Why does ShellExecute not work?

Question

#include "ShellAPI.h";
ShellExecute(Handle,NULL,"file.txt",NULL,NULL,SW_RESTORE);

Why does this code not work?

Here the error screen:

Answer 1

Several problems:

• You need to include windows.h before you can include shellapi.h.
• When including system headers you should use <> around the header instead of "".
• You should not have a semicolon ; after your #include directive.
• Your ShellExecute() call needs to be in a function, probably int main(void).
• Handle is not defined. You probably want NULL per the ShellExecute() documentation (which you should have already read).

---

#include <windows.h>
#include <ShellAPI.h>

int main(void) {
    ShellExecute(NULL, NULL, "file.txt", NULL, NULL, SW_RESTORE);
    return 0;
}