Legacy Document

Inside Macintosh: Processes

Chapter 2 - Process Manager / Process Manager Reference

Routines / Launching Applications and Desk Accessories

LaunchApplication

You can use the LaunchApplication function to launch an application.

FUNCTION LaunchApplication (LaunchParams: LaunchPBPtr): OSErr;

LaunchParams

A pointer to a launch parameter block specifying information about the application to launch.

  --> launchBlockID		Integer		Extended block
  --> launchEPBLength		LongInt		Length of following fields
  --> launchFileFlags		Integer		Finder flags for the application file
  --> launchControlFlags	LaunchFlags	Flags for launch options
  --> launchAppSpec		FSSpecPtr	Location of application file to launch
  <-- launchProcessSN		ProcessSerialNumber
    						Process serial number
  <-- launchPreferredSize	LongInt		Preferred application partition size
  <-- launchMinimumSize 	LongInt		Minimum application partition size
  <-- launchAvailableSize	LongInt		Maximum available partition size
  --> launchAppParameters	AppParametersPtr
  						High-level event for launched application

DESCRIPTION

The LaunchApplication function launches the application from the specified file and returns the process serial number, preferred partition size, and minimum partition size if the application is successfully launched.

Note that if you launch another application without terminating your application, the launched application is not actually executed until you make a subsequent call to WaitNextEvent or EventAvail.

Set the launchContinue flag in the launchControlFlags field of the launch parameter block if you want your application to continue after the specified application is launched. If you do not set this flag, LaunchApplication terminates your application after launching the specified application, even if the launch fails.

ASSEMBLY-LANGUAGE INFORMATION

The trap macro and registers on entry and exit for LaunchApplication are

Trap macro
_Launch

Registers on entry
A0	Pointer to launch parameter block

Registers on exit
A0	Pointer to launch parameter block
D0	Result code

RESULT CODES

noErr	0	No error
memFullErr	-108	Not enough memory to allocate the partition size specified in the 'SIZE' resource
memFragErr	-601	Not enough room to launch application with special requirements
appModeErr	-602	Memory mode is 32-bit, but application is not 32-bit clean
appMemFullErr	-605	More memory is required for the partition size than the amount specified in the 'SIZE'resource
appIsDaemon	-606	Application runs only in the background, and launch flags don't allow background-only applications