bar button doesn't start program

[sgp]

This button fails starting the program with TC6.55 and TC7b3. When the button is first defined, sometimes it works but then it doesn't anymore. It never works if I close then restart TC. I think it depends on the maximum length of the Parameters after %P %N etc are expanded. Can this limit be increased in the next build?

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Command: V:\bin\PowerPro\pp0.exe
Parameters: .tc@bar2menu(?'%%COMMANDER_PATH%%\cmd\CMD.BAR',?'-P %P -N %N -L %L -T %T')

[karlchen]

I think it depends on the maximum length of the Parameters after %P %N etc are expanded. Can this limit be increased in the next build?

Whatever Christian does his programme will not be able to launch a commandline if its length exceeds the limit defined by Windows (version dependant).

Karl

[m^2]

Command line lenght limit in CreateProcess is system independent (as long as it's win32 ) and is c.a. 32K characters.

[karlchen]

Hi, m^2.

Thanks for clarifying the CreateProcess limit.

Yet, it may not be as simple as that, depending on what T.C. does internally.

Also cf here, please: What is the command line length limit?.

So in the end the effective limit may be much lower than the 32K allowed by the WinAPI function CreateProcess().

So, in order to determine if T.C. is the limitting factor, we will need to know how T.C. processes the button bar command line plus its parameter line. (Christian?)

Oh, yes, and the launched programme may not be able to process a very long commandline - whatever its developer defined as "very long".

Ciao,
Karl

[m^2]

Tested.
My program starts, but it's command line is cut to c.a. 259 characters. (ADDED: Exactly 259 characters.) Maybe PowerPro refuses to start with incorrect command line?

[ghisler(Author)]

Indeed the command line is currently limited to 259 characters. Win2k supports up to 2k, WinXP up to 8k. I will try to support a longer command line.

[sgp]

Tested.
My program starts, but it's command line is cut to c.a. 259 characters. (ADDED: Exactly 259 characters.) Maybe PowerPro refuses to start with incorrect command line?

Thank you for finding the exact limit. Your program starts but I think it's just unpredictable, here the same program and same command line some times starts and some times doesn't - checked with process explorer.

[sgp]

I will try to support a longer command line.

Thank you

[ghisler(Author)]

Please retry now, beta 4 supports a longer command line internally.

[sgp]

Please retry now, beta 4 supports a longer command line internally.

I really think that there's a bug somewhere in this interface. It behaves inconsistently. For instance, if I start tc7pb4 and immediately run my command, previously defined as:

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Command: V:\bin\PowerPro\pp0.exe 
Parameters: .tc@bar2menu(?"%COMMANDER_PATH%\cmd\CMD.BAR",?"-P %P -N %N -L %L -T %T")

The -P %P... stuff doesn't get expanded (COMMANDER_PATH does and it's predefined in my environment). So I change it to

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Command: cmd.exe /k echo .tc@bar2menu(?"%COMMANDER_PATH%\cmd\CMD.BAR",?"-P %P -N %N -L %L -T %T")
Parameters: -P %P -N %N -L %L -T %T

and this time the parameters part gets expanded but not the -P %P... in the commands part, so I change everything to:

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Command: V:\bin\PowerPro\pp0.exe .tc@bar2menu(?"%COMMANDER_PATH%\cmd\CMD.BAR"
Parameters: ,?"-P %P -N %N -L %L -T %T") 

and this time everything gets correctly expanded... but then I close TC, restart it press the command button again and the parameters part isn't passed on to the command-line anymore !!

This is on Windows XP Pro SP2.

[ghisler(Author)]

I think that you got it the wrong way. Because of the ambiguity, environment variables only get expanded in the "command" part, while parameters like %P are only expanded in the "parameters" part. Can't you confirm that?

[m^2]

I can.
%COMMANDER_PATH% in the parameters field is treated as %C OMMANDER_PATH %
So when I have a button with %COMMANDER_PATH% parameters field and nothing %C would expand to, I get OMMANDER_PATH parameter.

[sgp]

environment variables only get expanded in the "command" part, while parameters like %P are only expanded in the "parameters" part. Can't you confirm that?

I can confirm that. But the outstanding problem is

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Command: V:\bin\PowerPro\pp0.exe .tc@bar2menu(?"%COMMANDER_PATH%\cmd\CMD.BAR" 
Parameters: ,?"-P %P -N %N -L %L -T %T")

and this time everything gets correctly expanded... but then I close TC, restart it press the command button again and the parameters part isn't passed on to the command-line anymore !!

In fact I just did it, and this time I got an application error from pp0.exe saying that the command line is incomplete, that is the parameters line either didn't get passed to the API that started pp0.exe, or it got mongled by the API that started pp0.exe.

[ND]

At some point I had a similar problems, and my conclusion was: always remember to enclose the "%parameters" in quotes.

I did some tests with a button configuration like sgp's, and here's what I found:


When pressing the button while the cursor is on a file or directory...

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"D:\PP Sym\pp0.cmd" .tc@bar2menu(?"F:\totalcmd\cmd\CMD.BAR" ?"-P F:\ -N "long file name . ext" -L C:\DOCUME~1\ND\LOCALS~1\Temp\CMD9E.tmp -T F:\long dir name\")

Note that the file name "long file name . ext" (source tab) is enclosed in quotes, but the directories "F:\" (source tab) and "F:\long dir name\" (target tab) are not, so that might cause some of sgp's problems.


When pressing the button while the cursor is on the "parent dir" [..] marker...

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"D:\PP Sym\pp0.cmd" .tc@bar2menu(?"F:\totalcmd\cmd\CMD.BAR"

Here the %parameters are not passed to the command line anymore.

[sgp]

When pressing the button while the cursor is on the "parent dir" [..] marker...
... the %parameters are not passed to the command line anymore.

That's it! Thank you ND, you figured out the remaining cause of my problem. When the cursor is on the [..] marker TC doesn't pass the "parameters" part of the button. I think this is a design limitation that should be removed. I don't see why TC should pass "parameters" when a file is selected and not pass "parameters" when [..] is selected. Look at my case, "parameters" includes syntax characters that are always needed regardless of which target file/[..] is selected.