Scripting in Windows
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Documentation
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The most difficult aspect of scripting in Windows is
finding the documentation.
Microsoft produces enormous quantities of
documentation for its part – it is a matter of locating the
correct document and interpreting it.
The documentation for non-Microsoft software can be
difficult.
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MS Documentation
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Local copies of some of the MS scripting documents are
located at
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http://www.ae.gatech.edu/classes/ae6382/documents/MS_Scripting/
The Script56.CHM file is best suited for on-line use and
contains information on VBScript and Jscript languages.
It also contains the documentation for Windows Scripting
Host (WSH), the Script Runtime objects, and Windows
Scripting Components.
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MS Documentation – script56.chm
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Windows Scripting Host
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The Windows Scripting Host provides an environment
for running scripts in Windows.
Provides a host for ActiveX scripting engines (VBScript,
Jscript, and other 3rd party implementations)
The fundamental object is WScript and is preinstantiated
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Properties
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Name, Path, StdIn, StdOut,StdErr
Methods
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CreateObject, GetObject, Quit, Sleep
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Windows Scripting Host
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The WshShell object makes it possible to run a program
locally.
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Can control the programs input and output
The WshScriptExec object is returned from the Exec method
and contains status information
Properties
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CurrentDirectory
Methods
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AppActivate, SendKeys, Exec, RegDelete, RegRead, RegWrite,
PopUp
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Runtime Scripting
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The Runtime Scripting component provides capabilities
for VBScript and Jscript that are not otherwise available.
They cannot be use when scripting a web page in IE.
The objects included in the Runtime Scripting are
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Dictionary (associative arrays)
File System Object
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Create and delete files/folders
Read and write files
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MS Office Objects
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The objects available for the Office programs (Excel in
this case) are located on the Office CD in the form of
.chm (MS Help files).
The file for Excel 10 is VBAXL10.CHM
This file contains all the objects and their methods and
properties.
The objects documented here can be used either by
VBA within Excel or accessed externally via automation
of the Excel program.
For more information see
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http://www.ae.gatech.edu/classes/ae6382/documents/MS_scripting/Office10/
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Execl VBAXL10.CHM
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vbaxl10 – Worksheet Object
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vbaxl10 – Worksheet Properties
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vbaxl10 – Worksheet Methods
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Automation of Excel Example
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An application that uses data stored in an Excel
worksheet to generate a configuration file for use by a
Linux dhcp server.
The Excel file contains IP address, MAC address,
location, owner, and information about whether address
is to be managed by dhcp.
A script file uses automation to access the fields in the
Excel file then generates a Linux formatted text file.
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dhcp_sample.xls
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The script - generate_dhcp.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl
#
# Windows version with automation access to excel
#
use strict;
use Win32::OLE qw(in with);
use Win32::OLE::Const 'Microsoft Excel';
use Win32::OLE::Variant;
use Win32::OLE::NLS qw(:LOCALE :DATE);
# Program dies on errors
$Win32::OLE::Warn = 3;
# The file (spreadsheet) to access
my $excel_file = 'e:\programming\ruby\dhcp_sample.xls';
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The script - generate_dhcp.pl
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This script was written using ActiveState’s ActivePerl
distribution.
It can be downloaded from
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http://www.activestate.com/
This script is run under windows.
It is not using the Windows Scripting Host it is
standalone.
The Win32::OLE modules that are loaded via the use
statements provide the automation support.
See the ActivePerl documentation for more details.
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The script - generate_dhcp.pl
# Create a connection to Excel
my $Excel = Win32::OLE->GetActiveObject('Excel.Application')
|| Win32::OLE->new('Excel.Application','Quit');
print "ERROR: ",$Win32::OLE::LastError,"\n" if
$Win32::OLE::LastError;
# Turn off any alert boxes (such as the SaveAs Response)
$Excel->{DisplayAlerts} = 0;
# Make Excel visible on the desktop
$Excel->{Visible} = 1;
# Open the file
my $Book = $Excel->Workbooks->Open($excel_file);
# Create a reference to the worksheet
my $Sheet = $Book->Worksheets('ASDL');
$Sheet->Activate();
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vbaxl10 – Application Object
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vbaxl10 – Application Visible
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vbaxl10 – Workbook Object
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vbaxl10 – Worksheet Object
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vbaxl10 – Worksheet Object
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The script - generate_dhcp.pl
# Setup
my %mac_list = ();
my %ip_list = ();
# Read the spreadsheet file contents
print "Loading data from $excel_file\n";
my $row_count = $Sheet->Rows->{Count};
print "row_count: $row_count\n";
foreach my $row (3..$row_count) {
#print "ROW: $row\n";
# Look for empty name field
my $name = $Sheet->Range("a${row}")->{Value};
print "name: $name\n";
last if $name eq '';
# Build the entry
my @entry = ();
my $i = 0;
foreach my $col (qw(a b c d e f g h i j)) {
#print "COL: $col\n";
$entry[$i++] = $Sheet->Range("${col}${row}")->{Value};
}
#print @entry,"\n";
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vbaxl10 – Worksheet Object
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The script - generate_dhcp.pl
# Save by MAC address
MAC: {
next MAC if $entry[1] eq '*';
# Check format of each MAC address
$entry[1] =~ tr/A-F/a-f/;
$entry[1] =~ tr/-/:/;
my $mac = $entry[1];
my $flag = ($mac =~ m/[0-9a-f]{2}:[0-9a-f]{2}:[0-9a-f]{2}:[0-9a-f]{2}:[0-9a-f]{2}:[0-9a-f]{2}/);
if ($flag != 1) {
print "MAC Address format error: $entry[1]\n",
"\t",@entry,"\n";
next MAC;
}
if (exists $mac_list{$entry[1]}) {
my $entry1 = $mac_list{$entry[1]};
print "Duplicate MAC address: $entry[1]\n",
"\t",@{$entry1},"\n",
"\t",@entry,"\n";
next MAC;
}
$mac_list{$entry[1]} = \@entry;
}
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The script - generate_dhcp.pl
# Save by IP address
IP: {
next IP if $entry[4] eq '*';
if (exists $ip_list{$entry[4]}) {
my $entry1 = $ip_list{$entry[4]};
print "Duplicate IP address: $entry[4]\n",
"\t",@{$entry1},"\n",
"\t",@entry,"\n";
}
$ip_list{$entry[4]} = \@entry;
}
}
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The script - generate_dhcp.pl
# Generate dhcpd.conf file
print "Generating dhcpd-hosts.conf file\n";
open(OUT,">dhcpd-hosts.conf") || die "Unable to create dhcpd-hosts.conf: $!";
binmode OUT;
# Insert the individual node fields
foreach my $key (sort keys %mac_list) {
my $entry = $mac_list{$key};
# Skip non-dhcp controlled machines
next if $entry->[5] ne 'Y' and $entry->[5] ne 'y';
my $host_name = $entry->[0];
$host_name =~ s/ +/_/g;
my $mac_address = $entry->[1];
my $ip_address = $entry->[4];
$ip_address =~ s/\.0{1,2}/./g;
print "SKIP: $mac_address $ip_address\n" if $ip_address eq '*';
next if $ip_address eq '*';
print OUT "host $host_name {\n";
print OUT "\thardware ethernet $mac_address;\n";
print OUT "\tfixed-address $ip_address;\n";
print OUT "}\n";
}
close(OUT);
__END__
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The output – dhcp-hosts.conf
host df {
hardware ethernet 00:01:02:cf:78:16;
fixed-address 172.16.5.3;
}
host CD-COPIER {
hardware ethernet 00:01:02:cf:78:65;
fixed-address 172.16.5.62;
}
host scanner-pc {
hardware ethernet 00:01:02:cf:78:7d;
fixed-address 172.16.5.46;
}
host grc1 {
hardware ethernet 00:01:02:cf:78:81;
fixed-address 172.16.96.11;
}
host hippo {
hardware ethernet 00:01:e6:3e:31:15;
fixed-address 172.16.2.28;
}
host sonic {
hardware ethernet 00:01:e6:3f:06:a6;
fixed-address 172.16.2.24;
}
host falala {
hardware ethernet 00:01:e6:3f:06:ab;
fixed-address 172.16.2.31;
}
host python {
hardware ethernet 00:01:e6:3f:06:c5;
fixed-address 172.16.2.14;
}
……
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