Retrieving Application Exit Code in MS-DOS Window

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows version 3.1

SUMMARY

Under Windows version 3.1, the value returned by an MS-DOS-based application is available to other applications in the system. Under Windows version 3.0, however, this value is not available; the exit code returned is always zero.

MORE INFORMATION

Windows supports an MS-DOS window in which to run MS-DOS (non-Windows) applications. The WINOLDAP module serves as an interface for the application and the remainder of the Windows environment. When the MS-DOS-based application terminates, WINOLDAP retrieves the application's exit code. Then WINOLDAP itself terminates, using the retrieved exit code as its own exit code.

An application developed for the Windows environment can retrieve the exit code from WINOLDAP. The application defines a call-back function and calls the NotifyRegister function in the tool helper library (TOOLHELP.DLL). The call-back function will receive an NFY_EXITTASK message containing the exit code each time a task terminates.

The Windows 3.1 WINOLDAP module can return a number of error codes which are listed and explained in the "Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit Programmer's Reference Volume 1," page 277.