What's New In WSH 5.6

What's New In WSH 5.6

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This page is specific to

.NET Framework 3.0

Other versions are also available for the following:

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/.NET Framework 2.0

Windows Script Host

What's New In WSH 5.6

Several areas of functionality have been addressed in this latest version of the Windows Script Host (version 5.6).

Improved Argument Handling

Handling and documenting command line arguments is simpler. The process of integrating your scripts with other command line scripts has been simplified, and it is easier to create scripts that can supply the user with help information. Refer to the following table for information on the WSH language features that connect you to this new functionality.

To Learn About	See
Grouping your script's switches together.	<runtime> Element
Defining your script's named switches.	<named> Element
Defining your script's unnamed switches.	<unnamed> Element
Making your script self-documenting.	<example> Element <description> Element
Sharing the environment of the current process (IOW, WSH) with a spawned process.	Exec Method
Accessing the standard streams programmatically.	Exec Method WshScriptExec Object
Accessing environment variables programmatically.	Environment Property WshEnvironment Object ExpandEnvironmentStrings Method Remove Method
Determining whether a spawned script process is currently running.	Status Property (WshScriptExec)
Accessing the spawned script process's StdIn input stream.	StdIn Property (WshScriptExec)
Accessing the spawned script process's StdOut output stream.	StdOut Property (WshScriptExec)
Accessing the spawned script process' StdErr output stream.	StdErr Property (WshScriptExec)
Terminating a spawned script process.	Terminate Method (WshScriptExec)
Accessing the named command-line script arguments.	WshNamed Object
Determining whether a specific key value exists in the WshNamed object.	Exists Method
Determining the number of switches in the WshNamed or WshUnnamed objects.	Count Method

Running Scripts Remotely

You can load scripts onto several remote computer systems and start them all running simultaneously. While a remote script is running, you can check its progress. After it has finished, you can ensure that it ran correctly or determine the cause of its premature termination. There is a new dispatch object used to create remote WSH objects — the Controller object. In addition, there is a new object that represents an instance of a running script — the Remote WSH object.

To Learn About	See
Creating a remote script object — the remote WSH interface.	WshController Object
Creating a remote script object — using remote WSH interface.	CreateScript Method
Creating a remote script object — getting a handle.	WshRemote Object
Starting a remote script process.	Execute Method
Determining whether a remote script is currently running.	Status Property (WshRemote)
Determining why a remote script terminated.	Description Property (WshRemoteError)
Identifying which statement in your remote script caused it to terminate.	Line Property (WshRemoteError)
Accessing error information after a remote script terminates.	WshRemoteError Object
Identifying the character in the line of code that contained the error.	Character Property
Identifying the error number representing a script error.	Number Property
Identifying the source of the script error.	Source Property
Identifying the line of source code that caused an error.	SourceText Property
Handling remote object events.	Start Event End Event Error Event

Treating New Process as Objects

You determine the status of spawned processes and access their standard I/O streams.

To Learn About	See
Spawning a process.	Exec Method
Accessing the object that represents running processes.	WshScriptExec Object
Accessing process status information.	Status Property (WshScriptExec)
Accessing the standard I/O streams.	StdOut Property (WshScriptExec)
	StdIn Property (WshScriptExec)
	StdErr Property (WshScriptExec)

Accessing the Current Working Directory

You can determine/modify the active process's current working directory.
To Learn About
See
Accessing the active directory information.
CurrentDirectory Property

To Learn About	See
Accessing the active directory information.	CurrentDirectory Property

Security Issues

A new security model makes distributing and running scripts safer.
To Learn About
See
Script signing and verification.
Security and Windows Script Host