NAME

AG_Execute — agar file execution interface

SYNOPSIS

#include <agar/core.h>

DESCRIPTION

The AG_Execute() function provides a cross-platform interface for running executable programs and monitoring their execution.

INTERFACE

AG_ProcessID
AG_Execute(const char *file, char **argv);

AG_ProcessID
AG_WaitOnProcess(AG_ProcessID pid, enum ag_exec_wait_type wait_type);

int
AG_Kill(AG_ProcessID pid);

AG_Execute() runs the specified program with the given arguments, returning an integer process ID. If an error has occurred, the function returns -1 with an error message.

AG_WaitOnProcess() checks for status or waits until the specified process terminates. The wait_type argument may be one of:

AG_EXEC_WAIT_IMMEDIATE

If the process has not exited, return immediately without blocking.

AG_EXEC_WAIT_INFINITE

Block the calling thread until the process has exited.

The function returns the PID of the terminated process, -1 if an error has occurred, or 0 if wait_type is AG_EXEC_WAIT_IMMEDIATE and the process is still running.

The AG_Kill() function immediately terminates the specified process.

EXAMPLES

The following code runs a program on a Unix-like system:

char *argv[3];
AG_ProcessID pid;

argv[0] = "ls";
argv[1] = "-l"
argv[2] = (char *)NULL;

pid = AG_Execute("/bin/ls", argv);

if (pid == -1)
	AG_Verbose("Execute failed (%s)\n", AG_GetError());

The following code launches a background task on Windows and terminates its execution after 10 seconds:

char *argv[2];
AG_ProcessID pid;
int counter = 0;

argv[0] = "MyTask";
argv[1] = (char *)NULL;

pid = AG_Execute("C:\Program Files\"
                 "Example\MyTask.exe");
for (;;) {
	if (AG_WaitOnProcess(pid, AG_EXEC_WAIT_IMMEDIATE)
	    == -1) {
		AG_Verbose("Task exited unexpectedly (%s)\n",
		    AG_GetError());
		break;
	}
	if (counter++ == 10) {
		if (AG_Kill(pid) == -1) {
			AG_Verbose("Kill failed (%s)\n",
			    AG_GetError());
		}
		break;
	}
	sleep(1);
}

SEE ALSO

AG_Intro(3)

HISTORY

The AG_Execute interface first appeared in Agar 1.4.1.