create process problem

[Ke Li]

Hi All,
I am trying to call another software from my java program. And the
source code is:
Runtime r = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process p = null;
try {
p = r.exec("racer.exe");
}catch (Exception e) {
System.out.print(e.getMessage());
}
The software "racer.exe" must be started in MS-DOS environment and I
compile and execute my java program also in MS-DOS environment. Now
the problem is there is no error displayed when the program is
complied and executed. But actually the software "racer.exe" is not
activated. With the same code, I tried to call other software running
on Windows environment and it works. I don't know what the problem.
Does it because the software and my program both runs on MS-Dos
environment? Could you please give me some ideas?
Thanks a lot,
Best Regards,

[Jim Yingst]

Chances are there's an error message for you on the Process' error stream. This is something you have to read yourself with getErrorStream(). But this is best done from a separate thread, since you also (usually) need to read from standard output using getInputStream() and this may be simultaneous. A good solution is presented in this JavaWorld article on common exec() problems. Hope that helps...