How to Get Started Writing Scripts

VBScript
VBScript is associated with Windows Script Host (WSH), which is an environment for executing scripts. I like to think of WSH as a house. A house contains people and objects (e.g., furniture, appliances). In the WSH house, the scripting languages are the people. Two people permanently reside in that house: VBScript and JScript. And as with any house, there can be visitors. Visitors to the WSH house include Perl and Python. Whether people reside in the house or are visitors, they can use the objects in that house. In the WSH house, scripting languages can use objects such as the FileSystemObject object, the WScript object, or the Dictionary object.

Good resources for learning about WSH include

• "WSH, Part 1: File Types," January 2006, InstantDoc ID 48498
• "WSH, Part 2: .wsf Files," February 2006, InstantDoc ID 48692
• "WSH, Part 3: Windows Script Components," March 2006, Instant-Doc ID 49092
• Scripting Solutions, "Scripting 101," Windows IT Pro, June 1999, Instant-Doc ID 5410
• Scripting Solutions, "Scripting 101, Part 2," Windows IT Pro, July 1999, InstantDoc ID 5505
• Scripting Solutions, "Scripting 101, Part 3," Windows IT Pro, August 1999, InstantDoc ID 5683
• Scripting Solutions, "Scripting 101, Part 4," Windows IT Pro, September 1999, InstantDoc ID 7112
• "An Introduction to WSH," December 1998, InstantDoc ID 4608
• Tim Hill's Windows Script Host (Sams Publishing, 2003)
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide (Microsoft Press, 2003). You can find parts of this book on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/guide.

Like the "Shell Scripting 101" series, the "Understanding VBS" series is a tutorial that you can use to learn VBScript. The following articles cover the basics: . . .