Windows Script Host Programmer's Reference

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861002653 ISBN 13: 9781861002655

Publisher: Apress, 1999

The Windows Script Host (WSH) is Microsoft's response to the need for a way of programming Windows in a manner analogous to the way batch files can be used to automate jobs in MS-DOS. Rather as Office 2000 provides VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) as a development tool, Windows 98 and Windows 2000 contain the Windows Script Host.

WSH enables you to use scripting languages - VBScript and JScript are available by default - to access the Windows shell directly. As well as providing facilities of its own for tasks including shortcut management and registry manipulation, WSH enables the use of any Automation-compatible COM object. In other words, a script can be created with a simple text editor like Notepad, and used to control any process for which an object model exists.

Review:

Aimed at any system administrator or Windows programmer, Dino Esposito's Windows Scripting Host Programmer's Reference provides a truly excellent guide to getting the most out of the new Windows Scripting Host (WSH) for Windows batch processing. Filled with many short examples and tips on scripting strategy, this handy book provides a really invaluable mix of advice and nuts-and-bolts code examples.

This concise how-to provides much more than a reference to WSH objects (though naturally, the book includes reference material on VBScript, JScript, and the WSH object model). Esposito is very skilled at showing off various pieces of WSH while paying attention to real-world scripting tasks. In the interest of practical programming, he includes numerous small examples for common administrative tasks using WSH, such as working with files, the Windows Registry, and automating installation and using dialogs within WSH scripts.

Though powerful, WSH doesn't do everything. A standout feature here is the author's custom "component gallery" of extensions to WSH for common tasks through COM objects. (Sample components are included for browsing files, managing processes, and displaying messages to users.) The book's final example, which automates the creation of an invoice in Microsoft Word and then e-mails it, shows off WSH as an effective "glue" that can let different components and applications work together.

As this book suggests, WSH is a powerful tool for wiring together Windows components. Armed with this guide to creating effective WSH scripts, any administrator or programmer can be productive with Windows scripting. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Windows Script Host (WSH) overview, installing WSH, batch processing, VBScript and JScript, Windows Script Interfaces, system administration, console and graphical WSH applications, shell support, the WSH object model, running and stopping scripts and programs, COM objects, arguments, accessing the Registry, shortcuts, URLs, files and directories, installation scripts, Script Run-time Library (SRL), shell automation objects, reusability issues (classes, custom COM objects, the Windows Script Component [WSC] wizard, dialog boxes, and user interfaces), and script security.

From the Publisher:

This book is a guide to the Windows Script Host that will reveal its scope and application to newcomers and demonstrate solutions and extensions to more experienced users. It contains a complete reference to the WSH's native object model, plus ideas and source code for supplementing it with your own custom objects, and examples of using the object models of other common applications.

Intended to be read by developers with reasonable experience of either VBScript or JScript programming, the book is fully up to date with the latest innovations in its subject area. It covers WSH version 2, VBScript and JScript version 5, and Windows Script Components.