");

See Microsoft's CreateProcess() docs for details. For instance, only .exe's will be searched; if you are trying to run a .com or .bat, you'll have to specify the extension, eg:

Win32::Process::Create($ProcessObj,
                       undef,
                      "tree.com /A /F",
                      [..]

Win32::Process::Open($obj,$pid,$iflags)

Creates a handle Perl can use to an existing process as identified by $pid. The $iflags is the inherit flag that is passed to OpenProcess. Currently Win32::Process objects created using Win32::Process::Open cannot Suspend or Resume the process. All other calls should work.

Win32::Process::Open returns non-zero on success, 0 on failure.

Win32::Process::KillProcess($pid, $exitcode)

Terminates any process identified by $pid. $exitcode will be set to the exit code of the process.

$ProcessObj->Suspend()

Suspend the process associated with the $ProcessObj.

$ProcessObj->Resume()

Resume a suspended process.

$ProcessObj->Kill($exitcode)

Kill the associated process, have it terminate with exit code $ExitCode.

$ProcessObj->GetPriorityClass($class)

Get the priority class of the process.

$ProcessObj->SetPriorityClass($class)

Set the priority class of the process (see exported values below for options). Note that the ABOVE_NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS and BELOW_NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS classes only work on Windows 2000 and later.

$ProcessObj->GetProcessAffinityMask($processAffinityMask, $systemAffinityMask)

Get the process affinity mask. This is a bitvector in which each bit represents the processors that a process is allowed to run on.

$ProcessObj->SetProcessAffinityMask($processAffinityMask)

Set the process affinity mask. Only available on Windows NT.

$ProcessObj->GetExitCode($exitcode)

Retrieve the exitcode of the process. Will return STILL_ACTIVE if the process is still running. The STILL_ACTIVE constant is only exported by explicit request.

$ProcessObj->Wait($timeout)

Wait for the process to die. $timeout should be specified in milliseconds. To wait forever, specify the constant INFINITE.

Returns a false value if the process is still alive by the time timeout expires:

if ( $process->Wait(1) ) {
    print "Process is done\n";
}
else {
    print "Process is still running\n";
}

$ProcessObj->GetProcessID()

Returns the Process ID.

Win32::Process::GetCurrentProcessID()

Returns the current process ID, which is the same as $$. But not on cygwin, where $$ is the cygwin-internal PID and not the windows PID. On cygwin GetCurrentProcessID() returns the windows PID as needed for all the Win32::Process functions.

EXPORTS

The following constants are exported by default:

CREATE_DEFAULT_ERROR_MODE
CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE
CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP
CREATE_NO_WINDOW
CREATE_SEPARATE_WOW_VDM
CREATE_SUSPENDED
CREATE_UNICODE_ENVIRONMENT
DEBUG_ONLY_THIS_PROCESS
DEBUG_PROCESS
DETACHED_PROCESS
HIGH_PRIORITY_CLASS
IDLE_PRIORITY_CLASS
INFINITE
NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS
REALTIME_PRIORITY_CLASS
THREAD_PRIORITY_ABOVE_NORMAL
THREAD_PRIORITY_BELOW_NORMAL
THREAD_PRIORITY_ERROR_RETURN
THREAD_PRIORITY_HIGHEST
THREAD_PRIORITY_IDLE
THREAD_PRIORITY_LOWEST
THREAD_PRIORITY_NORMAL
THREAD_PRIORITY_TIME_CRITICAL

The following additional constants are exported by request only:

ABOVE_NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS
BELOW_NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS
STILL_ACTIVE

LICENSE

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.