Most old VBS scripts can be easily translated to PowerShell. The key command in VBS is “CreateObject” which lets you access system libraries. PowerShell translates “CreateObject” to “New-Object -ComObject”, yet the object model and member names stay the same:
This VBS script talks to you when you save it to a text file with “.vbs” extension:
Set obj = CreateObject(“Sapi.SpVoice”)
obj.Speak “Hello World!”
The PowerShell equivalent looks like this:
$obj = New-Object -ComObject "Sapi.SpVoice" $obj.Speak("Hello World!")
There are only a few built-in VBS members such as MsgBox or InputBox. To translate these, all you need is importing the “Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction” type. This would be the PowerShell code to invoke MsgBox or InputBox:
Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic $result = [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::MsgBox("Do you want to restart?", 3, "Question") $result $result = [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::InputBox("Your name?", $env:username, "Enter Name")
Here is the complete list of supported Visual Basic members:
PS> [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction] | Get-Member -Stati TypeName: Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction Name MemberType Definition ---- ---------- ---------- AppActivate Method static void AppActivate(int ProcessId), static vo... Beep Method static void Beep() CallByName Method static System.Object CallByName(System.Object Obj... Choose Method static System.Object Choose(double Index, Params ... Command Method static string Command() CreateObject Method static System.Object CreateObject(string ProgId, ... DeleteSetting Method static void DeleteSetting(string AppName, string ... Environ Method static string Environ(int Expression), static str... Equals Method static bool Equals(System.Object objA, System.Obj... GetAllSettings Method static string[,] GetAllSettings(string AppName, s... GetObject Method static System.Object GetObject(string PathName, s... GetSetting Method static string GetSetting(string AppName, string S... IIf Method static System.Object IIf(bool Expression, System.... InputBox Method static string InputBox(string Prompt, string Titl... MsgBox Method static Microsoft.VisualBasic.MsgBoxResult MsgBox(... Partition Method static string Partition(long Number, long Start, ... ReferenceEquals Method static bool ReferenceEquals(System.Object objA, S... SaveSetting Method static void SaveSetting(string AppName, string Se... Shell Method static int Shell(string PathName, Microsoft.Visua... Switch Method static System.Object Switch(Params System.Object[... PS>
