Sams Teach Yourself Windows Script Host in 21 Days [Paperback]

Charles Williams (Author), Thomas Fredell (Author), Clarence Washington Jr. (Author), Michael Morrison (Author), Steve Campbell (Author), Ian Morrish (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 067231374X | ISBN-13: 978-0672313745 | Publication Date: August 2, 1999 | Edition: 1

Learn to take maximum advantage of WSH to automate routine tasks, create powerful macros how to manage user in remote locations. This book not only teaches how to implement WSH successfully with either JScript or VB Script, it also provides dozens of useful script examples that the reader will be able to apply immediately.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Thomas Fredell hits a home run with Teach Yourself Windows Scripting Host in 21 Days. This book tells you what you need to know to build valuable utilities with the Windows Script Host (WSH, formerly the Windows Scripting Host). He explains the WSH object model, how to write programs with it, and how to run those programs. The material on VBScript and JScript won't teach you the languages, but it provides enough information to clarify structure, syntax, and other basics for programmers who work with many languages at once.

The best parts of this book are the examples, written using an even mix of JScript and VBScript. Fredell provides explicit (and adaptable) programs that show how to use the WSH with Microsoft Office, Internet Information Server (IIS), and SQL Server, as well as for user administration tasks in Windows 98 and Windows NT 4. The book goes into great depth on the relationship between the WSH and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)--a powerful connection that's not possible to simulate with shell scripting. The inclusion of scripts that manipulate Active Directory file systems will wow Windows 2000 users (and those who plan to be). --David Wall

Topics covered: Building utilities with Windows Script Host (WSH); VBScript and JScript; and using WSH with Office, Internet Information Server (IIS), and SQL Server.

From the Back Cover

Learn to take maximum advantage of WSH to automate routine tasks, create powerful macros how to manage user in remote locations. This book not only teaches how to implement WSH successfully with either JScript or VB Script, it also provides dozens of useful script examples that the reader will be able to apply immediately.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1 edition (August 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067231374X
• ISBN-13: 978-0672313745
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,942,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, October 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Windows Script Host in 21 Days (Paperback)

This is a great book. The examples and the amount of information covered and the clear explanations are nothing less than amazing. This is a book that will take you from having no experience with programming (vbscript/jscript), COM, WSH, etc. to using all of these too write useful scripts.

If you are network administrator using NT/2000 do yourself a favor and get this book. If you simply want an introduction to high-level programming without buying VB then get this book. What you learn in this book will provide a foundation to learning Visual Basic if you decide to go further into programming.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good learning tool - but you really have to want it, July 3, 2001

By 

Jase T. Wolfe - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Windows Script Host in 21 Days (Paperback)

The biggest problem with the WSH and VBScript is that it is marketed as being a powerful but simple "macro" language. Nothing could be further from the truth. VBScript is essentially VB without the forms and graphics. VBScript is just as powerful, has the same controlling capabilities, and uses almost all the same commands and syntax as VB. To think of writing scripts for the WSH as anything less than programming is a mistake.

When I first got this book, I read a ways into it, decided I didn't have the time or energy to go on, and put it aside. Had I written a review at that point, it would not have been favorable. Then I learned more about the WSH, what it was and what my expectations should be, what a person could do with it - and I picked it back up, and really applied myself. And apply yourself you must for this book. The first 154 pages of this 600 page book teach you the syntax and structure of VBScript (and some JScript). It's a little dry, and easy to get lost in. But once you have that down, the rest of the book can really open things up and show you quite a bit.

Besides an introduction to the language, the book covers "upgrading" your old batch files, writing logon scripts for users, automating network tasks, SQL server, IIS server, as well as showing you how to use ActiveX objects for the file system, CDO, ADO (Database), etc. The book even goes so far as to touch on ADSI scripting for Windows NT and Windows 200 Active Directory.

Even though at this point in time the book is a little out-dated (written in the Windows NT 4 time), it is still a good learning tool. Not so unlike other "... in 21 days" books, the average person won't complete the book in that time, and you learn just as much correcting the errors in the code and doing the workshop material as you do from the actual guided lessons. If you're looking for a scripting solution that is quick and easy, WSH and VBScript isn't it, and neither is this book. If you're looking for a powerful automation tool for network and services automation, and you're willing to spend the time it will take to complete this book, then this could be the title for you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best computer book ever!, January 22, 2000

By 

rob (Delray Beach, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Windows Script Host in 21 Days (Paperback)

This is a great book. It provides a excellent foundation for learning the basics of: WSH, vbscript, jscript and provides useful real-world examples for scripting: IIS, MS Office, ADO, ADSI, etc. The author even devotes a chapter on how to deploy scripting solutions.

After you finish reading this book get the MS help files on: WSH, vbscript, jscript, ADO, ADSI, other COM, and MS OLE/COM viewer and you'll be ready for scripting in the real world.