Rating: 
Summary: Make Windows work for you (rather than the other way around)
Review: If you're interested in making Windows work for you then this is the book to help you do it. I bought the book because I wanted to connect to my ISP and start several programs (firewall, mail checker, clock adjuster, etc.) with the click of one icon. I also wanted to be able to disconnect, stop all those programs and start WinFax from one icon. I noticed from the index that this book would show me how to do that using the Windows Script Host ... that was all I wanted from the book and it served its purpose well.Surprisingly, however, once I got the book home I found 700 pages of other equally useful stuff. It's great! Controlling my scanner and printer so that they act together like a photocopier. Backing up my data files into regular Windows folders and files and not into some proprietary compressed format which would commit me to using a proprietary Restore procedure. The author's style is to jump into code early and often; the associated narrative is clear and concise. The reader learns by either running the code from the CD or by copying the code from the book. People who invest the time to go through the book and really understand the examples presented will be rewarded by being placed in control of the Windows environment. Those who regularly use programming books will be surprised to find that the code in both CD and book actually works and doesn't have to be debugged by the reader! Don't be put off by the fact that the author is German; if English isn't his first language then, well, it's better than many who write nothing but English.
Rating:
Summary: Make Windows work for you (rather than the other way around)
Review: If you're interested in making Windows work for you then this is the book to help you do it. I bought the book because I wanted to connect to my ISP and start several programs (firewall, mail checker, clock adjuster, etc.) with the click of one icon. I also wanted to be able to disconnect, stop all those programs and start WinFax from one icon. I noticed from the index that this book would show me how to do that using the Windows Script Host ... that was all I wanted from the book and it served its purpose well. Surprisingly, however, once I got the book home I found 700 pages of other equally useful stuff. It's great! Controlling my scanner and printer so that they act together like a photocopier. Backing up my data files into regular Windows folders and files and not into some proprietary compressed format which would commit me to using a proprietary Restore procedure. The author's style is to jump into code early and often; the associated narrative is clear and concise. The reader learns by either running the code from the CD or by copying the code from the book. People who invest the time to go through the book and really understand the examples presented will be rewarded by being placed in control of the Windows environment. Those who regularly use programming books will be surprised to find that the code in both CD and book actually works and doesn't have to be debugged by the reader! Don't be put off by the fact that the author is German; if English isn't his first language then, well, it's better than many who write nothing but English.
Rating: 
Summary: The Secret is - He does it all in Visual Basic
Review: Many things about this book I enjoyed a great deal. There is an abundance of dialog giving you tips, hints and help, great script examples showing proper scripting syntax and form, many sections that open you up to new possibilities with scripting by showing you COM object usage, as well as some invaluable development tools on the included CD-ROM. However, the books primary focus is on using VBScript as the control mechanism for other objects (ActiveX, COM, etc.). This is, of course, an important part of VBScript and without it one might as well script BAT files. But so much of this book is dedicated to teaching the reader how to use the many custom ActiveX control the author has written/included on the CD-ROM, as well as creating your own (using the Microsoft Visual Basic Control Creation Editor), that the book appears to be more of a manual for the ActiveX controls than a book on scripting. An ideal script is one where the script is a stand alone file and can run on a large number of computers using industry standard components when needed - not a script that requires you to create your own ActiveX components to do all of the work and distribute all of it with an installation package before it will run. So many of the author's "solution scripts" provided said solutions by calling Visual Basic controls rather than actual scripting - that at some points it would have been simpler to just write an application in VB and be done with it. The book does touch on some industry standard objects, such as Internet Explorer, File System Object, WScript object, ADO, etc., but falls short of being a reference for the demonstrated objects, and at times raises more questions than it answers. To sum up, the book is handy, a great resource for learning how to use ActiveX / COM objects in your scripts, and does have a lot of valuable information and included tools. I would not recommend this book if your goal is to learn more about the base language itself, but if your looking for a book that will teach you about using objects, this is a great title.
Rating:
Summary: Killer stuff
Review: Other than a few pages being faded (Printer's problem not the Author's) this book Rocks! I've found everything I needed to automate my daily tasks and then some. It also made it apparent to me that I needed to tighten up our security. This stuff can be deadly. The "Love Letter Virus" barely scratches the surface of what's possible. Thanks Tobias!
Rating: 
Summary: Lot's of Good Information
Review: Overall, this book has help me understand WScripting. Additionally, It presented some COM objects which I have found useful not only in .vbs but also VB and ASP.
Rating:
Summary: Lot's of Good Information
Review: Overall, this book has help me understand WScripting. Additionally, It presented some COM objects which I have found useful not only in .vbs but also VB and ASP.
Rating:
Summary: Actually Fun to Read
Review: The author is German and his english is a little rough (the editor's fault, not his), but he obviously enjoys his topic. His first sentance, in the preface, is "Windows Scripting is exciting!" His enthusiasm permeates the entire book and is infectious. That alone makes this book worth the price. But that is only the beginning. Page 6 introduces the first useful script. This book is packed with useful scripts, useful scripting techniques, and in-depth information. The fourth paragragh of the preface states, "This book is like an exciting adventure game and hundreds of scripts provide you with ready-to-run examples... You will see results in a matter of minutes rather than having to study theoretical background for weeks. This book won't just scratch the surface, either. It goes deep into subjects such as DLLs, COM objects, the Windows API..., and more." See what I mean about his enthusiasm? Best of all, he delivers on his promises. The book includes all of the source code for the scripts, the complete text of the book, utilities, and documentation on the included CD. If you buy no other book on scripting, buy this one.
Rating:
Summary: Actually Fun to Read
Review: The author is German and his english is a little rough (the editor's fault, not his), but he obviously enjoys his topic. His first sentance, in the preface, is "Windows Scripting is exciting!" His enthusiasm permeates the entire book and is infectious. That alone makes this book worth the price. But that is only the beginning. Page 6 introduces the first useful script. This book is packed with useful scripts, useful scripting techniques, and in-depth information. The fourth paragragh of the preface states, "This book is like an exciting adventure game and hundreds of scripts provide you with ready-to-run examples... You will see results in a matter of minutes rather than having to study theoretical background for weeks. This book won't just scratch the surface, either. It goes deep into subjects such as DLLs, COM objects, the Windows API..., and more." See what I mean about his enthusiasm? Best of all, he delivers on his promises. The book includes all of the source code for the scripts, the complete text of the book, utilities, and documentation on the included CD. If you buy no other book on scripting, buy this one.
Rating:
Summary: Actually Fun to Read
Review: The author is German and his english is a little rough (the editor's fault, not his), but he obviously enjoys his topic. His first sentance, in the preface, is "Windows Scripting is exciting!" His enthusiasm permeates the entire book and is infectious. That alone makes this book worth the price. But that is only the beginning. Page 6 introduces the first useful script. This book is packed with useful scripts, useful scripting techniques, and in-depth information. The fourth paragragh of the preface states, "This book is like an exciting adventure game and hundreds of scripts provide you with ready-to-run examples... You will see results in a matter of minutes rather than having to study theoretical background for weeks. This book won't just scratch the surface, either. It goes deep into subjects such as DLLs, COM objects, the Windows API..., and more." See what I mean about his enthusiasm? Best of all, he delivers on his promises. The book includes all of the source code for the scripts, the complete text of the book, utilities, and documentation on the included CD. If you buy no other book on scripting, buy this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected.
Review: This book covers WSH 2.0. However, there was no subject matter on the XML format (wsf files) of WSH 2.0, covering includes, multiple scripting language support, etc. This book covered nothing but the Windows Scripting Host in VBScript format (vbs files) only. JScript was not included at all! JScript is easily translated from VBScript, however, this was still a setback of the book. A lot of emphasis was put on using COM objects, and calling these objects' data members via script. This is fine, but most of the functionality was written in Visual Basic -- again not what I expected. Scripting was made to write short, quick automated tasks, not to fire up Visual Basic and create a DLL every time you want to write a new script. The book is a decent reference, but not as good as Microsoft's free download. I would suggest getting this first. It does demonstate some examples of automating certain tasks, and shows some helpful tips and tricks.
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