WSH, Part 3: Windows Script Components

The element. encloses the entire definition of a script component. All of the elements that follow must be between the and tags.

The element allows for more extensive error checking in the component. It uses two attributes: error and debug. Use error="true" to display more detailed error messages, and use debug="true" to be able to step through the component's code in the script debugger.

The element provides the information needed to register the component as a COM component on the system. It has four required attributes, as shown in Table 1. You can generate a valid globally unique identifier (GUID) by using the Windows Script Component Wizard (see the Additional Resources box) or the guidgen.exe tool in the platform software development kit (SDK). When you register or unregister the component (a process I'll describe shortly), the WSC runtime uses the information in the element to update the registry.

The element specifies the component's interface (e.g., the properties and methods it makes available). The and elements are both enclosed within the element.

The element declares a property for the component. For a simple read/write property, the < property> element references a global variable in the script code. The global variable's name should match the property's name unless you include the internalname attribute to reference a different variable. The element can also use the and elements (they don't have closing tags) when you want to call code when setting and/or retrieving the property's value or when you want to create a write-only or read-only property. To create a write-only property, the element should include only a element. The script code should define a function named put_propertyname, where propertyname is the name of the property. Conversely, a read-only property should include only a element, and the script should have a function called get_propertyname. You can use different property function names by adding the internalname attribute to the or element.

The element declares a method for the component. The method name should match the name of a function in the script code. (As with the element, if you want to use a different function name, use the internalname attribute.) If needed, use one or more elements to declare parameters for the function.

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