Question

I have a executable that when double clicked opens in a command line window.

Now there is a input file (i.e named “sphere_15000.inp”) in the same directory where the executable apame_win64.exe is located. So we can inter the file name in the command line.

The question is how this can be done from mathematica front end? With the RunThrough command I tried to do it with no avail.

RunThrough["Executable Location", "sphere_15000"]

Do I need to put this file location in my Windows 7 environment path variable? Hope for some suggestion in this regard.

UPDATE

Found a solution to my problem.

1. First set the Mathematica directory to the folder where the executable is located.

   path=”C:\Users\FlowCrusher\Desktop\CUSP solver\Apame_build_2011_01_09\solver”;
   SetDirectory[path];

2. Then use the following style of input.

   Run[“\”\”apame_win64.exe\” \”input\”\””]

Here “apame_win64.exe” is the executable one want to run and “input” is the input file for the executable. This solves the problem. But a new item in the wishlist.

Is there a way to hide the console window in the background?

Here is how it looks on my screen.

As Chris suggested if we use minimized console in the Run command we get a minimized window but the program does not execute.

I hope that a solution exists.

BR

Answer 1

Yes, you might put the folder of you executable into the Path variable, or provide the full path name.

However, RunThrough seems to have been superseeded (on Windows) by
Import[“!command “,”Text”], which will execute command and read the comaand line output into Matheamtica as a string.
E.g.:

Export["testit.txt", "bla", "Text"];
Import["!dir" <> " testit* > dir.log", "Text"];
FilePrint["dir.log"]

—

Otherwise, I also had good results in the past using NETLink (not sure if WScript.shell
still works on Windows7/8 or if one should use something else).
Emulating Run (RunThrough is not really needed I think):

Run2[cmd_String] := Module[{shell},
    Switch[$OperatingSystem,
        "Windows",
            Needs["NETLink`"];
            shell = NETLink`CreateCOMObject["WScript.shell"];
            shell @ run[cmd,0,True],
        "Unix",
            Run @ cmd, 
        "MacOSX",
            Run @ cmd ] ];