ShellExecute in C#

Question

_{Thursday, October 22, 2009 11:03 PM}

Hey guys,

I'm trying to call the Win32 API ShellExecute from my C# application. I'm aware that i need to use [DllImport("Shell32.dll")] though I'm not sure how to go about doing so. Help please?

(It's a Windows Forms application if that is of any help.)

• TheNobody

All replies (4)

_{Friday, October 23, 2009 2:47 PM ✅Answered}

Yes but i need to use the "SW_HIDE" parameter which isn't supported (at least from what i saw). I got it working anyway.

[DllImport("Shell32.dll")]
public static extern int ShellExecuteA(IntPtr hwnd, string lpOperation, string lpFile, string lpParameters, string lpDirecotry, int nShowCmd);

_{Thursday, October 22, 2009 11:16 PM | 2 votes}

Let's start with: why?  Process.Start() already calls ShellExecute() by default unless you use ProcessStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false.  Fwiw, you find the required declarations at pinvoke.net
Hans Passant.

_{Friday, October 23, 2009 3:42 PM | 1 vote}

Sure it is, ProcessStartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden.  Well, I tried.
Hans Passant.

_{Friday, October 23, 2009 4:08 PM}

You'll get into trouble if you use:

process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;

and also must have:

process.StartInfo.UserName = [UserName];