Studio:How do I start non-blocking scripts which do not use the Reporter from a Perl script?

The reporter object is automatically instantiated when a script is started in studio. If none of the STRIDE objects need to be instantiated you can start a script extern to stride.

use Win32;

use Win32::API;

use Win32::Process;

use constant WIN32_STILL_RUNNING => 259;

my $processObject;

my $retValue = Win32::Process::Create(

 $processObject,
 $^X,
 "perl PATH_TO_MY_SCRIPT ARGUMENTS",
 0,
 NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS,
 ".") || die Win32::FormatMessage(Win32::GetLastError());

Once you have started the process this way, you can use GetExitCode to check if it is still running, as shown in the following example:

$processObject->GetExitCode($exitCode);

if ($exitCode == Win32_STILL_RUNNING) {

## it is still running

}

else  {

## it has finished

}

You can kill the process by using

$processObject->Kill(255);

Using the above statement forces a kill and is not a graceful way to force the process to exit. If your script is a daemon-like process, it is recommended that you use some sort of IPC mechanism (such as Win32::Event or sockets, pipes, semaphores, etc.) to force a more graceful shutdown.