CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#vbscript
Ujjwal Vaish
Ujjwal Vaish

Reputation: 375

Debugging a vbscript from C#

I have the following code: 

Process scriptProc = new Process();
                scriptProc.StartInfo.FileName = @"cscript";
                scriptProc.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = @"C:\MyPath\";
                scriptProc.StartInfo.Arguments = "filename.vbs //X";
                scriptProc.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden; 
                scriptProc.Start();
                scriptProc.WaitForExit();
                scriptProc.Close();

My VBS opens in an editor(Visual Studio) which is specified by the //X attribute, but this only opens if the script has no syntax errors, it is not opening in the editor if I have script errors, which basically makes the use of the debugger as redundant.

Is there any way with which I can debug a VBScript using C# only?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1318

Answers (3)

omegastripes
omegastripes

Reputation: 12602

The code below uses @Ekkehard.Horner approaches. Compile it, then drag and drop .vbs files onto executable to test whether the file has syntax errors or not:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
// Add reference to COM Microsoft Script Control 1.0
// Code works for .Net 2.0 and above
class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Check whether a file was dragged onto executable
        if (args.Length != 1)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Drag'n'drop .vbs file onto this executable to check syntax");
            return;
        }
        MessageBox.Show("Syntax will be checked for\r\n" + args[0]);
        String vbscode = "";
        // Read the content of the file
        try
        {
            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(args[0]);
            vbscode = sr.ReadToEnd();
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("File reading error " + e.Message);
            return;
        }
        // Add statement raising runtime error -2147483648 in the first line to ScriptControl
        int hr = 0;
        try
        {
            vbscode = "Err.Raise &H80000000\r\n" + vbscode;
            MSScriptControl.ScriptControl sc = new MSScriptControl.ScriptControl();
            sc.Language = "VBScript";
            sc.AddCode(vbscode);
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            hr = Marshal.GetHRForException(e);
            // First line of code executed if no syntax errors only
            if (hr == -2147483648)
            {
                // Run time error -2147483648 shows that execution started without syntax errors
                MessageBox.Show("Syntax OK");
            }
            else
            {
                // Otherwise there are syntax errors
                MessageBox.Show("Syntax error");
            }            
        }
    }
}

Upvotes: 1

Ekkehard.Horner
Ekkehard.Horner

Reputation: 38745

A debugger is a tool for dealing with run-time errors. So it can't be used to check for compile-time errors.

Unfortunately, the c|wscript.exe script hosts don't have an option like Perl's -c (syntax check). Running cscript maybebad.vbs to catch syntax errors may be not convenient if that executes a flawless shutdown/format my harddisk/... script accidentally/unwittingly. You could write a script that Execute(Global) the code of maybebad.vbs with a WScript.Quit 1 prepended.

There is the MS ScriptControl that could be used to avoid the shelling out; I'm not sure, whether that will streamline your 'debugging experience'.

Upvotes: 2

krisdyson
krisdyson

Reputation: 3255

In answer to your question, no, I'm afraid you cannot debug the VBScript from within a debugging context of C#. Try debugging your script directly with something like http://www.vbsedit.com. By launching the script in C# first, you're complicating matters.

Upvotes: 1

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