Include files

Introduction#

When running VbScript in Windows shell, there is no built in function to include a file, therefore, to organize your code in different files you’ll need to create a method to do that.

Remarks#

A few things to keep in mind when using the IncludeFile(p_Path) method :

• There is no limitation of file type that can be included but the included files content must be VbScript.
• If there is a syntax error in the included file, you will not get the line/column of the error.
• You must define and initialize std_internal_LibFiles before the first call to IncludeFile(p_Path)
• You can use IncludeFile(p_Path) anywhere in your code, including other methods.

Creating an “include file” method

So the main goal of this function is to :

• Be standalone because it needs to be written in the main VbScript file and cannot be in an included file (because it defines the include function)

• Provide enough information if something goes wrong (ie. the file that was being included, the error that occurred, …)

• Include a file once and only once to avoid include loops.

  ’ ************************************************************************************************* ’! Includes a VbScript file ‘! @param p_Path The path of the file to include ’ ************************************************************************************************* Sub IncludeFile(p_Path) ’ only loads the file once If std_internal_LibFiles.Exists(p_Path) Then Exit Sub End If

    ' registers the file as loaded to avoid to load it multiple times
    std_internal_LibFiles.Add p_Path, p_Path
  
    Dim objFso, objFile, strFileContent, strErrorMessage
    Set objFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    
    ' opens the file for reading
    On Error Resume Next
    Set objFile = objFso.OpenTextFile(p_Path)
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        ' saves the error before reseting it
        strErrorMessage = Err.Description & " (" &  Err.Source & " " & Err.Number & ")"
        On Error Goto 0
        Err.Raise -1, "ERR_OpenFile", "Cannot read '" & p_Path & "' : " & strErrorMessage
    End If
    
    ' reads all the content of the file
    strFileContent = objFile.ReadAll
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        ' saves the error before reseting it
        strErrorMessage = Err.Description & " (" &  Err.Source & " " & Err.Number & ")"
        On Error Goto 0
        Err.Raise -1, "ERR_ReadFile", "Cannot read '" & p_Path & "' : " & strErrorMessage
    End If
    
    ' this allows to run vbscript contained in a string
    ExecuteGlobal strFileContent
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        ' saves the error before reseting it
        strErrorMessage = Err.Description & " (" &  Err.Source & " " & Err.Number & ")"
        On Error Goto 0
        Err.Raise -1, "ERR_Include", "An error occurred while including '" & p_Path & "' : " & vbCrlf & strErrorMessage
    End If

  End Sub

Including files

To include a file in another file, just use the one liner :

IncludeFile "myOtherFile.vbs"

Global initialization

Before we use the IncludeFile method, we need to :

• Declare std_internal_LibFiles globally

• Initialize it with a new dictionary

  Dim std_internal_LibFiles Set std_internal_LibFiles = CreateObject(“Scripting.Dictionary”)