Not exactly sure what you're doing but this is how I used the shell cmd - I recall I had to experiment a little. Here I'm firing up a .exe that uses a Win API call to "open" an item (folder, file, URL etc). Dunno if this helps.
static void open_external_item(_str item)
{
_str cfg = strip(_config_path(),'t',FILESEP);
_str file = strip(item,'t',FILESEP);
// 'Q' option is needed to avoid command shell window in Win XP
// To run a batch file instead of .exe, the 'Q' option must not be used
//shell('"' :+ _config_path() :+ 'gp1.bat" ' :+
// '"' p_active_form.FilenameEditbox.p_text '" ' :+ '"'_config_path() '"', 'PA');
shell('"' :+ _config_path() :+ 'listman_open_external.exe" ' :+
'"' file '" ' :+ '"' cfg '"', 'QPA');
}
Graeme