Delphi 7: how to execute shell command and check the result?

Use DSiExecuteAndCapture from DSiWin32:

var
  exitCode: integer;
  output  : TStringList;
begin
  output := TStringList.Create;
  try
    if DSiExecuteAndCapture('mysql --version', output, '', exitCode) = 0 then
      Log(Format('error %d, cannot start', [GetLastError])) 
    else begin
      // check exitCode and output
    end;
  finally FreeAndNil(output); end;
end;

I wonder why everybody who wants launch a new process tends to use ShellExecute instead, which is designed to open file in associated application?

You want new process? Then use CreateProcess. End of story.

CreateProcess allows you to wait for process, to get its exit code, to read its console output and many more.

What you are looking for, probably, is an embedded database. Some options:

• Firebird Embedded
• MySQL Embedded
• SQLite

With either of databases and with appropriate data access components (not sure about ADO support for embedded FB and MySQL), you will be able to:

• attach without a DB
• create a DB
• then create the tables

I saved this from a newsgroup post a long time ago; I don't know who originall wrote it, though.

This code allows you to run a DOS application and capture it's output in a TMemo. You can then pull what you need out of the memo with a little trial and error parsing the lines.

procedure TFMainForm.RunDosInMemo(const DosApp: String; AMemo: TRichEdit);
const
  ReadBuffer = 2400;
var
  Security : TSecurityAttributes;
  StdInPipeR, StdInPipeW : THandle;
  StdOutPipeR, StdOutPipeW : THandle;
  StartInfo : TStartUpInfo;
  ProcessInfo : TProcessInformation;
  Buffer : PByte;
  BytesAvailable, BytesRead : DWord;
  sDosApp: String;
  sData: RawByteString;
begin
  sDosApp := DosApp;
  UniqueString(sDosApp);

  with Security do begin
    nLength := SizeOf(TSecurityAttributes);
    bInheritHandle := True;
    lpSecurityDescriptor := nil;
  end;

  if CreatePipe(StdInPipeR, StdInPipeW, @Security, 0) then
  try

    SetHandleInformation(StdInPipeW, HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0);
    if CreatePipe(StdOutPipeR, StdOutPipeW, @Security, 0) then
    try
      SetHandleInformation(StdOutPipeR, HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0);
      GetMem(Buffer, ReadBuffer);
      try
        ZeroMemory(@StartInfo, SizeOf(StartInfo));
        StartInfo.cb := SizeOf(StartInfo);
        StartInfo.hStdOutput := StdOutPipeW;
        StartInfo.hStdInput := StdInPipeR;
        StartInfo.dwFlags := STARTF_USESTDHANDLES or STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
        StartInfo.wShowWindow := SW_HIDE;

        if CreateProcess(nil, 
                         PChar(sDosApp), 
                         nil, 
                         nil, 
                         True, 
                         NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, 
                         nil, 
                         nil, 
                         StartInfo, 
                         ProcessInfo) then
          try
            while WaitForSingleObject(ProcessInfo.hProcess, 500) <> WAIT_TIMEOUT do
              Application.ProcessMessages;
            while PeekNamedPipe(StdOutPipeR, nil, 0, nil, BytesAvailable, nil) do 
            begin
              if BytesAvailable < 1 then 
                Break;
              if BytesAvailable > ReadBuffer then 
                BytesAvailable := ReadBuffer;
              if not ReadFile(StdOutPipeR, 
                              Buffer[0], 
                              BytesAvailable, 
                              BytesRead, 
                              nil) then 
                Break;
              SetString(sData, PAnsiChar(Buffer), BytesRead);
              // assign an appropriate codepage for the output data:
              // 0 for default Ansi, 1252 or 20157 for ASCII, 1200 for 
              // Unicode, etc...
              SetCodePage(sData, ...);
              // this is faster and more efficient than reading/writing the 
              // Text property directly...
              AMemo.SelStart := AMemo.GetTextLen;
              AMemo.SelLength := 0;
              AMemo.SelText := sData;
            end;
          finally
            CloseHandle(ProcessInfo.hThread);
            CloseHandle(ProcessInfo.hProcess);
          end;
      finally
        FreeMem(Buffer);
      end;
    finally
      CloseHandle(StdOutPipeR);
      CloseHandle(StdOutPipeW);
    end;
  finally
    CloseHandle(StdInPipeR);
    CloseHandle(StdInPipeW);
  end;
end;

I wrote a unit and set of components to handle console redirection in delphi quite a long time ago:

http://www.fulgan.com/delphi/dospipes15.zip

But beyond that, you shouldn't have to go through that: use the ADO connection component just to connect to the database's default catalog and then use the "execute" method to create whatever database and schema you need. The database SERVER need to be properly installed and running for this to work but, at least with MSSQL, there is no problem with creating new databases this way. the exact connection string to use might change depending on the target DB, though.