Armstrong - VBScript: The quick start course in Windows Automation, 2020 edition

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VBScript

Table of Contents

Copyright

Copyright 2020 by D Armstrong

All rights reserved

Disclaimer

VBScript can affect your computer system(s) and the data stored on it/them. It is advisable to learn this skill in a test environment, such as on a virtual machine. It is possible to download virtual machine software for free online, such as Oracle VM VirtualBox. It is also advisable to back up any data to a separate storage device, such as a USB pen drive, or to cloud storage, before running any commands.

While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the author nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher and author makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

1 Introduction

1.1 Why learn VBScript?

Learning VBScript lets you:

• automate tasks on Windows
• work on Classic ASP websites
• master other programming languages faster

Automate tasks on Windows systems

Here are just some of the things you can automate:

• moving/renaming files
• processing file contents
• running and controlling other applications

This book will introduce you to all three.

Work on Classic ASP websites

Classic ASP is VBScript.

It has some adaptations for website use, but its the same language.

Classic ASP is still in use. Companies have legacy systems and need people to maintain them. You could be one of those people, now or in the future. If you are, knowing VBScript will give you the edge.

Master other programming languages faster

Theres a whole family of VB languages:

• VB.Net
• VBA (for Word, Excel, Access, etc)
• VB

They share a lot with each other. Knowing VBScript will help you with the others.

1.2 Why learn from this book?

This book will show you:

• how to get started with VBScript
• some practical uses of scripting
• how to keep scripts readable, reliable, and efficient

It will save you:

• time & typing

This book is based around a series of example scripts. Each script introduces new parts of the language and ways to use it. This is followed by an explanation, to say how the script works, whats new, and why it matters. Problem-solving exercises are included, so you can practise as you learn, and the answers are provided on the page after.

The book starts with the basics and builds up to more advanced topics step-by-step. Each new topic is covered in a concise, focused way.

Try it out.

1.3 Authors Note

I hope you find this book a good way to get started with VB Script.

If anything about the book doesnt live up to your expectations, you can let me know at:

2 Get started

2.1 Set-up instructions

Create a new folder on your computer.

Call it "VBScripts".

You can create, keep and run the scripts in this book inside this folder.

Open that folder.

In the file explorer window, on the menu bar, click "View".

On the View menu, tick the box for "Show file extensions".

This lets you not only see file extensions, but edit them, which makes it easy to create VBScript files.

You are now ready to start creating VBScripts.

2.2 Make a script file

Example

1. Right-click the empty space in the file explorer, where the files normally are.
2. A context menu will appear. On the menu, go to "New".
3. A submenu will appear. On the submenu, click "text document".
4. A file will appear in the folder, as "New Text Document.txt". The file name, the part before the "." symbol, will be highlighted. Type "Main" to overwrite the name.
5. The ".txt", the extension, is also editable. Change it to ".vbs".
6. Press enter to confirm the change.
7. A pop-up message will appear warning you about changing the file extension. Click "yes" to proceed.

You will see the image of the file icon change.

Explanation

Thats all you need to do to get started with VBScript. No installation needed.

The ability to run VBScript is built into Windows. The default file extension for VBScript files is ".vbs". As soon as you make ".vbs" the file extension, Windows recognises the file as a VBScript.

If you double-click on the file now, Windows will run it as a script. The script wont do anything, because we didnt put any code in it yet, but Windows knows to treat it as a computer program, rather than, for example, open it in Notepad as a text file.

Exercise 1

Make another file the same way. Call it "Test.vbs".

We will use these two script files, Main and Test, over the next two chapters. Scripts tend to build on the scripts before them, so well edit the files as we go, to save on typing.

Answer 1

No answer this is not a problem-solving exercise.

2.3 Make a script display a message

Example

Right-click on "Main.vbs" and select "edit" on the context menu. This opens the script file in Notepad, so you can start writing code inside.

Type the following:

MsgBox "Hello!"

Save and close the file.

Double-click the file to run it.

You should see a pop-up window appear, with the text "Hello!" as the message.

Explanation

The "MsgBox", short for "message box", is a simple way to make a script provide information. That information could be for the user, or it could be for you, as you develop and test the script.

The quotation marks identify the start and end of the text for the message. This text is known as a string. Its necessary to mark out strings in this way, so the computer doesnt try to run the message as a command of the VBScript language.

Exercise 2

Make the script say "Hi!" instead.

Answer 2

MsgBox "Hi!"

2.4 Understand error messages

Example

Edit into the Main script file again.

Change the script to:

MsgBo "Hi!"

That is, delete the "x" from MsgBox

Run the script.

A pop-up will appear telling you an error has occurred. It will tell you which line in the file has the error, which character of that line, and what the error is.

In this case, its a "Type mismatch" error, on the first character of the first line.

Explanation

VBScript doesnt recognise "MsgBo" as valid code, and flags it as an error.

Exercise 3

First, fix the error you just created.

Next, find out what error you get if you delete the closing quotation mark.

Answer 3

If you run:

MsgBox "Hi!

You get "Unterminated string constant".

That is, the string "Hello!" isnt ended (terminated) in the code.

As you work through the exercises in this book, take the opportunity to learn from any error messages you get. This will be easier to do while the scripts are still small. You can even make a few typos deliberately, to see what error messages they generate. Then youll be better prepared to deal with any unexpected errors later.

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