Closing a windows application after bat file runs - windows

Question

In my batch file I opened a file and printed its contents. Now I am trying to close the application. I used taskkill /f /im Ptedit50.exe from the cmd line and the program closes. I am having trouble getting it to work in the batch file. When I add that line after the print command they program exits and the print command never executes. If I insert the line at the end of the batch file the program does not exit. Where should I place the taskkill /f /im Ptedit50.exe line?
#echo off
setlocal
title My First batch file
echo Hello!
start Ptedit50.exe "c:\My Labels\PraxisBadge.lbx"
call :SendCtrlP "Name in Windowtitle"
exit /b
:SendCtrlP <app>
setlocal
set vbs=%Temp%\_.vbs
>%vbs% echo set s = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
>>%vbs% echo s.appactivate "%~1"
>>%vbs% echo s.sendkeys "^p"
>>%vbs% echo s.sendkeys "{ENTER}"
cscript //nologo %vbs%
if exist %vbs% del /f /q %vbs%
exit /b
taskkill /f /im Ptedit50.exe
exit /b
enter code here

Answer 1

Here is a Batch + JScript Hybrid example. I added a couple 2 second sleeps to allow the target program time to process the requests. Usually, applications launch a separate Print dialog, so I changed it to send the enter keypress to the Print dialog.
#if (#CodeSection == #Batch) #then
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: The first line in the script is...
:: in Batch, a valid IF command that does nothing.
:: in JScript, a conditional compilation IF statement that is false.
:: So the following section is omitted until the next "[at]end".
:: Note: the "[at]then" is required for Batch to prevent a syntax error.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Batch Section
#echo off
:: Open Labels
start Ptedit50.exe "c:\My Labels\PraxisBadge.lbx"
:: Wait 2 Seconds
ping 192.0.2.2 -n 1 -w 2000 >nul
:: Send Ctrl+P and Enter
CScript //E:JScript //Nologo "%~f0" "Name in Windowtitle" "^p"
CScript //E:JScript //Nologo "%~f0" "Print" "~"
:: Wait 2 Seconds
ping 192.0.2.2 -n 1 -w 2000 >nul
:: Kill Program
taskkill /f /im Ptedit50.exe
exit /b 0
:: End of Batch
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
#end
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// JScript Section
try
{
var WshShell = WScript.CreateObject('WScript.Shell');
var Title = WScript.Arguments.Item(0);
var Message = WScript.Arguments.Item(1);
WshShell.AppActivate(Title);
WshShell.SendKeys(Message);
WScript.Quit(0);
}
catch(e)
{
WScript.Echo(e);
WScript.Quit(1);
}
WScript.Quit(2);

Answer 2

What you want to achieve is from my perspective straight forward, so I would avoid usage of those setlocal, call and exit /b parts of your code as there is no real need in this code to jump there and back again rather than executing codes line by line.
I don't have your application to fully test it, but if I try it with notepad and text file following code is working for me:
#echo off
title My First batch file
echo Hello!
start notepad.exe test.txt
REM call :SendCtrlP "Name in Windowtitle"
:SendCtrlP <app>
REM setlocal
set vbs=%Temp%\my.vbs
>%vbs% echo set s = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
>>%vbs% echo s.appactivate "Name in Windowtitle"
>>%vbs% echo s.sendkeys "^p"
>>%vbs% echo s.sendkeys "{ENTER}"
cscript //nologo %vbs%
ping -n 5 localhost > NUL
if exist %vbs% del /f /q %vbs%
REM exit /b
taskkill /f /im notepad.exe
REM exit /b
echo enter code here
pause
I have REM'd your code intentionally for easier view what was removed.
This part is there in order to simulate wait/sleep on older or desktop OS systems.
ping -n 5 localhost > NUL
On server system this can be replaced by command sleep.
Seems that reason why it was not working for you is that you have actually killed your program before .vbs was able to print it out, therefore the sleep put in place and additionally as stated in the beginning usage of setlocal is not really necessary in such straight forward and simple batch files.
Hope this helps