Linux-Noob Forums

OK, here's a bit of background on what I'm trying to do. I need to show someone a PHP/MySQL powered website (built and tested in Linux) without uploading to a server. The only system I can get to is a laptop running Windows XP Pro, and I don't want to boot a live Linux distro.

I have installed Apache/PHP/MySQL on this laptop and they are talking to each other OK. What I want to build is a short batch script that will start MySQL, and then Apache and then launch a browser to view automatically without fumbling around in the CLI. I am running Apache *not* as a service. Here is my code so far:

Code:
@echo off

echo Now starting test server, please wait...

echo.

echo.

echo.

rem pause

echo Starting database server...

echo.

net start mysql

rem pause

echo.

echo Starting web server...

echo.

"C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\bin\apache.exe"

pause

echo.

echo Now loading Internet Explorer to show the page...

rem pause

echo.

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" "http://127.0.0.1:8080"

echo.

echo The server is now started, please go to your Internet Explorer window to view the page

echo.

echo.

echo.

echo ===========================================================

echo To stop the servers, please press any key.

echo (Apache must be stopped manually by closing the CMD window)

echo ===========================================================

pause>nul

echo.

echo Stopping database server...

echo.

net stop mysql

echo.

echo Done.

echo.

echo Press any key to quit.

pause>nul

The problem is, the line

Code:
"C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\bin\apache.exe"

just causes the script to hang, as Apache is running in the same CMD window. Is there a way like Bourne Shell's & to run it in the background? I have tried using the start command, but it doesn't seem to start the server properly.

Output of the script:

[Image: cmd.jpg]

Any help would be appreciated,

(PS - IE isn't my choice ;) )

use a separate batch script to start apache, and call that script from within the first one

such as

Code:
@echo off

echo Now starting test server, please wait...

echo.

echo.

echo.

rem pause

echo Starting database server...

echo.

net start mysql

rem pause

call start_apache.bat

start_apache. bat could simply be like so

Code:
echo.

echo Starting web server...

echo.

"C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\bin\apache.exe"

echo.

cheers

anyweb

This didn't work, because once again the script start_apache.bat doesn't end until Apache terminates - and Apache only terminates when it is manually killed.

I worked out how to do it though, apparently the start command takes the window title of the new window as the first argument and the command second (how intuitive o_O ), so when i ran:

Code:
start "C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\bin\apache.exe"

I was simply creating a blank command window with the title of C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\bin\apache.exe, that didn't run anything, so changing the line to:

Code:
start "Apache (do NOT close until finished)" "C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\bin\apache.exe"

sets the title of the window to Apache (do NOT close until finished), and then actually runs the command inside that new window.

Thanks for the help anyway, anyweb. :)

hybrid

anyweb

hybrid