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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Yes, threads are another way to go if you’re comfortable with them but they still requires careful thought with respect to shared mutable state (namely, either
don’t share it or don’t mutate it). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Single-threaded event-based loop concurrency (which is what Windows and Javascript et al do) is simpler in many respects, hence the popularity of Node and the
like. Of course, they don’t maximise use of multiple cores but that’s a different debate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Anyway, the particular design flaw with Application.ProcessMessages that causes nasty re-entrancy is largely due to the fact that you can’t pass any of the
usual Windows PeekMessage filter flags to prevent it from dispatching *<b>further</b>* input events whilst you’re in the middle of one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">So, here at Accredo, we modified Forms.pas to fix that by adding the following:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">const<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> QS_NO_INPUT = QS_PAINT or QS_POSTMESSAGE or QS_SENDMESSAGE;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> PM_QS_INPUT = QS_INPUT shl 16;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> PM_QS_NO_INPUT = QS_NO_INPUT shl 16;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">procedure TApplication.ProcessMessages(MsgTypes: Integer);<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">begin<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">[code snipped for brevity – essentially we flow MsgTypes through to PeekMessage in Application.ProcessMessage]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">end;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Then you can do things like the following :
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> Application.ProcessMessages(PM_QS_NO_INPUT); // Ensure all CM_RELEASE, WM_PAINT messages are processed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">This allows the UI to synchronise *<b>without</b>* allowing mouse or keyboard events through which is the work of the re-entrant devil.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> Paul.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz [mailto:delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Jolyon Smith<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, 25 July 2014 1:20 p.m.<br>
<b>To:</b> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [DUG] Shellexecute question<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">It shouldn't be puzzling. It is not the fact that the form is starting minimized, but the fact that Application.Run varies it's behaviour for the SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE value CmdShow, a variation which does not occur for SW_MINIMIZED.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">But NOOOOOoooooo - do NOT add calls to ProcessMessages(). Do not add ANY calls to ProcessMessages(). And remove any you already have !!! :)<br>
<br>
ProcessMessages() calls make your application UI code re-entrant in highly unpredictable ways that can have you forever trying to find Heisenbugs, especially in a case like this where a user is likely to click on your launched app icon to see if it has "woken
up" yet.<br>
<br>
Do blocking work on a background thread, allow the UI to continue to respond on the main thread, and provide whatever feedback to the UI relating to the progress of the background thread via properly marshalled, thread safe mechanisms.<br>
<br>
<br>
You will get more sleep that way. :)<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On 25 July 2014 12:43, John Bird <<a href="mailto:johnkbird@paradise.net.nz" target="_blank">johnkbird@paradise.net.nz</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">It looks like the code in D2007 Application.Run is the later one. I would like to solve this at some stage out of curiosity so will return. The SW_SHOWMINIMIZED works as expected
which is a puzzle. Usual story however, this is not on the list of urgent things to get working so it has to be put aside for now.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">Its a good point you make about where to put startup code – my rule of thumb has generally been initialising non component stuff can be done in the form create, but I tend to
put anything initialising component stuff on the form show event, and this is where much of it is – there is a bit of setting things visible or not depending on what properties are set and I don’t think this can generally be done before the Show event. This
Program B does this general initialisation and then starts a timer which then fires of the rest of the startup code which is long running. Some of the long running code takes 20-40 seconds to run (calculations) and it doesn’t respond to minimising/maximising
while that is happening which is another minor issue – I may need to put some extra processmessages calls in there eventually.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">This relates to a previous question – the long running calculation sets up some quite large arrays and I tried saving/reading them in from disk to bypass the calculations but
it produced a stack overflow. I am presuming that this is not from the code, as Russell’s code to save and load arrays to disk ran standalone, but due to the program using a larger amount of memory. Another investigation for later on the list of priorities!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">
<a href="mailto:jsmith@deltics.co.nz" target="_blank" title="jsmith@deltics.co.nz">
Jolyon Smith</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">Sent:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"> Friday, July 25, 2014 7:49 AM<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">To:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">
<a href="mailto:delphi@listserver.123.net.nz" target="_blank" title="delphi@listserver.123.net.nz">
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">Subject:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"> Re: [DUG] Shellexecute question<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">If the other Delphi application isn't correctly responding to
<b>SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE</b> then the problem is in the <b>TApplicaiton</b> code of the version of Delphi involved. The fact that your FormShow event isn't firing suggests that it's an older version of Delphi involved, since an inspection of the
<b>TApplication.Run</b> method reveals how this behaviour (or lack of) would eventuate....
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> case CmdShow of<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE: FMainForm.FWindowState := wsMinimized;</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED: MainForm.WindowState := wsMaximized;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> end;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> if FShowMainForm then<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> if FMainForm.FWindowState = wsMinimized then</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> Minimize else</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> FMainForm.Visible := True;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">The internal state is forced to
<b>wsMinimize, </b>bypassing normal property setters, resulting in the "show" code simply calling the
<b>Minimize</b> method on the main form, rather than making the form visible, which is why the FormShow even isn't fired. The form isn't shown! i.e. the
<b>FormShow</b> event will eventually fire only when the user first activates the application and the window becomes shown. You could argue that this is desirable behaviour, but doesn't suit your purposes in this case.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">This was changed in later versions of Delphi. The above code is from D7. The version below from XE4 (the only 2 versions I have available on this system):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> case CmdShow of<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> begin</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> FInitialMainFormState := wsMinimized;</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> FMainForm.FWindowState := wsMinimized;</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> end;</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED: MainForm.WindowState := wsMaximized;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> end;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> if FShowMainForm then<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> if (FMainForm.FWindowState = wsMinimized) or (FInitialMainFormState = wsMinimized) then</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> begin</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> Minimize;</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> if (FInitialMainFormState = wsMinimized) then</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> FMainForm.Show;</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> end else<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> FMainForm.Visible := True;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">Now it appears that the
<b>Show</b> method of your main form should be called, though I haven't tested to see whether this is actually the case. But in theory,
<b>SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE</b> should work for you if you upgrade the target EXE to a more current version of Delphi.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">Alternatively, you could move the initialisation code in that EXE, currently triggered by the FormShow event, to a more appropriate initialisation event. After all, this is initialisation
that needs to be performed regardless of whether the form is <b>Show'</b>n or not. ;)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">It's possible that some of that code cannot be performed in
<b>FormCreate</b>, which is a quite common reason to use <b>FormShow</b> instead. If that's the case, then one possible solution is to
<b>post</b> a custom message to yourself in <b>FormCreate</b>, to fabricate the create-deferred event you need, without relying on the form being shown to generate the
<b>FormShow</b> event:<br>
<br>
<br>
const<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> MM_INITIALISE = WM_USER + 1;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">TMyForm = class(TForm)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> ...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> procedure MMInitialise(var aMessage: TMessage); message MM_INITIALISE;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">end;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">TMyForm.FormOnCreate...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">begin<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> PostMessage(Handle, MM_INITIALISE, 0, 0);<br>
....<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">end;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">procedure TMyForm.MMInitialise(var aMessage: TMessage);
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">begin<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> // Do initialisation here...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">end;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">Good luck<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">On 25 July 2014 00:22, John Bird <<a href="mailto:johnkbird@paradise.net.nz" target="_blank">johnkbird@paradise.net.nz</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">Hey that should have been perfect, as I already was doing SW_SHOWMINIMIZED which works fine, and so does SW_SHOWNOACTIVE which also does what it should – start the other window
but not change focus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">However SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE doesn’t work. Now the other program is a Delphi program of mine that does some initialisation in the Formshow event (turning on timers etc) and I
am wondering if somehow the event doesn’t fire. The process starts, but nothing runs, looks asleep in Task Manager. Not worth messing around with, as its a minor issue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">I toyed with using SW_SHOWINACTIVE and getting the program (Program B) to minimise itself on start, but that is just damned complicated and fiddly/fragile. It also seems prone
to ending up with 2 icons on the task bar, as though multiple copies have started even if only one is running – (maybe due to the large amount of work it does on startup – it is unresponsive for a good while) .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">I also tried Russells suggestion about setting the foreground window and it don’t work for me (Windows 8.1)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">What I did in the end was go back to the SW_SHOWMINIMIZED and then after the ShellExecute (in Program A) I put a ShowMessage saying I had started the other program. Because
this gives a modal clue that they have to click on to continue it will do the job of setting the focus back. And its a bit useful for them to be informed it has been started.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">
<a href="mailto:jsmith@deltics.co.nz" target="_blank" title="jsmith@deltics.co.nz">
Jolyon Smith</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">Sent:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"> Thursday, July 24, 2014 8:21 PM<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">To:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">
<a href="mailto:russell@belding.co.nz" target="_blank" title="russell@belding.co.nz">
Russell Belding</a> ; <a href="mailto:delphi@listserver.123.net.nz" target="_blank" title="delphi@listserver.123.net.nz">
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">Subject:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black"> Re: [DUG] Shellexecute question<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">Have you tried passing
</span><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:#2A2A2A">SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE instead of SW_MINIMIZED ?</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:#2A2A2A">Caveat: The show flag parameter is merely passed to the application being executed. What it chooses to do with that flag is it's own affair, but if you're
lucky, it will respect your wishes. If not, then you will have to engage in a focus window arms race/lotto as already suggested. But Route #1 would be to try the officially mandated mechanisms.<br>
<br>
Good luck. :)</span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">On 24 July 2014 19:46, russell <<a href="mailto:russell@belding.co.nz" target="_blank">russell@belding.co.nz</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Tyr this after spawning the other program.</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">SetForegroundWindow(forms.application.mainWindow.handle)</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">To give the main window of your program focus.</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Perhaps modifications of this will take you to the window of the calling program where you want the
focus?</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Russell</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">
<a href="mailto:delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz" target="_blank">delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz" target="_blank">delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>John Bird<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, 24 July 2014 4:43 p.m.<br>
<b>To:</b> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [DUG] Shellexecute question</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">I have a program (Program A) that fires up another (program B) via ShellExecute, if its not already
running. However even though Program B is started minimised, focus shifts away from Program A, which is a minor nuisance.</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black">Is there any way to stop this within Delphi? Or will I have to do something like delve into the Windows
API?</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">if ShellExecute(Application.Mainform.Handle, 'open', Pchar(aProgName), PChar(aparaml), PChar(aDir), SW_SHOWMINIMIZED)
<= 32 then</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> ShowMessage('Start Minimised error:')</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">
<hr size="2" width="100%" align="center">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">
<hr size="2" width="100%" align="center">
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