Library tutorials & articles

API Programming Series #4

By Sreejath S. Warrier, published on 20 Mar 2003

Introduction

This article deals with hiding an Application from the Windows task list. As developers, we often feel the need to run certain processes in the background that provide support services to another application. In such cases it is desirable that this support application doesn't show up in the Alt-Ctrl-Del list (also called the "hit-list") as this may enable the user to kill it causing an application/system crash. In this article we'll discuss how to achieve this in a VB application using API programming.

Note 1: This contents of this article applies to Win9x/Me based machines only. This will NOT work on WinNT/2k based machines.

Note 2: If you are new to Win32 API Programming using Visual Basic, then please go through my introductory Articles to get a basic understanding of what Win32 API is and how you can use it from within Visual basic. Article 1 deals with the concept of Win32 API Programming as applied to Visual Basic and Article 2 explains how to access and use the Win32 API from within VB.

Comments

Rishi Mishra

12 Aug 2008 at 09:16

I have got a Problem in code. Unable to find an entry point named 'RegisterServiceProcess' in DLL 'kernel32.dll'.
yumicken

04 Nov 2004 at 23:14

i got teh same problem!!!
MathiasRav

25 Mar 2004 at 14:12

I get the error: 453: Can't find DLL entry point RegisterServiceProcess in kernel32.
What does this mean?
How do I fix it?

You have written this:
"As always, mail me if you have any comments or questions"
How can we email you, when your email is hidden?
Sreejath S. Warrier

24 Jul 2003 at 07:55

Yes, it is.
The reason I didnt code it that way was to keep the example simpler, though I admit that this did make it a little longer and less elegant.
Primarily, I wanted to focus on the API call I wanted to explain.
However, now that I see it in black and white, I kinda like it.
So may be I'll go ahead and modify my code.
Thanks
Pablo Gener

10 Jun 2003 at 17:57

Private Sub MakeUnmake(MakeOrNot As Boolean)

Dim pid As Long
Dim regserv As Long

If MakeOrNot = True Then
pid = GetCurrentProcessId()
regserv = RegisterServiceProcess(pid, RSPSIMPLESERVICE)
Else
pid = GetCurrentProcessId()
regserv = RegisterServiceProcess(pid, RSPUNREGISTERSERVICE)
End If

End Sub
James Crowley

17 Apr 2003 at 06:08

eh?
peyman_dev

16 Apr 2003 at 02:50

vc
rakan maked alhneiti

07 Apr 2003 at 15:59

i think the four series articles were very good guide to help me have more knowledge about visual basic API programming i tried to find some but didnt find any but here.
i really thank you for this arguement but next time use another examples than the allapi viewr?? )
but anyway i read all the allapi viewer api functions and i know whats there right now and it s really good in addition of being confusing
Developer Fusion Bot

01 Jan 1999 at 00:00

This thread is for discussions of API Programming Series #4.