ms-dos start command

[justaguy84]

hello ,
i want to make a .bat file that calls 7 program 1 by one .
the problem is , when i do that , the 7 programs are open as i wanted , but my program makes a settings.ini file where it is located , while each program has a settings.ini in her folder.
i want the calls programs will use there own settings.ini file
can i do some thing like it or is it impossible in dos.

thanks a lot for you help.

[gpl]

Not knowing anything about the code you are using, I suspect that the reference to the ini file will be something like

"C:\Documents and Settings\%USER%\MyApplication\MyProgram.ini"

Where the environment variable %USER% holds the identity of the currently logged in user

You will have to change the detail to match your needs
Graham

[justaguy84]

hi.
first thank you for your help.
let me give you some more info...
i want to make a file on my desktop (lets call it desktop.bat) , that calls , or start 7 program that are in different directories (c:\work\1 | c:\work\2 | c:\work\3 ...)
the programs are .exe files and each have a settings.ini file in his directory

i tried opening each file with this code:

start c:\work\1\run.exe
start c:\work\2\run.exe
but that makes 1 settings.ini file in my desktop

i have also tried to make a .bat file in side the directory ( start c:\work\1\start.bat - which had the code from before ) but that gave me the same result.

basically , i want to make a file , that when i run it , the 7 program will open , each with it's own settings.ini file in his directory.

again thank you for your help.

[macdad-]

what versions of dos have the "Start" command?

[WillyW]

what versions of dos have the "Start" command?

See:
http://www.computerhope.com/starthlp.htm
for the answer to that.

Also see:
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,33325.0.html
, the third entry under "When posting make sure to keep the below guidelines in mind."         
We really don't mind new threads -  go for it. 


Lastly,  I see this is only your 9th post here,   -   Welcome to Computer Hope.           

[macdad-]

thanks for the welcome

[justaguy84]

any one have an answer ?
a no can do is also one.

thanks

[Sidewinder]

any one have an answer ?

We really don't have enough information. The only thing we know for sure is that you're running Windows. Maybe this will help, I suspect you might need to be logged into the directory where in the ini file can be found:

Code: [Select]

@echo off
for /l %%x in (1,1,7) do (
cd /d c:\work\%%x
start c:\work\%%x\run.exe
)

Any reason you need to have all jobs running simultaneously?

[justaguy84]

Hi, and thank you for your help.
each of the 8 ( i have add one..) programs connects to each of my websites with the admin user name and password (which is saved in the settings.ini so it wont ask you the next time you open )
each of them checks some impotent information in my accounts.
so instead of opening each one by itself , i want to open them all together so i can have a greater look at my websites.
i don't know much in ms-dos but i understand about pc , and windows , so just ask what you need and i will add the info.

also i just tried you suggestion , and it WORKS !!!!.
i needed to change some lines in my code and folder names to fix some problems BUT IT WORKS  !!!

but that gave me a different problem.
each of the program name is different ( it has the name of my website ) so in each folder i did a start.bat file that just have the name of the program for the same folder.
so now my code fore the desktop file is :

Code: [Select]

@ECHO Off
cls
for /l %%x in (1,1,8) do (
cd /d c:\work\%%x
start c:\work\%%x\start.bat
)

and this is the code for the start.bat file:

Code: [Select]


@ECHO off

start ideas.com.check.exe

exit

so now all my programs opens as i want , with the user name and password already saved , but all of them opens one on top of the other.
can i make it to open in a specific location on my screen ( like at the top right corner and so on ...)

again if you need more info just ask and i will try to give you as much as i can.

and thank you a lot for you help

[electricmidget]

why dont you just type:

                @ECHO OFF
                START "" /MAX "C:/work/1"
                START "" /MAX "C:/work/2"
                etc.

for .exe files you usually don't have to type '1.exe', 1 is good enough 

did that help??

[justaguy84]

Hi,
this does not help me because it just makes each of the program display is a maximize windows.
each of the 9 program ( add another one  ) is in small size , so if i want all of them all to show on my screen with out me needing to move each program to see the other one it should all take up about half my screen from the top right corner to the bottom right corner.

again thank you all a lot for the help , at least the bigger problem is now solved ( the setting.ini problem - thanks again Sidewinder )

[Sidewinder]

can i make it to open in a specific location on my screen

Doubtful. The coordinates of the window when the program loads are probably hardcoded into the program. You might find some command line switches the programmer built into the program to allow you to control the vertical and horizontal positions. Many programs calculate the coordinate values based on each users screen width and height.

If the a shortcut for the program hosts the horizontal and vertical properties, you might be able to manipulate the numbers prior to each program call, but not with batch code. This would be an awful lot of work for so little payoff....better to manually move the windows around the screen.

You mentioned websites. It's possible to load multiple tabs into a browser from the command line with Firefox but not IE.

 

[justaguy84]

hi and thank you again for your help.
i do use Firefox and have all my website in one folder in my bookmark so it will open in tabs , but i still need to enter each website with the username and password ( which is saved in Firefox profile but still... ) and also i don't get a complete look as i need to changes tabs for each website.

never the less , i guess you right that it's too long and complex to make the window position code.

so i will move the programs for 5 second , no big deal , at least now i don't need to go in to each folder and open each program or start entering each username and password for each website  ....

 you really helped me a lot . thank you very much
if there is any way for me to help you or this web site just ask....