Invoke VBScript from VB.NET

[Mr.No]

Hi

I classic VB6 you can place the script control on a form, load VBScript into it and excecute. You can also share objects between VB6 and VBScript. I want to achieve the same thing but with VB.NET. My objective is to write a VB.NET application that will run some queries against a database, build some object collections, load some VBScript code and manipulate the object from VBScript. The objective is to have configurable vbscripts to easily format the data from the object. Could someone point me to some links where I can learn soemthing about it.



Thanks

[2bigfeet23]

I'm not QUITE sure if it's what you're looking for, but VB.NET DOES allow you to encapsulate another program as a process. Look up the Process control under Components in the Tool Box in the VB.NET IDE.

[2bigfeet23]

As an extra note about the Process control, you can even specify arguments to pass to the process, as if you were executing the process at a cmd line.

[AIS4U]

Mr.No:

I would suggest that you might have some problems due to the changes in the Visual Basic.Net syntax as set out below:

Visual Basic Syntax
The following list describes specific changes in Visual Basic .NET that might require changes to existing Visual Basic or VBScript applications.

The data type Variant no longer exists. It has been replaced with the type Object. Object types must be explicitly cast to other primitive data types.
Parentheses are now required around the parameter list in all method calls, even for methods that do not take parameters. For example:
If Flag = False Then
DisplayMessage()
End If

By default, arguments are passed by value, not by reference as in previous versions of Visual Basic. If you want to pass arguments by reference, you must use the ByRef keyword in front of the argument, as in the following example:
Call MyFunction(argbyvalue, ByRef argbyref)

Set and Let are no longer supported. Objects can be assigned by a simple assignment operation:
Object1 = Object2

To set a default property of an object, you must now explicitly reference the property. For example:

Object1.Name = Object2.NameMost objects no longer have assumed default properties. All non-indexed properties must be explicitly referenced. In previous versions of Visual Basic, if you wanted to access the default property of an object, specifying the name of the default property was optional. For example, if you wanted to access the Text property of a TextBox control, you could use the following code:
Dim str As String = TextBox1

Because the default property of the TextBox control was the Text property. Using Visual Basic .NET, the above code must be modified as follows:

Dim str As String = TextBox1.Text

If default properties were allowed in Visual Basic .NET, an expression such as

Object1 = Object2

would be ambiguous because it is not clear whether Object2 refers to the object in its entirety or just to the default property of the object.

As another example, you must explicitly reference the Value property of the Field object when retrieving fields from a Recordset (RS in the following example):

Response.Write ( Server.HtmlEncode(RS("au_fname").Value))
Indexed default properties are supported if the class contains a definition for an indexed property. The following expression is valid because the indexer makes it clear that an indexed property, not the object itself, is being referenced:
MyProperty = Object2(6)

The Integer data type is now 32 bits; the Long data type is 64 bits.
Data types should always be explicitly cast to other data types. For instance, always cast numerical values to String if a string is expected:
Response.Write("The count is " & CStr(count))

Variables created within the same Dim statement will be of the same type. For example, in Visual Basic .NET, the Dim statement Dim i, j, k As Integer creates each of the three objects (i, j, and k) as an Integer. Previous versions of Visual Basic would create i and j as Variants and k as an Integer.
Class property syntax has changed and no longer includes Property Let, Property Get, and Property Set. The new property syntax is similar to that in C#.
[Visual Basic]
Public Property ThisProperty As String
Get
ThisProperty = InternalValue
End Get
Set
InternalValue = value
End Set
End Property

Spaces must always be included around the & operator when concatenating strings. VBScript allowed you to write a&b&c; in Visual Basic. NET this must be written as a & b & c to avoid a syntax error.
All If statements must be constructed on multiple lines. With VBScript, it was possible to write a single-line If statement such as If x Then y. In Visual Basic .NET, this must be written as follows:
If x Then
y
End if

Option Explicit is on by default, so all variables must be declared before they can be used.


Hope this helps a little.

[Mr.No]

Thanks for the reply 2bigfeet23.

I want to be able to share objects between VB.NET and the VBScript script i.e. the VB.NET passes a bunch of data to the script which formats and outputs and then raises and event to the VB.NET.

Thanks

[Mr.No]

AIS4U thanks for your input.