Silently running an external program from a gadget

Is there any way to run a program silently from a gadget and collect its output
The only way I know of for running a porgram is System.Shell.execute, but this flashes the cmd window quickly (this is a CLI exe) and I don't see a way to get the output of the program.

I am currently accomplishing the same thing by using Wscript and objShell.Run, sending the output to a text file, and then reading the text file. Just wondering if there is a better way.

Does jscript allow you to launch a program silently

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Silently running an external program from a gadget

Klaxas
are you trying to run a .net app and read the output

if so set the project output type to windows application and no window will open
Arghya
How would that work say i have a .net app it would be like

class Test
{

[STAThread]
public static void Main()
{
// main must return void
}

}

I have a small .net app which i want to return a string when certain event fire, can i use that in a gadget if so how
KDiv
I am trying somthing similer but when running in the sidebar nothing happens. When run in IE7 i get an error somthing like the "Automation server can't crate the object". Is this a problom on my box or what
Joffies
yea that is what im doing now, except to a txt file. oh well, at least it works. thanks guys
SGriffiths
Try this

var WshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
var exec = WshShell.Exec(System.Gadget.path + "\\myapp.exe");
var outputData = exec.StdOut.ReadAll();

i hope this helps
xion.truth
no it's a command line exe. i didn't write it and I don't know what it was written in. it's called qstat and it lets you enter a game server name and returns the number of current players, map name, server name, and so on.
KristenB
This unfortunately pops up the cmd window momentarily, just like System.Shell.execute
AndrejJst
right the only way i think you can do it is to read a xml file

var WshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
WshShell.Run(System.Gadget.path + "\\qstat.exe -xml yourcommands > " + System.Gadget.path +"\\qstat.xml",0 true);

then all you have to do is read the xml for your data
Silently running an external program from a gadget

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