Execute external program from Java (with cmd, Windows)

Question

I've done many research for executing an external program (e.g. iTunes) by some simple code, however the suggestions did never work. Sometimes nothing happend, sometimes I got this error message: English: Unable to find "Discord". Be sure the name is written correctly and try again.

My Code is the following:

try {
    String name = (String) "start " + table.getValueAt(table.getSelectedRow(), table.getSelectedColumn());
    ProcessBuilder p = new ProcessBuilder("cmd.exe", "cd /D %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%/Desktop", "/c", name);
    p.start();
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

In my example I get the name of the external program from a JTable, this part is working fine. The ProcessBuilder is changing the directory to the desktop first. Then the external program should be executed by the start <program name> command. With this code I get the mentioned error message.

If you have a solution with cmd, please include changing the directory to the desktop.

See ProcessBuilder#directory(File) for a better way to set the working directory — MadProgrammer
– MadProgrammer, Commented Jul 9, 2017 at 8:56

cello · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-09 09:01:16Z

1

You should pass each argument as a single entry to ProcessBuilder. In your current code, you sometimes take multiple arguments together (like cd /D %HOME...). Try passing every argument as it's own parameter, including the command to start and its argument:

String name = (String) table.getValueAt(table.getSelectedRow(), table.getSelectedColumn());
ProcessBuilder p = new ProcessBuilder("cmd.exe", "cd", "/D", "%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%/Desktop", "/c", "start", name);

answered Jul 9, 2017 at 9:01

cello

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1 Comment

K Mt. Over a year ago

Sadly it does not work, the same error message occurs.

Nodtem66 · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-09 09:26:22Z

According to: cmd.exe,

/D Ignore registry AutoRun commands HKLM | HKCU \Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun

Did you mean start.exe /D not cmd.exe /D?

and also they told that

If /C or /K is specified, then the remainder of the command line is processed as an immediate command in the new shell. Multiple commands separated by the command separator '&' or '&&' are accepted if surrounded by quotes.

Did you mean cmd.exe /C "cd %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\Desktop & Discord"?

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