|
1. Microsoft® Windows Script Host: A Very powerful automation
tool
What is Microsoft® Windows Script Host ? Well if you think something
like those old dos batch files , you are in for a pleasant surprise.Not
that .bat files are not executed anymore, they do work and work well but
there is much more to scripting then just .bat extension. I say it to
be very powerful windows automation tool. Microsoft® defines it as
a language-independent scripting host for ActiveX scripting engines which
brings simple, powerful, and flexible scripting to the Windows 32-bit
platform, allowing you to run scripts from both the Windows desktop and
the command prompt. Windows Script Host is ideal for non-interactive scripting
needs such as logon scripting, administrative scripting, and machine automation.
You can visit Windows
Scripting Host Reference to get complete reference information. But
in brief benefits are:-
A. Scripting work in Windows Environment by using WScript.exe(provides
properties page for setting various features) and in Command Environment
by using CScript.exe(provides switches for various overides).
B. Multiple Scripting files can be executed from single .WSF (Windows
Script File)
C. Its memory requirement are considerably low
D. Language independence. You can write a good script either in VBSCRIPT
or JSCRIPT (and many others as well) and it would work just fine. Host
does the job of mapping your file extensions to corresponding Programmatic
Identifiers. this means you can have file say xyz.vbs or xyz.js and it
would work just fine.
E. Windows
Scripting Host object model provides support for all ActiveX interfaces
and functions like CreateObject,GetObject etc and functionalities like
mapping a drive,displaying messages on screen,connecting to printers,retrieving
and modifiying Registry and also the environment variables.
Windows Scripting host is integrated into Windows XP (In fact it was there
in Windows 98 and Windows 2000 as well but I was dumb enough not to discover
its power that early). Version 2.0 of Windows Scripting Host provides
VBSCRIPT and JSCRIPT support with future versions aimed at supporting
PERL,REXX or PYTHON and other popular scripts. But if you are like me,
best way to learn any thing new is to see and feel its powering. Seeing
is believing. All right, here are some examples of what is possible out
of Windows Scripting Host. Just a note:
Some of these files are not created by me, I have got them on
internet and as such author name and comments are preserved and indicate
to actual creator of the software. Also as with anything, you are free
to use it but use it at your risk and don't blame us for any problems
| 1. |
CreateExplorerShortcut.vbs
This script would ask you to choose a folder and would create
a short cut on your desktop. May be it sounds trivial but would
give you an idea of what is possible with scripting. |
|
