winapi - how can I run an external program In C?

Question

How can I run an external program in C? For example application programs like a browser, word, Notepad, etc. Also how can I set a certain size of the window of the external application program? For example a window size of 300 X 300 pixels.

Answer 1

The standard way is system -- works pretty much anywhere, but gives you no control over how the child process runs.

In ascending order of control (and complexity), Windows provides: WinExec, ShellExecute, ShellExecuteEx, and CreateProcess. With CreateProcess you pass a STARTUPINFO or STARTUPINFOEX structure. Either way, you can specify the starting position and/or size for the child window (though the child process can and may move/resize its window before it's even visible).

You might also want to consider Boost Process, which isn't accepted as an official part of Boost, but provides a bit more control than system, while remaining reasonably portable to a fair number of the most widely used systems (including both Windows and anything reasonably POSIX-like, such as Linux or OS X).