Windows XP in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Chapter 9. The Windows Script Host

One of the features that has distinguished operating systems like Unix and Linux from Windows is that they’ve made it relatively easy to write scripts that automate repetitive tasks. Since doing the same thing over and over again is one of the basic labor-saving benefits of a computer, the lack of robust scripting capabilities has always been one of the great weaknesses of Windows.

Originally released as part of Windows 98, the Windows Script Host (WSH) is Microsoft’s answer to this problem and a replacement for the remarkably limited batch file language (see Chapter 6). The addition of WSH to the Windows platform represents a major step forward in Windows’ role in the networking world.

WSH provides a way to automate Windows-based graphical applications using any one of several, powerful, full-featured scripting languages. WSH provides a set of objects that allow you to interact with the network, Registry, files and folders, and even other applications, using scripting languages such as VBScript and Microsoft JScript (a JavaScript-like language). Third-party add-ons that provide the same functionality in other scripting languages, such as Perl, Tcl, REXX, and Python, are also available.

WSH scripts can be used to create network login scripts that are more complex than those that are built into Windows, and can be used to automate local Desktop tasks. The resulting scripts can be run from the Desktop, from the command line, or via the Explorer’s ...