Execute Process Task using StandardInputVariable

Greetings!

I am using a Excute Process Task calling a selfwritten EXE and I'm trying to pass a command line argument to it. The code for the EXE is quit simple:

Public Sub Main()
Try
Dim info As String = My.Application.CommandLineArgs.Item(0)
MessageBox.Show("Info:" & info)
Catch ex As Exception
MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString)
End Try
End Sub

According to the help files there are two ways to pass an argument, using the property Arguments, which I guess is for hard-coded stuff, and the StandardInputVariable for passing dynamic info.

When I use the Arguments property everything works fine. I get the info messagebox with correct data. But when I leave that blank and instead use the StandardInputVariable property setting it to my package variable User::Info then I crash into an exception meaning that no arguments existed (array is out of bonds).

The variable User::Info was at first filled from a previous SSIS task and using the OnPreExecute breakpoint I verified that it contained a stringvalue. I then hardcoded a string value into the variable, but nothing helps. The task refuses to start my EXE with the data in the StandardInputVariable as an argument.

Why is this not working?

When you use the StandardInputVariable property setting, are you declaring the StandardInputVariable property in the code for the EXE?|||

I am not sure what you mean by this. The StandardInputVariable is just a property in the SSIS task Execute Process. It's supposed to just pass the content of the selected variable as a start-up argument to the selected EXE. Is there some kind of a global variable inside my VS2005 VB project that automatically gets some info that is not passed as an argument? Or can I declare something like that?

All my EXE file should need to do is look at the arguments (the first only in this case) passed to it like this:

Dim arg as string = My.Application.CommandLineArgs.Item(0)

If i use the Argument propert it works fine. But that is for hard coded start-up values like standard /H for help or /Q for quiet. I need to pass a dynamic value and that's what StandardInputVariable is for. I have verified that my SSIS variable contains the correct data. Yet no argument is delivered to the EXE file.

|||

Use an expression on the Arguments property for passing both static and dynamic command line arguments to an execute process task.

By using an expression, you can incorporate any combination. For example, the expression on Arguments could be: "/Q" + @.User::FilePath

The StandardInputVariable is a task property pointing to a variable who's contents will be streamed in on the process' standard input file handle. If you log the Execute Process specific event entitled "ExecuteProcessVariableRouting", and make use of the StandardInputVariable task property, note that that the log message says, "Routing stdin from variable "User:<your variable here>".

|||

It turns out that you need to include a call to Console.Readline, as follows:

Dim info As String = Console.Readline

And, of course, make sure that the StandardInputVariable property is set to the package variable containing the value you want to pass. I also left the Auguments property setting blank when I tested this procedure.

Carla

|||

Thank you very much. This solved the problem.

I never thought of using Console since my application is a Windows Forms executable, but it worked like a charm.

|||

Please!

Is it possible to link two o more system variables (StartTime + UserName) in a user variable?

I tried Name=User::MyVar and Value=System::StartTime + "Test" but when I try to read by using your

Dim Info As String = Console.ReadLine

it give me the string "System::StartTime + "Test""

Thanks in advance.

Alex.|||

Not sure if I completely understand your question, but it sounds like you need to use an expression for your variable. You can do this by setting the EvaluateAsExpression property of the variable to TRUE, and then enter your expression (i.e., User::MyVar + User::MyVar2) into the Expression property.

You may need to cast the variables to concatenate them. The expression builder will help you validate that the expression is correct.