Windows 2000 Scripting Bible (Paperback)

by William R. Stanek (Author) "Microsoft Visual Basic scripting edition (VBScript) has long been the favorite scripting language of Microsoft developers and soon it will be your favorite as well..." (more)
Key Phrases: network resource library, overwrite flag, global group policies, Active Directory, Started Automatic, Internet Explorer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This authoritative, comprehensive guide is your bible to Windows® 2000 scripting. Written for people at all levels of technological know-how, it may be used as a reference book or a tutorial. You'll appreciate the step-by-step instructions and clear explanations enhanced by icons, charts, and hundreds of screenshots. The tips, insights, and shortcuts that appear in each chapter will help you to

• Automate most network routines.
• Master VBScript and JScript essentials.
• Learn the ins and outs of scripting engines and the Windows Scripting Host architecture.
• Read or write to files, manage drives and printers, configure menus, and work with the Registry.
• Save time with scripts for network tasks, logon/logoff operations, and other routines.
• Use Active Directory Services scripting to manage accounts, systems, and services.
• Build spreadsheets, animate charts, and access databases with COM scripting.
• Work with library utilities to automate scripts for file management, network administration, and more.

If you're an administrator or developer using Windows or scripting technologies, you'll find techniques not published anywhere else. You'll see why the entire Bible series has such an outstanding reputation when the Windows 2000 Scripting Bible goes the distance for you.

From the Publisher
Inside you'll find complete coverage of Windows Scripting:

Master VBScript and JScript essentials, from arrays and operators to conditional statements

Learn the ins and outs of scripting engines and the Windows Scripting Host architecture

Find real-world tips on scripts that read or write to files, manage drives and printers, configure menus, and work with the Registry

Save time with scripts for network tasks, logon/logoff operations, and other routines

Use Active Directory Services scripting to manage accounts, systems, and services

Take advantage of COM scripting to build spreadsheets, animate charts, access databases, and more

Work with library utilities to automate scripts for everything from file management to network administration

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 667 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764546775
• ISBN-13: 978-0764546778
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #701,005 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent scripting book especially for Sys Admins, July 7, 2000

By	Julian A J Topley (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews

If you are a Sys Admin and are new to scripting this is a great book. I have bought several computer books over the past few years this one is certainly one of the better ones.

The first thing I noticed about this book was the fact that all the examples are illustrated in both VB Script and JScript - take your pick! If you know some C++ you will easily pick up JScript.

The book was easy to follow and was well structured. Within a week or so from being a scripting novice I was able to write useful and productive scripts such as automating FTP jobs and working with the registry - the book also serves as an excellent reference as well as a tutorial.

One thing to note about this book is that you don't need Windows 2000 to run all of the examples on but it does go into ADSI and LDAP in later chapters.

There are not that many books out there that cover the Windows Script Host for both JScript and VB Script - this one does, and does it well.

43 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too happy with this one..., June 22, 2000

By A Customer

The description of this book would lead you to believe you would be able to write your own advanced scripts and really learn how to script under Win 2000.What you get are a lot of pre-made examples that are helpful but only explained on the surface. I would say this is surely not for first time scripters. When examples are given they are sometimes too simple to be usable and it isn't explained how to actually modify for something useful. For instance the example how to run a command in a script, runs notepad. This isn't useful. How about running a command and piping it's output to a file with variables in the command? This book covers a lot of topics, many very advanced but there is not enough instruction on how the parts actually work for creating custom scripts. Now I need to look for another book to use along side this with more actual explaination of syntax and script function.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Actually quite good, March 14, 2004

By	Bob Phipps (USA) - See all my reviews

Having actually bought and read this book cover to cover I can say it is actually quite good. It is one of two scripting books I use all the time. I used it when I was starting out with windows scriptting and I still use it. I've found it to be excellent, definitely for beginning to advanced. If you're already a scripting expert you don't need the book. You probably don't need anybook if your an expert on this.

Chapter by chapter the book works through windows scripting

Chapter 1 introduces windows scripting. It shows you the key objects for wsh, vbscript and jscript. The coverage of both vbscript and jscript is unique to this book. Stanek does an excellent job of providing every script in both.

Chapter 2/3 introduce vbscript and jscript. They are a perfrect primer for newbies as I was and I've used them as refreshers lately.

Chapter 4 covers techniques for creating script files. i found the discussion on using multiple scripts in a single file and script jobs to be particularly useful as was the discussion on using external objects and type libraries.

Chapter 5 covers essentials in both vbscript and jscript.

Chapter 6 covers i/o and error handling. Great discussion on input boxes, text boxes and popups. Excellent discussion on error handling, particularly with technqiues for throwing errors in jscript.

Chapter 7 covers the FSO. It shows how to examine, create, add, remove folders and files. Good discussion on special files and moving files/folders.

Chapter 8 covers reading and writing files. The discussion is made more valuable as it is in both vbscript and jscript as are all examples.

Chapter 9 covers managing printers, mapping network drives, and working with disk drives. Solid example scripts on obtaining drive information and formatting in useful way. Good discussion on mapping network printers.

Chapter 10 covers managing the menu system. It shows how to manipulate shortcuts, update menus, add startup applications.

Chapter 11 covers the registry and event logs. It shows you how to read/write registry keys and values, how to modify existing keys and values. Excellent follow on discussion on controlling WINS and DHCP from the regisry. Very thorough script examples on working with the event logs and generating event logs reports. 3-page sample script on creating HTML reports. It works wonderfully, and there's a detailed examination of how it works.

Chapter 12 covers scheduling scripts from the command line. It focuses on Task Scheduler and AT but doesn't cover the new schtasks. The most interesting part of the discussion is on schediling tasks and then logging success or failure in the event logs. Provides a 3-page scheduling manager script for managing multiple scripts on multiple systems.

Chapter 13 covers startup, shutdown, logon, logoff scripts. Good detail on how group policy works and how the scripts are applied.

Chapter 14-15 cover ADSI and ADSI schema scripting in extensive detail. It is a good primer on all the possibilities.

Chapter 16 covers using ADSI to examine and work with computer and account settings. Shows how to set domain account policies, local computer properties. The best discussion is on creating and modifying user accounts. Listing locked and disabled accounts, and then unlocking and enabling them. Provides a 3-page script called account management. Shows how to track group membership and change group membership.

Chapter 17 covers managing windows services, viewing memory/RAM usage. As throughout the book very complete tables on the options and services available. Detailed discussion on viewing service settings and depencies from scripts. 3-page script called the service troubleshooter helps solve service problems. Quite possibly the basis for "Restart Service" feature in W2k3. 5-page script called service manager controls shows how to control services. Completes with managing open resources and user sessions. 2-page script called share usage provides excellent tool for chekcing open resources and sessions.

Chapter 18 covers shared folders, print queues and print jobs. Shows how to create and manage shared folders, print queues and print jobs. Excellent discussion with detailed scripts. 2-page print monitor script, 3-page print jobs script.

Chapter 19 covers advanced ADSI with LDAP. Covers creating, renaming and moving accouts. Managing groups, users, contacts with LDAP. Working with OUs and creating them as well. Managing user accounts, setting account flags, renaming, moving users.

Chapter 20 shows additional possibilities fir COM, ActiveX.

Chapter 21-24 provides scripting libraries. The first utility library is FileSystem Utility Library, a 10-page script for managing folders, files, shortcuts and menu options, followed by detailed examination. The second utility library is the I/O utility library, a 4-page script for reading and writing files, reading from the keyboard, etc. The third utility library is the Network Resource library, a 16-page script for working with drives, checking free space, mapping drives, working with printers, viewing/managing services, working with network shares. The fifth utility library is Account Management Library a 20-page script for working with users and groups and computers.

Appendix A proivdes a wsh quick ref.
Appendix B provides ADSI quick ref.
Appendix C provides command-line utility ref.

Overall, it is an excellent book that is very thorough with many useful examples. I highly recommend it.