Html General

VBScript Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer)

Format: Paperback
Author: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
ReleaseDate: 09 July, 2004
Publisher: Wrox
Rating:

2nd Edition is outstanding as a tutorial and as a reference
Thus, I just expected the second edition to be an update of the first. I owned the first edition of this book, and although somewhat confusing, I was able to learn VBScript from it with some time and patience. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the second edition had been greatly improved. There are clearer and more frequent examples, the text is an easier read, and there are frequent and illuminating illustrations.

Chapter 1 covers the basics of VBScript and is also a crash course in programming basics, since the authors realize that nonprogrammers such as network administrators and web designers might need to work with VBScript. Chapter 2 talks specifically about what VBScript can and cannot do, and points out that VBScript is part of a bigger programming world - that of Visual Basic. It points out what can be done with VBScript in the world of both client-side and server-side web scripting. The next seven chapters are a detailed tutorial on all aspects of the VBScript language - data types, variables and procedures, flow control, error handling, objects, classes, and regular expressions.

The application section of the book begins in Chapter 10 with client-side web scripting by showing how Internet Explorer and VBScript can be combined on the client-side to create interesting HTML pages for website visitors. The book goes as far as introducing scriptlets, behaviors, and HTML components. However, since these subjects are broad and deep the book focuses on small examples and covers only the major techniques. Internet Explorer does not allow a script to interact with the local computer unless the user explicitly sets these permissions, and by doing so, enables enormous security risks. Thus, Windows Script Host is discussed next with illustrations as to how it gives VBScript more power without the security risks. The authors show how Windows Script Host is used to provide Windows platforms with a powerful scripting platform that can be accessed from the Windows GUI and the command prompt. Next, the book explains Windows Script Components, which are XML-based files that contain script code. Within these files you can use any of several scripting languages, including VBScript. The script components are interpreted at runtime, so that they appear as compiled COM components to the calling application.

The next major topic covered is remote scripting, which makes Web applications more closely resemble client/server applications developed in high level languages such as C++. Thus, remote scripting enables a client page to execute a method on an ASP page without navigating away from the current page. Server-side web scripting is the final major topic covered, showing how your applications can become very powerful and reusable modules within the enterprise. To this end, the chapter first discusses the HTTP protocol, followed by a tutorial on Active Server Pages.

In summary, I highly recommend this book both as a reference and a tutorial for the VBScript language as well as a practical guide on its application.

Good book for starters
This book is so easy to browse through and as I already have some knowledge of VB Programming and so I can easily browse through the chapters. I bought this book, as I wanted to write some simple VBScripts to help automating some laborious manual process for my job. Even for a beginner this is a good book to start with. I could start writing the scripts I wanted for my job and I like this book so far. .

Great book, be sure to buy the 2nd Edition
At first I was confused by some of the older reviews, until I realized that Amazon is still selling the old 1st edition, and many folks are buying that one instead of the newer, much better Second Edition. This is an outstanding book.

Be sure you're buying the Second Edition! That book's ISBN is 0764559931. It's the one with the picture of three authors on the cover.