VB Noob - Curious About Commands

[Gerowen]

I am an absolute noob to VB. I'm kind of crashing myself into it because of my situation. I fell in on a network that was already in place. The guys here before me wrote some scripts in VB that automatically map network printers, shared folders, etc. The only problem is that they've been around for about 5 years and gone through two or three groups and have become quite bloated, and buggy. One thing they do is redirect everyone's home directory to our server. So, seeing as I don't know enough about VB to modify the ones in existence (comfortably anyway) I'm writing a brand new one. I've never written VB before, so I'd like you to look over the code I've written so far and tell me if it would work. I've written it only to do the two tasks I want it to do, map network drives and printers.

Also I was wondering what the "Dim" before variables does? I've seen it in example scripts that I googled, and the scripts that are in existence.

Attached is a .txt version of what I've got written so far.

mapresources.txtFetching info...

[JamesCherrill]

  CoMMo said:

... I was wondering what the "Dim" before variables does? .

It declares the name of the variable, ie it says "I';m going to use the name "Network" for my variable - without it the compiler wouldn't know if you mis-typed the name later, it would just have to assume it was a new variable. In most other languages there is something equivalent, but it usually defines what sort of variable it is (number, string etc) as well.

[Calum Veteran]

Without "Dim" I don't even think the compiler would realise it is a variable would it? It would just give an error I think? It's been a whole year since I last did VB, but I can tell you that "Dim" before a variable name just declares that it is a variable (like JamesCherrill said) :)

[rpgfan]

Actually, I believe that's VBScript. ^_^

Other than that, everybody took the words out of my mouth. :D

I wish I knew more VBS. Then I'd at least have a chance of helping you with your script. :(

[Antaris Veteran]

Ah, blessed VB syntax, well, VBScript syntax anyway.

I'm not gonna rehash what others have said, I'd simple say the script looks fine, but I would include some error checking if operations fail.

I've always been confused over the origin of Dim. I believe its short for Dimension (as in allocating a dimension of memory for the object). Others have said it means "Declared-in-Memory". Confuzzles me!

[rpgfan]

  Antaris said:

I've always been confused over the origin of Dim. I believe its short for Dimension (as in allocating a dimension of memory for the object). Others have said it means "Declared-in-Memory". Confuzzles me!

"Dimension" is what one of the examples in the QuickBASIC 4.5 help file says. In one of the examples that the help file gives, it has a comment that says "Dimension an array to hold the values." That's why I've always thought it meant "Dimension". "Declared-In-Memory" is a new one to me. ^_^

No, I don't use it anymore. I think I just keep it around for nostalgia. The days of a blue screen that didn't mean something was wrong with your computer were nice. :D

[JamesCherrill]

I think it's "Dimension" based on the original usage which was to specify the dimensions of an array, eg

dim months(12), chessboard(8,8)

some of the early Basics I've used didn't need variables to be Dim'ed unless they were arrays, which led to horrendous debugging problems when you mis-spelled a variable name.

[Antaris Veteran]

Lol, ReDim my internets

[+mrbester MVC]

  JamesCherrill said:

I think it's "Dimension" based on the original usage which was to specify the dimensions of an array, eg

dim months(12), chessboard(8,8)

It is "Dimension". Even if it wasn't an array, it still used an array of bytes for storage...

  Quote

some of the early Basics I've used didn't need variables to be Dim'ed unless they were arrays, which led to horrendous debugging problems when you mis-spelled a variable name.

Urgh. Nasty version of BASIC you had there. All the ones I've used (since 1979) have required Dim to declare variables, even the quite horrible Sharp BASIC running on a MZ-80K. One notable exception ISTR is ZX81 BASIC which had Let as well. I can't remember if BBC BASIC had that as well. I wouldn't be surprised...

[Gerowen]

Alright, the script is operational, however something is wrong with some of the computers and when trying to connect to the shared printers they fail 9 times out of 10, and I have to manually restart the "Print Spooler" service. I want to add a line to the end of the script to tell it to start that service just in case this happens. What commands could I use in VBScript to do this? Can I insert normal CLI commands into a VBScript?

P.S. What are some good VBScript tutorials that I could use? I'm looking for free online books, online tutorials, etc.. Something along the lines of VBScript for dummies that could take someone who doesn't know anything about it and make them somewhat comfortable.

[jake1eye]

Here is a good spot to learn more about VBS scripting. The Hey, Scripting Guy! Archive

[Kami-]

Dimension, although some people also say it stands for Declare In Memory.