Call windows batch file from perl

system(name_of_the_bat_file);

Greg Zevin, Ph.D. Comp. Sc.
Independent Interwoven Consultant/Architect
Sydney, AU

or, if the file is going to spit anything out on stdout, use exectution backticks (`` or qx||).

Go read the perlop perldoc:


perldoc perlop

Sid1

Hi,

How can I embed command line statements into a perl program ? Whats thee syntax like ?

Thanks!

I think we already comprehensively answered you question, just above.

Greg Zevin, Ph.D. Comp. Sc.
Independent Interwoven Consultant/Architect
Sydney, AU

Sid1

Hi Greg,

I suppose the system('name_of_the_file') to call a system batch file from a perl program, and not to embed the contents of the batch file in the perl program.

Thanks!

command line statments mean scripts/programs to me. they are executed all in the same manner.

if your question was to execute a set of CLTs from within perl, you could put them in an array and invoke them one by one in a loop. I don't understand why would you need it

Greg Zevin, Ph.D. Comp. Sc.
Independent Interwoven Consultant/Architect
Sydney, AU

Sid1

Hi Greg,

I am encountering some problem with the below mentioned process, and don't really know where the problem is, so trying out other avenues.

I am using an external task in a workflow which calls a perl program. The perl program inturn calls a windows batch program. The whole purpose of this chain is to execute some CLTs automatically in the workflow. When I execute the perl program seperately, it successfully calls the 'MetaTag.bat'. But when I do it through the workflow, apparantly the batch file is not executed, and workflow seems to move to the next task ignoring this task.

Following are the intances of the codes used:

Snapshot of the Workflow :

use TeamSite::Config;
my $iwhome = TeamSite::Config::iwgethome();

$cMetTag = "$iwhome/iw-perl/bin/iwperl $iwhome/local/bin/metatag.ipl";

<externaltask lock = "f" name = "Metatag" owner = "__INSERT__($sOwner);" retry = "f" start = "f" description = "__INSERT__($uDescription);">
<areavpath v = "__INSERT__($cArea_VPath);"/>
<successors>
<successorset description = "Go to Transition">
<succ v = "Transition"/>
</successorset>
</successors>
<command v = "__INSERT__($cMetTag);"/>
<activation>
<or>
<pred v = "Validate"/>
</or>
</activation>
</externaltask>

Perl :

use TeamSite::WFtask;
use TeamSite::Config;
my $iwhome = TeamSite::Config::iwgethome();
my $area = $ARGV[2];
my $task = new TeamSite::WFtask($ARGV[1]);
system('D:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Cms_Demo\MetaTag.bat');
$task->CallBack(0, "Dummy Task");

MetaTag.bat:
iwextattr -s TeamSite/Metadata/RT-format_type="wav, mp3, mid" Y:\default\main\WFB_training2\WORKAREA\CMS\mammamia.wav

most likely your issue is that iwextattr is not in the PATH when executed from that batch file. Try to put the full path name for iwextattr

Greg Zevin, Ph.D. Comp. Sc.
Independent Interwoven Consultant/Architect
Sydney, AU

Another possibility, if putting the full path to iwextattr in the bat file doesn't resolve the issue, is to have the system() call run the batch file within the DOS command shell -- rather than within the built-in shell processor that Perl provides for the system call. E.g.

system(qq(cmd -c "D:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Cms_Demo\MetaTag.bat"));

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

This isn't directly responsive to your question. But it's related. There's a fairly simple way to convert perl programs into .bat files. In some circumstance this a good way to get perl executed on Windows. I've needed to use it for programs which will execute a command, but can't readily be passed variable command line arguments. Such as the name of the perl program as a parameter to the perl interpretter. It's easy enough to do that I use 'make' to construct the .bat using the perl as a source file. Adding a target .bat file to the list 'PERLBATS' will cause something very much like the 'make' code below to build a .bat out your perl sources. It probably has some limitations. If you're not using 'make', you can see the process is very little more than prepending a block of text and appending another to the perl source.

--

#
# preprend to perl source
#
define PERL_2_BAT_HEADER
@rem = '--*-Perl-*--
@echo off
if "%OS%" == "Windows_NT" goto WinNT
perl -x -S "./%0" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
goto endofperl
:WinNT
perl -x -S "./%0" %*
if NOT "%COMSPEC%" == "%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe" goto endofperl
if %errorlevel% == 9009 echo You do not have Perl in your PATH.
goto endofperl
@rem ';
endef

#
# append to perl source
#
define PERL_2_BAT_FOOTER
__END__
:endofperl
endef

#
# make .bat target from perl source
#
$(PERLBATS): $(OUTPUT)/%.bat : %.pl

@$(CAT) $(basename $(notdir $

Alla

I have the same problem, is there any way to resolve it?

What problem, exactly? Do you want to make a .bat file from a Perl script as the post above yours or are you trying unsuccessfully to call a .bat file from a Perl script?

Alla

What problem, exactly? Do you want to make a .bat file from a Perl script as the post above yours or are you trying unsuccessfully to call a .bat file from a Perl script?

I'm calling .bat file from perl and it's not executing

I'm calling .bat file from perl and it's not executing

How are you calling it? (Why do you even what to - but that's another story)

I believe you would need to call it through the command prompt executable - something like:

qx(cmd -c "c:/temp/foo.bat");

though I haven't verified this (sorry - I try not to deal with bat files or Windows in general if I can avoid it ;-)

I'm calling .bat file from perl and it's not executing

Are you really expecting someone to go through the detail of helping you with this when you won't even provide more than several words of detail?

Try again.

Adam, I have tried your execusion of bat file from ipl, it didn't work for me. It kind of hangs forever.

qx(cmd -c "c:/temp/foo.bat");

Thanks

Adam, I have tried your execusion of bat file from ipl, it didn't work for me. It kind of hangs forever.

qx(cmd -c "c:/temp/foo.bat");

Thanks

Instead of qx(...) try one of these:

) in some of the ideas above)

Thank you adam, some of those work, but when i am trying to run this from a command line it again hangs, i guess there is no exit statement.

Do i need an exit statement?

i am doing this

system('C:/Interwoven/TeamSite/tmp/DigitalAV_fileList.bat') == 0 or die "system failed";

Thanks

Thank you adam, some of those work, but when i am trying to run this from a command line it again hangs, i guess there is no exit statement.

Do i need an exit statement?

i am doing this

system('C:/Interwoven/TeamSite/tmp/DigitalAV_fileList.bat') == 0 or die "system failed";

Thanks

Do you need an exit statement where?
In the perl code you have a die statement which does an exit 1;
If your batch script can detect errors then it too should exit with a non-zero status on failure or a zero status on success.

Yes you are right. Lets assume, i don't need exit statement or in other words an exit comment when it fails ( when it is 1). But some how if i use ganeral system command to run this batch file it the CLT still hangs, it doesn't give me command prompt again.

Donno why, all my batch file is doing is deleting a text file from the iw-home/tmp directory.

Thanks

system('C:/Interwoven/TeamSite/tmp/DigitalAV_fileList.bat');

Yes you are right. Lets assume, i don't need exit statement or in other words an exit comment when it fails ( when it is 1). But some how if i use ganeral system command to run this batch file it the CLT still hangs, it doesn't give me command prompt again.

Donno why, all my batch file is doing is deleting a text file from the iw-home/tmp directory.

Thanks

system('C:/Interwoven/TeamSite/tmp/DigitalAV_fileList.bat');

Do you know if the batch script is exiting?
Perhaps the batch script has gone into some sort of endless loop, in which case the system call never completes and the Perl script won't continue.

If all your batch script is doing is deleting a text file - why don't you just do that in Perl and avoid the batch script?