- Special Edition Using Visual Basic Script -

Introduction

As this book is being written, the Internet is in a tremendous state of flux. It's likely this constant transformation will continue for at least the next few months, as Microsoft continues to bombard us with more and more fantastic tools and protocols. While this hectic rate of change makes for a wild ride, it's good to keep the ultimate goal in mind: a limitless vista of programming opportunity, balanced by a set of development tools of unprecedented power, flexibility, and ease of use.

This book is constructed of five sections that provide a logical framework for learning to get around in this new realm. The first three parts provide a foundation to enable you to learning VBScript in-depth. Part 1, "Microsoft, The Internet, and You," is an overview of where the Internet is today, where it's headed, and how the you'll be able to capitalize on it using VBScript. Part 2, "Visual Basic Scripting Edition: Active Intelligence for Internet Browsers," is a group of chapters demonstrating the types of solutions that lend themselves to VBScript programming, and a glimpse into the types of things that can be done. Part 3, "VBScript Programming Overview," reveals the essentials of VBScriptùhow scripts are created, and the nitty-gritty of melding them to Web pages, mixing with HTML elements, using the VB language as implemented in VBScript, and how it differs from "full" Visual Basic.

Part 4, "Doing Real Work with VBScript," is where you'll dig in and learn the nitty-gritty details. Part 5, "Advanced Techniques, Tactics, and Pitfalls," recognizes that VBScript, due to the environment in which it's used, is fraught with subtlety. At times, it can be maddening, as the authors of this book can readily attest. Part 5 steers you around some of the craters and help you get the skills to find others on your own. It also covers several advanced topics, such as sending information to and from the server and VRML 3D.

Finally, a series of appendixes will help fill in the gaps, by providing a brief history of the Internet, references to HTML, VBScript coding conventions, and tips on porting VB applications over to VBScript.

Writing this book has been a real adventure. In addition to the Internet being in a state of flux, we've had to wrestle with a series of early release versions of the Internet Explorer 3.0, VBScript, and the ActiveX Layout Pad. We watched in horror as the specifications changedùrepeatedlyùbefore our eyes. The language evolved as we documented it; we spent at least as much time staying on top of changes, and rewriting what we'd already written, as we did writing the original manuscript.

As we thought we were nearing completion of the book, Microsoft quietly dropped a bombshell, without any advance warning. The sudden, unexpected appearance of the ActiveX Control Pad, with its accompanying HTML Layout Page control, completely changed everythingùnot only for us but for you, too, as well as anyone using the Web. Suddenly, we had a tool that would allow the creation of real programs in the context of a browser, with precise, completely discretionary placement and sizing of controls at any position on a form.

We expect the new Layout Page features to virtually obsolete "traditional" HTML very quickly. A great many of the convoluted and arcane (and voluminous) details of HTML syntax have evolved as workaroundsùpeople wanted to create pages that looked the way they wanted them to look, but HTML wanted to take a stream of text and flow it in from the upper left to the lower right. From that conflict arose scads of HTML "features."

Now, with the ActiveX Control Pad, anything can be placed anywhere, in any shape, size, or format, with nothing more than a few mouse clicks. And, it does it all without generating miles of underlying HTML; the new syntax is truly elegant.

So, where are things headed from here? Here's what one Microsoft developer stated on their public newsgroup:

"Nashville" has been a code name for the set of technologies that

integrate the Windows shell with Internet Explorer. We're currently

planning to do an "Internet Explorer 4.0" release that includes these

technologies -- ie, integrates internet browsing with the shell -- and it

will be free.

That's rightùthe Internet and the desktop will merge; you'll be able to browse files on your local machine, on your local network (in other words, "intranet"), and on the Internet, with total transparency. Not only that, but the document-centric philosophy will be taken to new heights, as applications end up performing more as operating system extensions than as stand-alone programs.

Things are changing. You're in the midst of change, and we hope that what we've written in this book will help you navigate the changes, and succeed.