Spawning Processes in AngelScript

Here’s an idiomatic AngelScript example that demonstrates spawning processes:

// Import necessary modules
import system;
import string;

void main()
{
    // Simple command execution
    print("Executing 'date' command:\n");
    int exitCode = system::execute("date");
    print("Exit code: " + exitCode + "\n\n");

    // Command with arguments
    print("Executing 'ls -l' command:\n");
    array<string> args = {"ls", "-l"};
    exitCode = system::execute(args);
    print("Exit code: " + exitCode + "\n\n");

    // Capturing command output
    print("Capturing output of 'echo Hello, AngelScript!' command:\n");
    string output;
    exitCode = system::execute("echo Hello, AngelScript!", output);
    print("Output: " + output);
    print("Exit code: " + exitCode + "\n\n");

    // Handling command errors
    print("Executing non-existent command:\n");
    exitCode = system::execute("non_existent_command");
    print("Exit code: " + exitCode + "\n");
}

This AngelScript example demonstrates how to spawn and interact with external processes. Let’s break down the key concepts:

1. We import the necessary modules: system for process execution and string for string manipulation.

2. The system::execute() function is used to run external commands. It returns the exit code of the process.

3. We demonstrate three ways of using system::execute():

   • With a simple command string
   • With an array of arguments
   • Capturing the output of a command

4. Error handling is shown by attempting to execute a non-existent command and checking the exit code.

To run this script:

1. Save the code in a file with a .as extension (e.g., spawn_processes.as).
2. Make sure you have an AngelScript interpreter or runtime environment set up.
3. Execute the script using your AngelScript runtime.

Note that AngelScript doesn’t have built-in support for more advanced process management features like piping input/output or managing process handles. The system::execute() function provides a simple way to run commands and capture their output, but it’s more limited compared to some other languages.

This example demonstrates basic process spawning and interaction in AngelScript, which is suitable for simple scripting tasks and automation. For more complex process management, you might need to rely on external libraries or platform-specific APIs.