DllCall Problem

[fuwi]

Edit: Problem solved! see my last post!

==========================================================

; drive formatter

;

; works with AutoIt3 vers. 3.1.1.1.65 and older

; dont work with with AutoIt3 vers. 3.1.1.1.66 and newer !!

$DriveNumber = 0 ; 0 = A: 1 = B: 2 = first HD 3 = ...

$Capacity = 0 ; 0 = default drive capacity

$FormatType = 1 ; 0 = full format, 1 = quick format

DllCall("SHELL32.DLL", "long", "SHFormatDrive", _

"hwnd", 0xFFFF, _

"long", $DriveNumber, _

"long", $Capacity, _

"long", $FormatType)

; has something changed in 3.1.1.1.66 und up?

Edited November 18, 2005 by fuwi

[Zedna]

; drive formatter

;

; works with AutoIt3 vers. 3.1.1.1.65 and older

; dont work with with AutoIt3 vers. 3.1.1.1.66 and newer !!

What means "don't work"?

Is there any error message or @error after DllCall is not 0?

You also could add _GetLastErrorMessage() after DllCall()

DllCall(...)
If @error Then
    _GetLastErrorMessage("After DLLCall")
End If

;===============================================
;   _GetLastErrorMessage($DisplayMsgBox="")
;   Format the last windows error as a string and return it
;   if $DisplayMsgBox <> "" Then it will display a message box w/ the error
;   Return      Window's error as a string
;===============================================
Func _GetLastErrorMessage($DisplayMsgBox="")
    Local $ret,$s
    Local $p    = DllStructCreate("char[4096]")
    Local Const $FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM     = 0x00001000

    If @error Then Return ""

    $ret    = DllCall("Kernel32.dll","int","GetLastError")

    $ret    = DllCall("kernel32.dll","int","FormatMessage",_
                        "int",$FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM,_
                        "ptr",0,_
                        "int",$ret[0],_
                        "int",0,_
                        "ptr",DllStructGetPtr($p),_
                        "int",4096,_
                        "ptr",0)
    $s  = DllStructGetData($p,1)
    DllStructDelete($p)
    If $DisplayMsgBox <> "" Then MsgBox(0,"_GetLastErrorMessage",$DisplayMsgBox & @CRLF & $s)
    return $s
EndFunc

Edited November 17, 2005 by Zedna

[jpm]

; drive formatter

;

; works with AutoIt3 vers. 3.1.1.1.65 and older

; dont work with with AutoIt3 vers. 3.1.1.1.66 and newer !!

$DriveNumber = 0 ; 0 = A: 1 = B: 2 = first HD 3 = ...

$Capacity = 0 ; 0 = default drive capacity

$FormatType = 1 ; 0 = full format, 1 = quick format

DllCall("SHELL32.DLL", "long", "SHFormatDrive", _

"hwnd", 0xFFFF, _

"long", $DriveNumber, _

"long", $Capacity, _

"long", $FormatType)

; has something changed in 3.1.1.1.66 und up?

If it is an syntax error , yes continuation line need to have a blank before the underscore

[Valik]

The way HWND's are handled has changed at that time but I don't know why that is affecting your code. Your code should of never worked since you are clearly ignoring the documentation for the SHFormatDrive:

hwnd

[in]The handle of the parent window of the dialog. The Format dialog must have a parent window; therefore, this parameter cannot be NULL.

Don't try to beat the system by passing in a non-null but invalid HWND. Obtain a valid handle to something (The Desktop?) and pass it. If doing that still does not work, then I'll look further into why the behavior has changed.

[fuwi]

@Zedna

"dont work" -> the script terminates immediatly, nothing happens, @error is 0

"works" -> the MS Format-GUI is starting (same as you rightclick on 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) and select "Format...")

@jpm

yes, there blanks before the underscore

[tonedeaf]

I didn't check your script but I've this script working since release 3.1.0.

**DON'T CLICK THE FORMAT BUTTON**

_ShowFormatDialog("C")

Func _ShowFormatDialog($sDriveLetter)
    Local $SHFD_CAPACITY_DEFAULT = 0
    Local $SHMT_FORMAT_QUICK = 1 ;Quick format
    Local $SHMT_FORMAT_FULL = 0 ;Full format
    Local $iLetter
    
    $iLetter = Asc($sDriveLetter) - 65
    DllCall("shell32.dll", "long", "SHFormatDrive", "hwnd", 0, "int", $iLetter, _
            "int", $SHFD_CAPACITY_DEFAULT, "int", $SHMT_FORMAT_QUICK)
EndFunc

[fuwi]

Problem solved!

@tonedeaf

I changed "hwnd" from 0xffff to 0 as in your script.

Now it works with all AutoIt3 versions!

But i think, 0 is also not a valid handle,

see AutoIt3 Help - Function Reference - Function HWnd - Return Value:

Failure - If the HWND does not denote a valid window,

a 0 (NULL) HWND will be returned and @error set to 1.

I have solved now my problem (many thanks to Valik for the focus to the handle-problem):

later this DllCall-code will be part of a AutoIt-GUI, so i have made this prototype

for testing. The value of "hwnd" in the DllCall is now the handle of my AutoIt-GUI.

This works now with all AutoIt3 versions:

#include <GUIConstants.au3>

$DriveNumber = 0; 0 = A: 1 = B: 2 = C: 3 = ...
$Capacity = 0   ; 0 = default drive capacity
$FormatType = 1 ; 0 = full format, 1 = quick format

$MyGuiHandle = GUICreate("Format-GUI", 210, 80)
$Label = GUICtrlCreateLabel("Test, Test, Test", 10, 10)
$FormatID  = GUICtrlCreateButton("Format", 10, 50, 50, 20)
$ExitID = GUICtrlCreateButton("Exit", 150, 50, 50, 20)

GUISetState() ; display the GUI

Do
   $msg = GUIGetMsg()
   
      Select
         Case $msg= $FormatID
            DllCall("SHELL32.DLL", "long", "SHFormatDrive", _
                     "hwnd", $MyGuiHandle, _
                     "long", $DriveNumber, _
                     "long", $Capacity, _
                     "long", $FormatType)

         Case $msg= $ExitID
                     Exit
         Case $msg= $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
                     Exit
      EndSelect

Until $msg = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE or $msg = $ExitID

Many thanks to the AutoIt3 community!

[stealthf117jm]

--> SHFormatDrive <--

Thank you this is exactly what I was looking for.

FYI if anyone wants more information on it: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms647748.aspx

I didn't see anything there or when i searched the forums about other methods of formatting disks besides opening a console window and manually doing it. This is what I've been doing until I found this.

I know I can have AutoIt select "File System" type and click "Start" & "Ok" to format, but are there any other methods of formatting a drive primarily to get no prompts and having the parameters for the file system type? From the page above it doesn't look like this method supports these types of features.

Edited June 8, 2007 by stealthf117jm

[stealthf117jm]

Are there any other methods of formatting a drive primarily to get no prompts and having the parameters for the file system type? From the page above it doesn't look like this method supports these types of features.

Originally when I searched for DOS commands to format I did not find a silent method of formatting. I just looked again found this:

http://www.computing.net/dos/wwwboard/forum/7671.html

Undocumented Format Switches

To format without prompts use:-

Format a: /autotest

be careful I've been told this can format your Hard Disk without prompts.

To format without prompts but ask for a volume label use:-

Format a: /backup

Hope this is of some use to somebody

On the current versions of Windows console I could not get /autotest to function, but /backup worked great, and if you supply a volume name in the command you get no prompts at all and can be ran as:

#include <Process.au3>

_RunDOS("format {volume name} V: /FS:{file system} /V:{volume label} /X [b]/backup[/b]")

Odd that such switches would exists but not be listed when you format /? so people can actually use them