RE: [perl-win32-gui-users] Interacting with DOS Shell

[Sean H. <jal...@ho...>]

I looked into both these solutions.  I couldn't get Expect to work (I'll 
guess I'll have to wait for a Win32 version), and the problem with this 
other one is that DOS won't relinquish control back to the script until it 
has finished running - and since it's waiting for input, it never finishes.  
I discovered that I cam make it work if I use the console - DOS will wait 
for user input from the console, so you can enter it there.

I checked on the MSDN Library, and it seems that Windows starts an instance 
of a 'Virtual Machine' for each DOS prompt.  (This is to fool DOS into 
thinking it's the only thing running.)  What I need is some way to pipe info 
into and out of a VM - but I haven't found a way yet.  I've looked into 
pipes and threads and interprocess communication on the MSDN Library, but 
I've found nothing that works yet.

I've shelved this project for a while - I just applied for a job I'm very 
likely to get, so I won't have as much free time on my hands - and I'll get 
to write Perl!  (My last job laid me off - in fact, about 80% of their 
developers - a couple of months ago, but they had me writing PHP anyway.)  
Wish me luck!

>a more windows-ish way might be to open a new window that instructs the 
>user
>to input "something" with a textbox for their input and an OK button to
>accept, read in their input, and close the input window.

>Look into the Expect module.  (note: I'm not positive it is implemented in
>the Win32 environment - so forgive me if it is not..)

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