The Windows Scripting Host (WSH) is a language-independent scripting host for 32-bit Windows platforms. Windows Scripting Host will be integrated into Windows® 95 updates, Windows NT® Workstation version 5.0, and Windows NT Server version 5.0.

The Windows Scripting Host (WSH) is a language-independent scripting host for 32-bit Windows platforms. Microsoft provides both Visual Basic® Script and Java Script scripting engines with WSH. Microsoft anticipates that other software companies will provide ActiveX™ scripting engines for other languages such as Perl, TCL, REXX, and Python.

Implementing More Powerful Scripts

Previously, the only native scripting language supported by the Windows operating system was the MS-DOS® command language. Although it is fast and small, MS-DOS has limited features compared to Visual Basic Script and Java Script. Today, ActiveX scripting architecture allows users to take advantage of powerful scripting languages such as Visual Basic Script and Java Script. And MS-DOS command scripts are still supported.

Windows Scripting Options

ActiveX scripting architecture enables powerful scripting using languages such as VB Script, Java Script, and Perl. Microsoft currently provides three hosts for running these scripting languages across the Windows platform:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Internet Information Server (IIS)
• Windows Scripting Host (WSH)

Internet Explorer enables scripts to be executed on client machines from within HTML pages.

Internet Information Server now supports Active Server Pages, which

enables scripts to be run on Web servers; in other words, it enables

server-side scripting over the Internet or an intranet.

Windows Scripting Host enables scripts to be executed directly on the Windows desktop or command console, without the need to embed those scripts in an HTML document. Scripts can be run directly from the desktop simply by clicking on a script file, or from the command console. WSH provides a low-memory scripting host that is ideal for non-interactive scripting needs such as logon scripting, administrative scripting, and so on.

Command Syntax

CSCRIPT.EXE uses the following syntax:

cscript [host options…] [script name] [script options]

Each parameter is optional; however, you cannot specify script parameters without specifying a script. If you don’t specify parameters, CSCRIPT.EXE displays the CSCRIPT.EXE syntax and the valid host parameters.

CSCRIPT.EXE supports the following host parameters:

A WSH Command Example

Several sample scripts are installed when you install the test release of WSH. The sample scripts are in the %windir%\WCSample folder (where %windir% is your Memphis folder).

For example, to run CHART.VBS:

1. Run the Memphis MS-DOS command prompt.
2. Run the following commands:

cscript //logo %windir%\wcsample\chart.vbs

cscript //nologo %windir%\wcsample\chart.vbs

Additional sample scripts can be found in the \betaonly\wsh\samples directory on your CD.

There are three ways to run scripts under windows using WSH. You can:

• double-click files and icons in My Computer, Explorer, and the Find window,
• use the Windows Run command, or
• run WSCRIPT.EXE.

When you run scripts from WSCRIPT.EXE, you can select the Always Use the Windows Scripting Host to open this file check box and set properties on the WSH Properties page.

When you run a script and the Always Use the Windows Scripting Host to open this file check box is selected, WSCRIPT.EXE is registered as the default application to run files with the extension of the script you are running. For example, if you select the check box when you run CHART.VBS, WSCRIPT.EXE becomes the default application for all files with the .VBS extension. This check box functions identically to the CSCRIPT.EXE //C switch.

The WSH Properties page provides the following options:

The Windows Scripting Host serves as a controller of ActiveX Scripting engines, just as Microsoft Internet Explorer does. Because the scripting host is not a full Internet browser, it has a smaller memory footprint than Microsoft Internet Explorer; therefore, WSH is appropriate for performing simple, quick tasks.

The scripting host reads and passes the specified script file contents to the registered script engine via the IActiveScriptParse::ParseScriptText method provided by the script engine.

The scripting engine does not use the SCRIPT tag (used in HTML); instead it relies on the extension of the file. This way, the script writer doesn’t have to be familiar with the exact ProgID of various script engines. The scripting host maintains a mapping of the script extensions to ProgIDs and uses the Windows association model to launch the appropriate engine.