Microsoft WSH and VBScript Programming for the Absolute Beginner Part 51 pot

480 Microsoft WSH and VBScript Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition• Project management • Syntax checking To learn more about ModelWorks SitePad Pro, or to purchase a li

480 Microsoft WSH and VBScript Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition

• Project management

• Syntax checking

To learn more about ModelWorks SitePad Pro, or to purchase a licensed copy, visit http://www modelworks.com/products.html.

Figure C.3

The ModelWorks

SitePad Pro editor

What Next? D

T his book represents the beginning, not the end, of your VBScript

pro-gramming experience To become an effective and sought-after program-mer, it is important you work diligently to continue learning as much as possible The best way to do this is to start writing your own scripts and to exper-iment and try new things as you go It’s equally important that you continue to read and learn more about VBScript, the WSH, and programming in general To help you on this journey, I have assembled a list of books and Web sites where you can learn more and find tons of sample scripts.

Recommended Reading

The following list of books will provide you with additional information about both VBScript and the WSH Also included in this list are books covering VBScript’s close relatives, VBA and Visual Basic.

• Learn VBScript In a Weekend ISBN: 1931841705; Premier Press, 2002 This book provides additional beginner-level coverage of VBScript It splits its focus between the use of VBScript in Web page development and as a scripting language for use with the WSH, providing a next step in the event that you’re interested in spicing up your Web site using VBScript

• Microsoft Windows Shell Scripting and WSH Administrator’s Guide ISBN: 1931841268; Premier Press, 2002 This book is designed to assist you in con-tinuing your VBScript and WSH education by preparing you to use both in the real world It’s a great guide for current or future system administra-tors, programmers, and power users Besides covering VBScript, this book also provides you with a foundation for developing scripts using JScript

• Microsoft Visual Basic NET Programming for the Absolute Beginner ISBN:

1592000029; Premier Press, 2002 This book is an excellent next step, should you want to use your knowledge of VBScript as a stepping stone for learning Microsoft Visual Basic Net You will find that you have been well-served by your new VBScript background as you add Visual Basic to your bag of programming tricks

• Microsoft Excel VBA Programming for the Absolute Beginner ISBN: 1931841047; Premier Press, 2002 This book provides you with everything you need to learn to apply Microsoft VBA to Microsoft Excel Thanks to its close relationship with VBScript, you’ll find that you have a head start on your VBA learning curve, and that you’re developing VBA games in no time as you learn to become a VBA programmer

• VBScript in a Nutshell ISBN: 1565927206; O’Reilly & Associates, 2000 This book pro-vides experienced VBScript programmers with a complete language reference Here you will find a detailed element-by-element breakdown of every aspect of VBScript, including the syntax of every VBScript statement, constant, operator, and function.

• Microsoft VBScript Professional Projects ISBN: 1592000568; Premier Press, 2003 This book demonstrates advanced VBScript programming concepts in the form of four hands-on projects Each project focuses on a specific set of concepts based on real word situations.

Locating WSH and VBScript Resources Online

There is more to VBScript than can be found in books alone Much of the information about this topic is free and can be found on the Internet The following section discusses Web sites that provide you with a place to begin your research.

The MSDN Scripting Web page (at http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/scripting), shown in Fig-ure D.1, is Microsoft’s official site for all things VBScript and WSH Here you’ll find language references for both VBScript and JScript, as well as detailed documentation on the WSH You also can download and install the latest version of the WSH, join scripting newsgroups, and view sample scripts.

The Win32 Scripting Web site (at http://cwashington.netreach.net), shown in Figure D.2, pro-vides an abundance of information for a number of scripting languages, including VBScript Here you will find plenty of documentation, a chat room, and tons of downloadable sample script examples.

Another good site, shown in Figure D.3, is http://www.windowsitpro.com/WindowsScripting This site provides access to Windows Scripting Solutions magazine You have to pay to sub-scribe to this service to access its articles on scripting But even if you don’t, you’ll still be able to access free articles and plenty of sample scripts.

Microsoft WSH and VBScript Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition

Figure D.1

The MSDN

Scripting page

Figure D.2

The Win32

Scripting

Web site

WSHScripting.com (at http://www.wshscripting.com), shown in Figure D.4, is another good site for Windows WSH documentation You’ll also find a number of good articles and plenty

of sample scripts.

Microsoft WSH and VBScript Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition

Figure D.3

WindowsIT Pro

Web site

Figure D.4

WSHScripting.com

Web site

Another good site is Winscripter, which is located at http://www.winscripter.com and is shown in Figure D.5 Here you will find articles, sample scripts, and an online message board where you can post and receive answers to your questions In addition, you will find

an abundance of WSH documentation and links to other helpful Web sites.

One other site you may want to visit is http://www.w3schools.com/vbscript Here you will find a VBScript tutorial as well as access to plenty of sample scripts

Figure D.5

The Winscripter

site

Figure D.6

http://www

.w3schools.com/

vbscript

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AboutFunction(), 419

Abs(), 467

Add (dictionary), 77

Add (folders), 77

AddPrinterConnection(), 46

AddWindowsPrinterConnection(), 46, 441–443

Adersoft VbsEdit, 477–478

Administration

of computer, 444–448

of desktop, 434–437

of files or folders, 248–253

of network, 438–441

of printers, 441–444

scheduling, 448–453

AppActivate(), 46

Arguments

defined, 42, 55, 194

passing to scripts, 135–137

Arithmetic operators, 118–121

Array(), 467

Arrays

defined, 104, 124

dynamic, 133–134

erasing, 135

multiple-dimension, 126–127

naming, 126

processing contents, 127–129

resizing, 130–133

single-dimension, 125–126

size of, 129–130

Asc(), 112, 467

ASP (Active Server Pages), 20, 25

AT, 448–450

AtEndOfLine, 42, 75

AtEndOfStream, 42, 75, 245

Atn(), 467

Attributes, 75

AvailableSpace, 75

B

Background, desktop, 434–436 bat, 8

BlackJack Lite game, 203–205 designing, 216–230 Blank lines, adding, 244 Blank spaces in file names, 55 BooLean, 111, 116

BuildDisplayString(), 258, 266 BuildPath, 77

Byte, 111, 116

C

Call, 69 Captain Adventure, 101–103 designing, 137–144 Cbool(), 112, 467 Cbur(), 112 Cbyte(), 112, 467 Ccur(), 467 Cdate(), 112, 467 CDbl(), 112, 468 CD-Rom, examples on, 473–480 Character, 42

Characters, writing, 242–243 CheckIfGameWon(), 305–306 Chr(), 112, 468

Cint(), 112, 468 Class_Initialize, 358–361 Class (object), 73, 354, 356 Class (statement), 69 Class_Terminate, 358 Clear(), 355, 362 ClearGameBoard(), 369, 372 CLng(), 112, 468

Close, 77 Close(), 46, 241 CloseTextFile(), 241 Closing files, 238–242 cmd, 8

CMD.exe, 11

CollectPlayerInput(), 258, 263–264

Column, 42, 76

Command-line execution, 51–53

overriding, 54–55

Command prompt, 10–11

executing script from, 17–18

<comment> </comment> tags, 400, 402

Comments, adding, 70–73

CompareMode, 76

Comparison operators, 161–162

Computer administration, 444–448

ComputerName, 42

ComputerPlay(), 217, 223

Conditional logic

comparison operators, 161–162

if, 147, 148–151

select case, 147, 158–161

Configuration settings

defined, 253

desktop background, 434–436

screen saver, 436–437

storing, in external files, 253–257

Configuring execution hosts, 51–58

ConnectObject(), 46

ConsoleLoop(), 413–415

Const, 69, 104, 105

Constant, 44

Constants

assigning data to, 104–107

date and time, 107–108

naming, 106

private, 105

public, 105

string, 108–110

ConstName, 105

Copy(), 77, 249

CopyFile(), 77, 248, 249–250

CopyFolder(), 77, 248, 251–252

Core object model, 7–8

defined, 37

object methods, 45–51

object properties, 41–45

objects, list of, 39–41

Cos(), 468

Count, 46, 76

CreateDisplayString(), 236–237

CreateFolder(), 77, 248, 251

CreateObject(), 16, 38, 46, 59, 236, 468

CreateScript(), 46

CreateShortcut(), 46

CreateTextFile, 77 CScript.exe, 6–7, 13, 17–18 configuring, 51–58 CSng(), 112, 468 CStr(), 112 CTitleBarMsg, 106 CUpperLimit, 106 Currency, 111, 116 CurrentDirectory, 42

D

Data assigning, to constants, 104–107 constant, 104–110

constants, list of, 107–108 converting from one data type to another, 112 defined, 103

how scripts view, 103–104 Registry storage of, 323–325 related, 124–135

types, 111 variable, 111–124 Date(), 111, 116, 468 DateAdd(), 468 DateCreated, 76 DateDiff(), 468 DateLastAccessed, 76 DateLastModified, 76 DatePart(), 468 DateSerial(), 468 DateValue(), 468 Day(), 468 DealAnotherCard(), 217, 222–223 DealFirstHand(), 216, 221 defrag.exe, 455–457 Delete(), 77, 249 DeleteFile(), 77, 248, 251 DeleteFolder(), 78, 248, 252–253 Deleting registry keys and values, 327 Description, 42, 194, 355

Desktop administration, 434–437 Desktop execution, 53–54 customizing settings, 56–58 Desktop shortcuts, 193–195 DetermineIfSetIsComplete(), 258, 266 DetermineWinner(), 218, 223–224 Dictionary, 74

Dim, 69, 104, 113, 125 DIR (directory), 11–12 DisconnectObject(), 38, 46

Index

cleanup, automatic, 453–455

defragmentation, 455–457

DisplayBoard(), 369, 375

DisplayFinalResults(), 258, 267–268

DisplayGameResults(), 306–307, 369, 376

DisplayName(), 357

DisplaySplashScreen(), 206–208, 218, 225, 258, 268, 369,

383

Do Loop, 69

Double, 111, 116

Do Until, 175, 183–184

Do While, 175, 180–182

DoYouWantToPlay(), 216, 219–220, 297

Drive (object), 74

Drive (property), 76

DriveExists, 78

DriveLetter, 76

Drives, 76

Drives Collection, 74

DriveType, 76

Dynamic arrays, 133–134

E

Echo(), 17, 38, 46, 83, 84

Editors, 477–480

Embedding If statements, 150–151

Empty, 111

Endless loops, 182

EnumNetworkDrives(), 46

EnumPrinterConnections(), 46

Environment, 42

Environment variables, 121–124

Equal, 162

Erase, 69

Erasing arrays, 135

Err, 73, 289–290, 354, 362

Error (property), 42

Errors/error messages

how to deal with, 286–290

illegal assignment, 105

logical, 280, 285

numbers for, 280, 281, 282–283

preventing, 286

reporting, 291–293

run-time, 279–280, 283–285

syntax, 279, 281–282

understanding, 280–281

Error (variant), 111, 116

Eval(), 468

Event handlers, 288–290 EventLogger.vbs, 50–51 Event procedures, creating, 358–362 Excel spreadsheets, 461–464 Exec(), 46

Execute, 69 Execute(), 46, 355, 367–368 ExecuteGlobal, 69 Execution engines, 6 Execution hosts, 6–7 configuring, 51–58 Exists, 78

Exists(), 46 Exit, 69 ExitCode, 42 Exp(), 468 ExpandEnvironmentStrings(), 46

F

File, 74 FileExists(), 78, 238, 248, 250 File extensions, 12

File names, blank spaces in, 55 Files, 76

copying, 248–250 deleting, 248, 249, 251 initialization, 253–257 managing, 248–253 moving, 248, 249, 250 opening and closing, 238–242 reading from, 245–248 writing text to, 242–244 Files Collection, 75 FileSystem, 76 FileSystemObject, 74, 75, 79–81, 235–257 FillArray(), 298, 334–335

Filter(), 468 FirstIndex, 355 FirstLevelValidation(), 302–303 FlipString(), 306

Flowchart, 150 Folder, 75 FolderExists(), 78, 248, 250 Folders

copying, 248, 249, 251–252 creating, 248, 251 deleting, 248, 249, 252–253 managing, 248–253 moving, 248, 249, 252 special, 193, 195–197