Really Curios!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Sophtware]

This is strange.........i am taking to classes in college right now...one for qbasic and one for vb....BOTH!! professors say that Visual basic comes with windows 98??
i have tried too look in my windows 98 and i cant find anything except for what i have already for visual basic (working model edition).Can anyone shed some light on this subject??? if you know what i am talking about????


Thanks




NewBee Vbeer6.0()
Working Model edition has no api listings!!! grrrr
End Sub

[BruceG]

To the best of my knowledge, VB does NOT come with Windows 98. However, QBasic comes with Win95/98; it can be found on the Win 9X CD in a directory called "oldmsdos".

[Rodik]

VB doesn't come with Windows 98 and as far as I know, not with any windows version so your proffesors are wrong.

However, i'm sure that the computers they got from the computer administrator had vb already installed (which is obvious since they were suposed to go to vb teachers) so they might be confused.

There's vbscript built in Office but that doesn't come with windows either so.

[reeset]

What you professor may have been talking about is the Windows Scripting Host. This is shipped with Win 98, Win2000. What it does is it allows you to write vbscripts and run them on your machine like an exe. If you want to try it, just open the notepad and paste the following code in. Then when you save your file, make sure you use a .vbs extention. This code will return the version properties associated with the Wscript Object. I believe that Win 98 ships with Version 5.0 and Win2000 ships with version 5.1. There isn't much difference, other then a few networking and environmental control additions. I'm not sure how many people on this list use vbscripts as exe's, but I find that they actually work much better then a full blown VB app for certain operations (like file manipulation, printer setup, mapping network drives).

Option Explicit

Dim Message
Dim Title

' Show the properties of the WScript object
' we start with Host properties

Message = "WScript host properties" & vbCRLF & vbCRLF
Message = Message & "Application: " & WScript.Application & vbCRLF
Message = Message & "Name: " & WScript.Name & vbCRLF
Message = Message & "Version: " & WScript.Version & vbCRLF
Message = Message & "FullName: " & WScript.FullName & vbCRLF
Message = Message & "Path: " & WScript.Path & vbCRLF 

' Get the Interactive-Status
If (WScript.Interactive) Then
Message = Message & "Interactive: true" & vbCRLF 
Else
Message = Message & "Interactive: false" & vbCRLF 
End if

' Get script properties
Message = Message & vbCRLF 
Message = Message & "WScript script properties" & vbCRLF & vbCRLF
Message = Message & "ScriptFullName : " & WScript.ScriptFullName & vbCRLF
Message = Message & "ScriptName : " & WScript.ScriptName & vbCRLF

' get the version of the language engine
Message = Message & vbCRLF & "Script-Engine: " & CStr(ScriptEngine()) & vbCRLF
Message = Message & "Version: " & CStr(ScriptEngineMajorVersion()) 
Message = Message & "." + CStr(ScriptEngineMinorVersion()) + vbCRLF
Message = Message & "Build: " & CStr(ScriptEngineBuildVersion())

' init title
Title = "WSH Test " & WScript.ScriptName

MsgBox Message, vbInformation + vbOKOnly, Title

WScript.Quit()

' End

Hope this answers your question.

[Dim A]

Originally posted by reeset
What you professor may have been talking about is the Windows Scripting Host. This is shipped with Win 98, Win2000. What it does is it allows you to write vbscripts and run them on your machine like an exe. I believe that Win 98 ships with Version 5.0 and Win2000 ships with version 5.1. There isn't much difference, other then a few networking and environmental control additions. I'm not sure how many people on this list use vbscripts as exe's, but I find that they actually work much better then a full blown VB app for certain operations (like file manipulation, printer setup, mapping network drives).

Neat. I never noticed that at all. How viable is this though? Could I write a program that loads forms or dynamically creates them, and calls API's?

How far can it go?

[Paul Warren]

Your professors could be talking about VBA, which allows you to write VB sort-of programs from within the office programs, such as Word, Excel, etc. But then again this isn't really part of the operating system so maybe they're just trying to impress you with their vast, mysterious knowledge. You'll find lots of people like that out there, who like to keep their little technical secrets to themselves. Thankfully there are not many of them around here.

reeset -

That Windows Scripting Hosts stuff is way cool. How did you find out about that ? what else can it do ?

[reeset]

The Scripting Host is actually pretty useful. I find myself using it whenever I can, since it doesn't have as much overhead. But there are limitations. As far as I know, you can't create forms or such, but it does have many useful applications.

For example, reading/writing to the registry is very easy using the Scripting Host.

Dim WSHShell
Set WSHShell=CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
'To read the Reg.
mvar=WSHShell.RegRead("HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Start Page")
'To Write the Reg.
WSHShell.RegWrite "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Start Page", "http://mypage.com"

Or you can map Network Drive

Dim WshNetwork

Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
WshNetwork.MapNetworkDrive "T:", "\\Reeset\label",true,,"cat"

But I use it most for simple file manipulation. Since the FileSystemObject is completely exposed to the Scripting Host, I find that it is just less time consuming to write a simple script then a simple vb program. Also, you don't have to write just in VBScript. .js scripts are also supported, so you could also use the filesystemobject in a JScript like this:

var y;

y=GetFreeSpace("c:");

var WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");


WSHShell.Popup (y);


function GetFreeSpace(drvPath) {
	var fs, d, s;
        
	fs = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
	d = fs.GetDrive(fs.GetDriveName(drvPath));
	s = "Drive " + drvPath + " - " ;
	s += d.VolumeName;
	s += " Free Space: " + d.FreeSpace/1024 + " Kbytes";
	return s;
}

But I would mainly say that it comes in handy around the office, especially for those whose computer skills are alittle deficiant. For example, I have a backup utility that backs up a custom set of folders and files for each user. It looks like this:

'********************************************
'By Terry Reese
'********************************************

Dim WshNetwork
Dim fso, sTemp(400), sFolder(400), myFile(2)
Dim cCount


Set WshNetwork=CreateObject("Wscript.Network")
Set fso=CreateObject("scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set myFile(0)=fso.GetFile("c:\oclcapps\user.txt")
Set myFile(1)=myFile(0).OpenAsTextStream(1,-2)
sUser=myFile(1).ReadLine

	If sUser="terry" then
		Call UserBackup
	Else
		Call UserBackup
	end if





Sub UserBackup()

  	Dim f, f1, fc,fs, s, showlist(3), folderspec, CopyFileList, folderlist(), FirstRun
	
	FirstRun=False

	Set fileObject=CreateObject("scripting.FileSystemObject")
	Set myFile(0)=fileObject.GetFile("c:\oclcapps\user.txt")
	Set myFile(1)=myFile(0).OpenAsTextStream(1,-2)
	sUser=myFile(1).ReadLine
	sUser=LCase(sUser)
		if sUser="kyle" then
			ReDim folderlist(1)
			folderlist(0)="s:\"
			folderlist(1)="p:\"
		Else 
			ReDim folderlist(0)
			
			folderlist(0)="p:\"
		End if
  	
	For i=0 to UBound(folderlist)

		folderspec=folderlist(i)
		
		Set fso=CreateObject("scripting.FileSystemObject")
  		Set f = fso.GetFolder(folderspec)
  	
		Set fc = f.Files
  
  		For Each f1 in fc
    			s = s & f1.path & vbcrlf
  		Next

		ShowFileList = s
        
		Set f = fso.GetFolder(folderspec)
  		Set sf = f.SubFolders
  
		For Each f1 in sf
			
	     		s=s& f1.path & vbcrlf
				
  		next

		ShowFileList=s
	

		If FirstRun=True then

			If fso.FileExists("c:\windows\system\bkSetting.txt")=false then
    
				fso.CreateTextFile ("c:\windows\system\bkSetting.txt")
				set showlist(0)=fso.GetFile("c:\windows\system\bkSetting.txt")
				set showlist(1)=showlist(0).Openastextstream(8,-2)
				Showlist(1).write ShowFileList
				Showlist(1).Close
			Else
				Set showlist(0)=fso.GetFile("c:\windows\system\bkSetting.txt")
				Set showlist(1)=showlist(0).OpenAsTextStream(8,-2)
				ShowList(1).write ShowFileList
				ShowList(1).close
			End if
		Else

			fso.CreateTextFile ("c:\windows\system\bkSetting.txt")
			set showlist(0)=fso.GetFile("c:\windows\system\bkSetting.txt")
			set showlist(1)=showlist(0).Openastextstream(8,-2)
			Showlist(1).write ShowFileList
			Showlist(1).close
			FirstRun=True

		End if
		ShowFilelist=""
		s=""

	Next


Call StartBackup()

End Sub

Sub StartBackup()

Dim sFileSize, oldFileSize
Dim i, sSize, mySettings, sSettings



Set fso=CreateObject("scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set WshShell=CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")

If fso.DriveExists("s:")=true then



cCount=0	
	set sSettings=fso.GetFile("c:\windows\system\bkSetting.txt")
	Set mySettings = sSettings.OpenAsTextStream(1,-2)

		For i=0 to UBound(sFolder)
			On Error resume Next
			sFolder(i)=mySettings.ReadLine
				If Err<>0 then
					Exit For
				End if
			sFolder(i)=Trim(sFolder(i))
			cCount=cCount + 1	
			
		Next

Dim sCheck(3)

	For i=0 to cCount
		sCheck(0)=Right(sFolder(i),4)
		sCheck(1)=Left(sCheck(0),1)
		
		If sCheck(1)="." then	
			Set sTemp(i)=fso.GetFile(sFolder(i))
			
		Else
			Set sTemp(i)=fso.GetFolder(sFolder(i))
			
		End if
	Next


	For i=0 to cCount
		sSize=sTemp(i).Size
		sFileSize=sFileSize + sSize
	Next

end if



On Error Resume Next
oldFileSize=WshShell.RegRead ("HKLM\NetBack")
	If Err<>0 then
		WshShell.RegWrite "HKLM\NetBack", sFileSize
	End if

sPercent=oldFileSize*0.35

If oldFileSize<sFileSize-sPercent then
	Call myPR()
else
	WshShell.RegWrite "HKLM\NetBack" , sFileSize
	Call Backup()
end if


End sub

Sub myPR()

L_Alert_Text="Suspicious Activity!!  There is a current difference of " & oldFileSize - sFileSize & ".  Do you still with to continue backup?"
L_Alert_Title_Text="Backup Alert"

    Dim intDoIt

    intDoIt =  MsgBox(L_Alert_Text,    _
                      vbOKCancel + vbInformation,       _
                      L_Alert_Title_Text )
    If intDoIt = vbCancel Then
        WScript.Quit
    End If

Call Backup()

End Sub

Sub Backup()

	Set fso=CreateObject("scripting.FileSystemObject")
	If fso.FolderExists("c:\archive\Backup\Network")=False then
		fso.CreateFolder("c:\archive\Backup\Network")
	End if
	
Dim sCheck(2)
Dim myMess

	For i=0 to cCount
		sCheck(0)=Right(sTemp(i).Name,4)
		sCheck(1)=Left(sCheck(0),1)
			
		
		If sTemp(i).Size=0 then
			myMess= Msgbox ("The" & sTemp(i).Name & " File/Folder has a size of Zero.  Would like to back up anyway?",vbOKCancel + vbInformation, "File/Folder Alert")

			If myMess=vbCancel then
				msgbox "Backup terminated."
				Wscript.Quit
			End if
		Else
			
			
			sTemp(i).Copy "c:\archive\Backup\Network\" & sTemp(i).Name
		
		end if
		
	Next
	

end sub

The last thing that I will say is that you can manipulate the API to a point (though I will admit that if I am going to do that type of work, I will probably make a program.). To use the API though, you have to call the Rundll32.exe. Here is a short example of what I mean. It is my shutdown script.

L_Welcome_Text="Are you sure you want to ShutDown your computer now?"
L_Welcome_Title_Text="System Shutdown"

Dim WshShell



Set WshShell=Wscript.CreateObject("wscript.Shell")


Dim intDoIt

    	intDoIt =  MsgBox(L_Welcome_Text,    _
                      vbOKCancel + vbInformation,       _
                      L_Welcome_Title_Text )

    			If intDoIt = vbCancel Then
				msgbox "Shutdown Canceled"
        		      	Wscript.Quit
   			Else
'For Win 9x
				'WshShell.Run "%windir%\RunDll32.exe user,ExitWindows",1,-1
'For Win 98		
		WshShell.Run "rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 6"
				Wscript.Quit()
		end if

'To exit Windows NT workstation

'WshShell.Run ("SHUTDOWN [/R] [/T:xx] [/C]")

'/R  Specifies that the machine should reboot after shutdown
'/T:xx Sets the timer for system shutdown. [20 seconds default]
'/C  Forces running applications to close

'Forces the Windows NT Workstation to reboot in 5 seconds
'WshShell.Run("SHUTDOWN /R /R:5")

'The Following are the parameters used to exit from Windows 98 machines only

'WshShell.Run("rundll32.exe shell32.dll, SHExitWindowsEx n")

'Where n is one, or a combination of one of the following numbers:

'-0- Logoff.  Shuts down all running process, then logs the user off
'-1- Shutdown. Shuts down the system to a point at which it is safe to turn the power off
'-2- Reboot. Shuts down the system and then restarts the system.
'-4- Force.  Forces processes to terminate
'-8- Poweroff. Shuts down the system and turns off the power.  

'The above values options can be combined into one value to achieve different results.
'example:
'WshShell.Run("rundll32.exe shell32.dll, SHExitWindowsEx 6")

'The Following parameter should be used to shutdown a system from Windows 95

'WshShell.Run "%windir%\RunDll32.exe user,ExitWindows",1,-1

Anyway, I hope that give you an idea of what you can do. I know that microsoft does document it, just not very well. Which is really too bad.



[Edited by reeset on 07-13-2000 at 07:51 PM]

[Paul Warren]

Dim A

Here's what the MSDN CD blurb contains in the the Windows Scripting Host Reference :

Overview of the Windows Scripting Host Object Model
The Windows Scripting Host object model provides two main categories of ActiveX interfaces:

Script execution and troubleshooting: Properties and methods that are directly related to script execution. This set of interfaces allows scripts to manipulate Windows Scripting Host, display messages on the screen, and perform basic functions such as CreateObject and GetObject.


Helper functions: Properties and methods that map network drives, connect to printers, retrieve and modify environment variables, and manipulate registry keys. These functions are provided so administrators can use Windows Scripting Host to create simple logon scripts.
In addition to the object interfaces provided by Windows Scripting Host, administrators can use any ActiveX controls that expose Automation interfaces to perform various tasks on the Windows platform. For example, administrators can write scripts that use the Active Directory to manage the Windows NT Directory Service.

Looks interesting !