Introduction to VBScript - Programming101

Scripting languages such as VBScript are derived from the Visual Basic language. It extends the capabilities of the Web much like an airplane extends the capabilities of man so he can travel through the sky. VBScript lets the page become an active, dynamic piece of software rather than a static piece of content.

What is VBScript – Visual Basic Language

VBScript is a type of programming language used to provide control in another hosting environment. it is interpreted rather than compiled. this means that a program built with a scripting language must be run in an environment that contains the scripting language’s interpreter and cannot be run as a stand-alone application.

HTML can not interpret a scripting language itself, but it knows enough to call the interpreter of the scripting language to carry out the interpretation. this enables you to go above and beyond HTML, using any browser-supporting scripting language. with scripting languages such as VBScript, the limitations of HTML disappear. The opportunities are now limited only by the scripting languages themselves. VBScript language can be embedded in a Web page, and if the browser supports them, it provides the path to smart, active programs that are part of that page.

Jobs have been done using VBScript

VBScript lets the user interact with a Web page rather than simply view it. There are many possible scenarios for this interaction. For instance, this capability to interact makes it possible for Web pages to ask questions and respond to how the user answers them. VBScript can then take input from the user and check the data to make sure it is valid or meets certain criteria. Then it can put an Internet server to work either by actually storing the data or causing some action to take place on the server based on the information given.

For example, VBScript could respond to a user’s request for an airline reservation. It could read the data, check to make sure all fields have been filled out and that the phone number and zip code are in a valid format, inform the user of the estimated price, and then notify the server of the reservation.

All these tasks could be carried out by the code in the Web page that was downloaded across the Internet as it sits on the user’s client PC. The server, in turn, would make sure that there is an open slot for the customer for when he wants a ticket and then books the flight and get tickets out in the mail to the customer.

VBScript can also perform calculations on data, such as computing the cost of an item after taking into account the sales tax. Often, calculations on a Web page are useful in providing the user a way of figuring out what he wants to do or perhaps giving him some sort of result he is seeking. In this way, your Web page enables the user to walk away with more than a mere presentation of fixed information.

You could, for example, allow the user to choose what luxury items he wants on a car and, as the luxury items are selected, keep adjusting the overall cost. The user could spend as many items as he wants and choose as many combinations as he likes until the perfect combination of features versus price is calculated.

With VBScript and the right controls, you can even create 3-D animation effects, making your Web page come alive with moving objects in response to certain events. You can use animation to make cars incline across the screen, butterflies fly across your Web page, or arrows move and point to where you want the user to interact with the Web page.

Although this might seem quite esoteric, animation does help attract the user’s attention and makes them feel like they are working with a living, breathing entity. They are more likely to explore your Web page and stay tuned in to it when a lot of neat animated effects grab their attention.

Security

VBScript prevents viruses from entering downloaded files and other potential security and safety problems and thus eliminating the cause of such problems entirely. First of all, it is not possible to read and write files or databases in the normal fashion in VBScript. it is indeed a limitation. But this stops a very large security leak.

Damage could come to a user’s computer through a Web page that opens and modifies a file or may delete a file on the user’s computer. As a result, it is not possible for VBScript to modify files on the user’s computer using conventional methods.

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