Note: This is a copy of an article that I did not want to lose so I copied it here. Mykle Hoban has a 'use freely' message so it's OK if you wish to use this in your code. It's based on C++ Builder using the Win32 platform.
In this article, I will explain how to spawn a console application and redirect its standard input/output using anonymous pipes. An anonymous pipe is a pipe that goes only in one direction (read pipe, write pipe, etc.). Maybe you are asking, "why would I ever need to do this sort of thing?" One example would be a Windows telnet server, where you spawn a shell and listen on a port and send and receive data between the shell and the socket client. (Windows does not really have a built-in remote shell).
First, we should talk about pipes. A pipe in Windows is simply a method of communication, often between process. The SDK defines a pipe as "a communication conduit with two ends; a process with a handle to one end can communicate with a process having a handle to the other end." In our case, we are using "anonymous" pipes, one-way pipes that "transfer data between a parent process and a child process or between two child processes of the same parent process." It's easiest to imagine a pipe as its namesake. An actual pipe running between processes that can carry data.
We are using anonymous pipes because the console app we are spawning is a child process. We use the CreatePipe function which will create an anonymous pipe and return a read handle and a write handle. We will create two pipes, on for stdin and one for stdout. We will then monitor the read end of the stdout pipe to check for display on our child process. Every time there is something availabe for reading, we will display it in our app. Consequently, we check for input in our app and send it off to the write end of the stdin pipe.
//------------Sample using CreateProcess and Anonymous Pipes-----------------
//---------------------childspawn.cpp----------------------------------------
//---------------------use freely--------------------------------------------
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <string.h>
#pragma hdrstop
#include <condefs.h>
#define bzero(a) memset(a,0,sizeof(a)) //easier -- shortcut
bool IsWinNT() //check if we're running NT
{
OSVERSIONINFO osv;
osv.dwOSVersionInfoSize = sizeof(osv);
GetVersionEx(&osv);
return (osv.dwPlatformId == VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT);
}
void ErrorMessage(char *str) //display detailed error info
{
LPVOID msg;
FormatMessage(
FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM,
NULL,
GetLastError(),
MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), // Default language
(LPTSTR) &msg,
0,
NULL
);
printf("%s: %s\n",str,msg);
LocalFree(msg);
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void main()
{
char buf[1024]; //i/o buffer
STARTUPINFO si;
SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES sa;
SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR sd; //security information for pipes
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
HANDLE newstdin,newstdout,read_stdout,write_stdin; //pipe handles
if (IsWinNT()) //initialize security descriptor (Windows NT)
{
InitializeSecurityDescriptor(&sd,SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR_REVISION);
SetSecurityDescriptorDacl(&sd, true, NULL, false);
sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = &sd;
}
else sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;
sa.nLength = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
sa.bInheritHandle = true; //allow inheritable handles
if (!CreatePipe(&newstdin,&write_stdin,&sa,0)) //create stdin pipe
{
ErrorMessage("CreatePipe");
getch();
return;
}
if (!CreatePipe(&read_stdout,&newstdout,&sa,0)) //create stdout pipe
{
ErrorMessage("CreatePipe");
getch();
CloseHandle(newstdin);
CloseHandle(write_stdin);
return;
}
GetStartupInfo(&si); //set startupinfo for the spawned process
/*
The dwFlags member tells CreateProcess how to make the process.
STARTF_USESTDHANDLES validates the hStd* members. STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
validates the wShowWindow member.
*/
si.dwFlags = STARTF_USESTDHANDLES|STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
si.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
si.hStdOutput = newstdout;
si.hStdError = newstdout; //set the new handles for the child process
si.hStdInput = newstdin;
char app_spawn[] = "d:\\winnt\\system32\\cmd.exe"; //sample, modify for your
//system
//spawn the child process
if (!CreateProcess(app_spawn,NULL,NULL,NULL,TRUE,CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE,
NULL,NULL,&si,&pi))
{
ErrorMessage("CreateProcess");
getch();
CloseHandle(newstdin);
CloseHandle(newstdout);
CloseHandle(read_stdout);
CloseHandle(write_stdin);
return;
}
unsigned long exit=0; //process exit code
unsigned long bread; //bytes read
unsigned long avail; //bytes available
bzero(buf);
for(;;) //main program loop
{
GetExitCodeProcess(pi.hProcess,&exit); //while the process is running
if (exit != STILL_ACTIVE)
break;
PeekNamedPipe(read_stdout,buf,1023,&bread,&avail,NULL);
//check to see if there is any data to read from stdout
if (bread != 0)
{
bzero(buf);
if (avail > 1023)
{
while (bread >= 1023)
{
ReadFile(read_stdout,buf,1023,&bread,NULL); //read the stdout pipe
printf("%s",buf);
bzero(buf);
}
}
else {
ReadFile(read_stdout,buf,1023,&bread,NULL);
printf("%s",buf);
}
}
if (kbhit()) //check for user input.
{
bzero(buf);
*buf = (char)getche();
//printf("%c",*buf);
WriteFile(write_stdin,buf,1,&bread,NULL); //send it to stdin
if (*buf == '\r') {
*buf = '\n';
printf("%c",*buf);
WriteFile(write_stdin,buf,1,&bread,NULL); //send an extra newline char,
//if necessary
}
}
}
CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
CloseHandle(newstdin); //clean stuff up
CloseHandle(newstdout);
CloseHandle(read_stdout);
CloseHandle(write_stdin);
}
//----------------------------EOF--------------------------------------------
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
First, we should talk about pipes. A pipe in Windows is simply a method of communication, often between process. The SDK defines a pipe as "a communication conduit with two ends; a process with a handle to one end can communicate with a process having a handle to the other end." In our case, we are using "anonymous" pipes, one-way pipes that "transfer data between a parent process and a child process or between two child processes of the same parent process." It's easiest to imagine a pipe as its namesake. An actual pipe running between processes that can carry data.
We are using anonymous pipes because the console app we are spawning is a child process. We use the CreatePipe function which will create an anonymous pipe and return a read handle and a write handle. We will create two pipes, on for stdin and one for stdout. We will then monitor the read end of the stdout pipe to check for display on our child process. Every time there is something availabe for reading, we will display it in our app. Consequently, we check for input in our app and send it off to the write end of the stdin pipe.
//------------Sample using CreateProcess and Anonymous Pipes-----------------
//---------------------childspawn.cpp----------------------------------------
//---------------------use freely--------------------------------------------
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <string.h>
#pragma hdrstop
#include <condefs.h>
#define bzero(a) memset(a,0,sizeof(a)) //easier -- shortcut
bool IsWinNT() //check if we're running NT
{
OSVERSIONINFO osv;
osv.dwOSVersionInfoSize = sizeof(osv);
GetVersionEx(&osv);
return (osv.dwPlatformId == VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT);
}
void ErrorMessage(char *str) //display detailed error info
{
LPVOID msg;
FormatMessage(
FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM,
NULL,
GetLastError(),
MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), // Default language
(LPTSTR) &msg,
0,
NULL
);
printf("%s: %s\n",str,msg);
LocalFree(msg);
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void main()
{
char buf[1024]; //i/o buffer
STARTUPINFO si;
SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES sa;
SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR sd; //security information for pipes
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
HANDLE newstdin,newstdout,read_stdout,write_stdin; //pipe handles
if (IsWinNT()) //initialize security descriptor (Windows NT)
{
InitializeSecurityDescriptor(&sd,SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR_REVISION);
SetSecurityDescriptorDacl(&sd, true, NULL, false);
sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = &sd;
}
else sa.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;
sa.nLength = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
sa.bInheritHandle = true; //allow inheritable handles
if (!CreatePipe(&newstdin,&write_stdin,&sa,0)) //create stdin pipe
{
ErrorMessage("CreatePipe");
getch();
return;
}
if (!CreatePipe(&read_stdout,&newstdout,&sa,0)) //create stdout pipe
{
ErrorMessage("CreatePipe");
getch();
CloseHandle(newstdin);
CloseHandle(write_stdin);
return;
}
GetStartupInfo(&si); //set startupinfo for the spawned process
/*
The dwFlags member tells CreateProcess how to make the process.
STARTF_USESTDHANDLES validates the hStd* members. STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
validates the wShowWindow member.
*/
si.dwFlags = STARTF_USESTDHANDLES|STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
si.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
si.hStdOutput = newstdout;
si.hStdError = newstdout; //set the new handles for the child process
si.hStdInput = newstdin;
char app_spawn[] = "d:\\winnt\\system32\\cmd.exe"; //sample, modify for your
//system
//spawn the child process
if (!CreateProcess(app_spawn,NULL,NULL,NULL,TRUE,CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE,
NULL,NULL,&si,&pi))
{
ErrorMessage("CreateProcess");
getch();
CloseHandle(newstdin);
CloseHandle(newstdout);
CloseHandle(read_stdout);
CloseHandle(write_stdin);
return;
}
unsigned long exit=0; //process exit code
unsigned long bread; //bytes read
unsigned long avail; //bytes available
bzero(buf);
for(;;) //main program loop
{
GetExitCodeProcess(pi.hProcess,&exit); //while the process is running
if (exit != STILL_ACTIVE)
break;
PeekNamedPipe(read_stdout,buf,1023,&bread,&avail,NULL);
//check to see if there is any data to read from stdout
if (bread != 0)
{
bzero(buf);
if (avail > 1023)
{
while (bread >= 1023)
{
ReadFile(read_stdout,buf,1023,&bread,NULL); //read the stdout pipe
printf("%s",buf);
bzero(buf);
}
}
else {
ReadFile(read_stdout,buf,1023,&bread,NULL);
printf("%s",buf);
}
}
if (kbhit()) //check for user input.
{
bzero(buf);
*buf = (char)getche();
//printf("%c",*buf);
WriteFile(write_stdin,buf,1,&bread,NULL); //send it to stdin
if (*buf == '\r') {
*buf = '\n';
printf("%c",*buf);
WriteFile(write_stdin,buf,1,&bread,NULL); //send an extra newline char,
//if necessary
}
}
}
CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
CloseHandle(newstdin); //clean stuff up
CloseHandle(newstdout);
CloseHandle(read_stdout);
CloseHandle(write_stdin);
}
//----------------------------EOF--------------------------------------------
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
