Starts another program and returns its task ID.

Syntax

Shellid ( program [ , windowStyle ] )

Elements

program

A string expression whose value is the name of the program to run, including arguments. program can be the name of an executable file that uses a file name extension of BAT, COM, PIF, or EXE. You can omit the file name extension, and you can optionally include a complete path specification.

Using an internal DOS command name generates an error.

Optional. A number designating a valid window style, as specified in the following table.

Style	Description	Constant
1, 5, or 9	Normal with focus	SHELL_NORMAL_FOCUS
2	Minimized with focus (default)	SHELL_MIN_FOCUS
3	Maximized with focus	SHELL_MAX_FOCUS
4 or 8	Normal without focus	SHELL_NORMAL_NO_FOCUS
6 or 7	Minimized without focus	SHELL_MIN_NO_FOCUS

Return value

If the operating system is Windows or Macintosh, and LotusScript successfully starts program, Shellid returns the program’s task ID, a number that uniquely identifies the program. With other operating systems, if LotusScript successfully starts program, Shellid returns the number 33.

If LotusScript cannot start program, Shellid returns an error.

Usage

Shellid must be called from within an expression or an assignment statement, so that its return value is used.

After Shellid starts a program, LotusScript continues to execute the script without waiting to make sure the program has completed. You cannot be sure that a program started by Shellid has finished running before the rest of your script is executed.

ShellID is a restricted operation - make sure you have set runtime security level 2 or higher "Allow restricted operations".

This feature will spawn processes which may outlive the spawning process.

The "ID" returned from the function is so that you can terminate the program at a later time. If you don't want this behavior, use Shell.

Example
See Also

LotusScript Language Reference: Q through T
Shell function

Glossary