[Cialug] Windows Scripting

[Jeff Davis]

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Todd Walton wrote:
<snip>
> -- _Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide: Automating System
> Administration_
<snip>
> -- _Advanced VBScript for Microsoft Windows Administrators_
<snip>

> It makes me wonder who these people are that write these books.
I own both of those books and I wonder about those people as well.

> To be fair I'll mention two things I like about Windows scripting that
> I haven't yet found on Linux.  Both are file formats:
> 
> 1) Windows Script File, .wsf
> 
> It's a script (anything that the Windows Script Host will support,
> which is VBScript, JScript, Perl, etc.) wrapped in an XML file.  The
> XML file holds things like usage instructions, examples, allowed
> arguments, and so on.  So you only have to write the script and list
> the above, and the Windows shell will handle basic stuff like spitting
> out an error if you use the script the wrong way.  WSFs aren't the
> answer to every problem, but they're handy for what they're worth.
> Linux has a handful of tools in this direction.  Perl has some built
> in stuff, and there's that bash argument handler thing that I can't
> remember the name of.
I use it but find it somewhat clunky.

> 2) HTML Application, .hta
> This is da bomb.  HTA files are scripts wrapped in HTML.  They're made
> to run locally, though you can serve them through a site as a file of
> course.  Because they run locally they have local permissions and can
> move files around and the like.  What you get, in effect, is a script
> with a graphical user interface.  You have buttons and drop down menus
> and list boxes and self-rewriting HTML and all the other wonderful
> goodies that HTML provides.  This is way cool, and I'm not sure how
> I'd do the equivalent on Linux, without actually running a web server.
Desktop installs of linux excluded:
I suppose it depends on you're environment, but in my experience if
the box isn't running a web server you are probably just looking at a CLI anyhow.

It's somewhat ironic that my typical use of HTA's has been
to make GUI interfaces for other syadmins who can't code.
<Insert rant about windows admins and/or freaking out about CLI here>


- -Jeff

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