Modular programming, running an external application .exe from a menu item of my own app

brickoff 0

Hi everybody, first at all, many thanks for reading my post.

I’ve developed an application to graph mathematical functions and expressions. This application has been developed using Visual C++ ’22 in a Windows 10 environment. This has been implemented using MDI, MFC and the public class CFormView from MFC.

This application graph one and two variable functions, curves in 3D, parametric functions in 2D and 3D as well polar functions in polar coordinates 2D and 3D.

Each graph is done by specialized routines monolithically incorporated within of the main app.

When the user open the application, appeared a menu bar and submenus, as is shown below.
menu_F_3D

When the user chooses 2D Cartesians coordinates, appear a form in order to allow the user to introduce the necessary data. After the form has been fill out, the user press de Graph (Graficar) button and the corresponding routine (placed in the main app) plot the graph as is shown bellow.

function_3D

I want to build a modular application in which the routines are independents each other.

I’ve built a main app to show only the menu bar and submenus, just as is shown in the first image, as well an executable application to plot two variable functions in 3D. Both of them have been built using visual c++ ’22.

The executable in charge of graph 2 variable functions in 3D is called function3D.exe.

I’m sending to the forum the source code of the childFrm.cpp of my current app, in where I set the Dialog resourses used to call each routine.

And then, the question is: How and from where can I call function3D.exe from childFrm.cpp in my new app? If there are a possibility to do it, of course. If you’ve another way to do it, please don’t hesitate to tell me.

Please, neither .dll nor activeX controls, windows visual c++ .exe code only.

Many thanks to read my question.

David Lowndes 4,716 Reputation points

2023-03-05T00:02:36.62+00:00

It's not clear to me quite what you're asking for. Do you expect to be able to get graphic output from some EXE to appear in your application? You seem to indicate that you perhaps already know the answer is likely to involve using DLLs or ActiveX controls that would tightly integrate with your application in order to do so!

brickoff 0

Simply, I don't like using neither .dll nor activeX controls( ActiveX controls are out, this controls are not anymore directly soported in modern browsers). I want to run external Visual C++ .exe apps by clicking in a menu item to make this .exe running into the same child window that show the main app, the one that show the menu bar. I'm even planning to design the main application (which only displays the menus) using Visual C++ 6.0. This version produces a lighter executable and runs faster. Not so the executable in charge of plot the graph. Next I'm sending the source code of the childFrm.cpp in where I set the resources dialogs in charge of display on the screen the forms and graph:

// ChildFrm.cpp : implementation of the CChildFrame class
//

#include "pch.h"
#include "framework.h"
#include "Step_002.h"

#include "ChildFrm.h"
#include "step_002view.h"
#include "step_002doc.h"
#include "step_002view_inicialform.h"
#include "step_002view_parametricas2D_Form.h"
#include "step_002view_parametricas3D_Form.h"
#include "step_002view_curves3D_Form.h"
#include "step_002view_polares2D_Form.h"
#include "step_002view_polares3D_Form.h"
#include "step_002view_Nyquist_Form.h"
#include "step_002view_Bode_Form.h"
#include "step_002View_RootLocusForm.h"

#ifdef _DEBUG
#define new DEBUG_NEW
#undef THIS_FILE
static char THIS_FILE[] = __FILE__;
#endif

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// CChildFrame
static UINT views[] =
{
      IDD_INICIALFORM,           // status line indicator
      IDD_CARTESIANAS2D_FORM,
      IDD_CARTESIANAS3D_FORM,
      IDD_CURVES3D_FORM,
      IDD_PARAMETRICS_2DFORM,
      IDD_PARAMETRICS_3DFORM,   
      IDD_POLAR_2DFORM,
      IDD_POLAR_3DFORM,
      IDD_NYQUIST_FORM,
      IDD_BODE_FORM,
      IDD_ROOTLOCUS_FORM
};

IMPLEMENT_DYNCREATE(CChildFrame, CMDIChildWnd)

BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP(CChildFrame, CMDIChildWnd)
	//{{AFX_MSG_MAP(CChildFrame)
	ON_COMMAND(ID_EJES_COORDENADOS_2D, OnEjesCoordenados_2D)
        ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_EJES_COORDENADOS_2D, OnUpdateEjesCoordenados_2D)

        ON_COMMAND(ID_EJES_COORDENADOS_3D, OnEjesCoordenados_3D)
        ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_EJES_COORDENADOS_3D, OnUpdateEjesCoordenados_3D)

        ON_COMMAND(ID_CURVES_3D, OnCurves_3D)
        ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_CURVES_3D, OnUpdateCurves_3D)

        ON_COMMAND(ID_EJES_PARAMETRIC_2D, OnEjesParametric_2D)
        ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_EJES_POLARES_2D, OnUpdateEjesParametric_2D)

        ON_COMMAND(ID_EJES_PARAMETRIC_3D, OnEjesParametric_3D)
        ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_EJES_PARAMETRIC_3D, OnUpdateEjesPolares_3D)

	ON_COMMAND(ID_EJES_POLARES_2D, OnEjesPolares_2D)
        ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_EJES_POLARES_2D, OnUpdateEjesPolares2D)

        ON_COMMAND(ID_EJES_POLARES_3D, OnEjesPolares_3D)
        ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_EJES_POLARES_3D, OnUpdateEjesPolares3D)	
	
	ON_COMMAND(ID_BODE, OnBode)
	ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_BODE, OnUpdateBode)

        ON_COMMAND(ID_BODE, OnNyquist)
	ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_BODE, OnUpdateNyquist)

	ON_COMMAND(ID_ROOT_LOCUS, OnRootLocus)
	ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(ID_ROOT_LOCUS, OnUpdateRootLocus)
	//}}AFX_MSG_MAP
END_MESSAGE_MAP()

1 answer

YujianYao-MSFT 4,286 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-03-06T05:27:31.7133333+00:00
Hi brickoff,

I created an MFC program that successfully calls another .exe file in a .cpp using WinExec().

Sample code is as follows:

WinExec("C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Desktop\\Newfolder\\MFCApplication4\\x64\\Debug\\ConsoleApplication1.exe", SW_SHOW);

The first parameter specifies the path and the second specifies the display mode. Where ConsoleApplication1.exe is a c++ console program I created. You could add this code to a click event to do this.

Best regards,

Elya

If the answer is the right solution, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.
Please sign in to rate this answer.

0 comments No comments
Sign in to comment

Use comments to ask for clarification, additional information, or improvements to the question.

Share via

Modular programming, running an external application .exe from a menu item of my own app

1 answer

Your answer