***autocad shell active***

[DRW_CAD]

Not sure if this is the correct place for this but...

I'm creating a series of "Help files" palettes. They consist of SHELL commands that launch either a PDF or an MP4. 

I'm using the following macros to launch them: 

^C^C SHELL"Using client Xref Title Borders.pdf";

then the various files are accessed from a mapped support directory. 

It works great with the MP4s but with the PDFs, unless Adobe reader is already open, it leaves a command prompt open with ***autocad shell active*** at the top. 

I feel like this should be easy but... I haven't been able to get that to close after the PDF opens. Any thoughts appreciated. 

[jwhite]

I use HTML help files with this macro:

^C^C(startapp "C:/Program Files/Internet Explorer/IEXPLORE.EXE" "path&filename.htm")

You can try using reader with  PDFs instead or save them to HTML.

[DannyNL · Accepted solution]

Create and load this LISP

(defun ShellOpen (SO_File / SO_Shell)
   (if
      (and
         (= (type SO_File) 'STR)
         (setq SO_File (findfile SO_File))
      )
      (progn
        (setq SO_Shell (vlax-get-or-create-object "Shell.Application"))
        (vlax-invoke SO_Shell 'Open SO_File)
        (vlax-release-object SO_Shell)
      )
   )
)

And use ^C^C(ShellOpen "YourFile") to open the PDF. Make sure the PDF file can be found directly by including the path or through your defined support paths. This function will make use of the Windows file association and try to open the file with the registered application

[DRW_CAD]

Thanks! That did the trick. 

[DRW_CAD]

Thanks for your input. I contemplated this but I didn't want to go that route unless I couldn't resolve the issue with PDF. 

[DannyNL]

You're welcome. Glad I could help