How to wait for a shell process to finish before executing further code in VB6

The secret sauce needed to do this is the WaitForSingleObject function, which blocks execution of your application's process until the specified process completes (or times out). It's part of the Windows API, easily called from a VB 6 application after adding the appropriate declaration to your code.

That declaration would look something like this:

Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hHandle _
                            As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long

It takes two parameters: a handle to the process that you want to wait on, and the time-out interval (in milliseconds) that indicates the maximum amount of time that you want to wait. If you do not specify a time-out interval (a value of zero), the function does not wait and returns immediately. If you specify an infinite time-out interval, the function returns only when the process signals that it has completed.

Armed with that knowledge, the only task that remains is figuring out how to get a handle to the process that you started. That turns out to be pretty simple, and can be accomplished a number of different ways:

1. One possibility (and the way I'd do it) is by using the ShellExecuteEx function, also from the Windows API, as a drop-in replacement for the Shell function that is built into VB 6. This version is far more versatile and powerful, yet just as easily called using the appropriate declaration.

   It returns a handle to the process that it creates. All you have to do is pass that handle to the WaitForSingleObject function as the hHandle parameter, and you're in business. Execution of your application will be blocked (suspended) until the process that you've called terminates.

2. Another possibility is to use the CreateProcess function (once again, from the Windows API). This function creates a new process and its primary thread in the same security context as the calling process (i.e., your VB 6 application).

   Microsoft has published a knowledge base article detailing this approach that even provides a complete sample implementation. You can find that article here: How To Use a 32-Bit Application to Determine When a Shelled Process Ends.

3. Finally, perhaps the simplest approach yet is to take advantage of the fact that the built-in Shell function's return value is an application task ID. This is a unique number that identifies the program you started, and it can be passed to the OpenProcess function to obtain a process handle that can be passed to the WaitForSingleObject function.

   However, the simplicity of this approach does come at a cost. A very significant disadvantage is that it will cause your VB 6 application to become completely unresponsive. Because it will not be processing Windows messages, it will not respond to user interaction or even redraw the screen.

   The good folks over at VBnet have made complete sample code available in the following article: WaitForSingleObject: Determine when a Shelled App has Ended.
   _{I'd love to be able to reproduce the code here to help stave off link rot (VB 6 is getting up there in years now; there's no guarantee that these resources will be around forever), but the distribution license in the code itself appears to explicitly forbid that.}

There is no need to resort to the extra effort of calling CreateProcess(), etc. This more or less duplicates the old Randy Birch code though it wasn't based on his example. There are only so many ways to skin a cat.

Here we have a prepackaged Function for handy use, which also returns the exit code. Drop it into a static (.BAS) module or include it inline in a Form or Class.

Option Explicit

Private Const INFINITE = &HFFFFFFFF&
Private Const SYNCHRONIZE = &H100000
Private Const PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION = &H400&

Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" ( _
    ByVal hObject As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetExitCodeProcess Lib "kernel32" ( _
    ByVal hProcess As Long, _
    lpExitCode As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" ( _
    ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, _
    ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, _
    ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" ( _
    ByVal hHandle As Long, _
    ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long

Public Function ShellSync( _
    ByVal PathName As String, _
    ByVal WindowStyle As VbAppWinStyle) As Long
    'Shell and wait.  Return exit code result, raise an
    'exception on any error.
    Dim lngPid As Long
    Dim lngHandle As Long
    Dim lngExitCode As Long

    lngPid = Shell(PathName, WindowStyle)
    If lngPid <> 0 Then
        lngHandle = OpenProcess(SYNCHRONIZE _
                             Or PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION, 0, lngPid)
        If lngHandle <> 0 Then
            WaitForSingleObject lngHandle, INFINITE
            If GetExitCodeProcess(lngHandle, lngExitCode) <> 0 Then
                ShellSync = lngExitCode
                CloseHandle lngHandle
            Else
                CloseHandle lngHandle
                Err.Raise &H8004AA00, "ShellSync", _
                          "Failed to retrieve exit code, error " _
                        & CStr(Err.LastDllError)
            End If
        Else
            Err.Raise &H8004AA01, "ShellSync", _
                      "Failed to open child process"
        End If
    Else
        Err.Raise &H8004AA02, "ShellSync", _
                  "Failed to Shell child process"
    End If
End Function