How To Replace IsTask() with GetExitCodeProcess()

This article was previously published under Q108228

In Windows 3.1, the application programming interface (API) IsTask() can be used to determine whether a process is still running or whether it has terminated. As the help file indicates, this function is obsolete in the Win32 API.

To get this functionality through the Win32 API, use the API GetExitCodeProcess(). This function takes the handle as the first parameter and returns the exit code or STILL_ACTIVE in the second parameter:

   BOOL GetExitCodeProcess(hProcess, lpdwExitCode)
		

   HANDLE hProcess;
   LPDWORD lpdwExitCode;
		

As an alternative, you can also use WaitForSingleObject(). Pass the process handle as the first parameter and a timeout value for the second parameter:

   DWORD WaitForSingleObject(hObject, dwTimeout)
		

   HANDLE hObject;
   DWORD dwTimeout;
		

The process handle is signaled when the process terminates. Pass in 0 (zero) for the timeout if you would like to poll or start another thread to wait with an INFINITE timeout value.