Writing the Query in VBScript

If you're like me, you like your final scripts to be clean, consistent, and easy to read. Using the Wizard- or Scriptomatic-generated scripts isn't the best way to achieve consistency. For example, the PrimalScript Wizard always includes the following code.

First, you might not want error-checking turned off, which is what On Error Resume Next does. You might use a different variable naming convention (I often do, mainly because I'm a bit too lazy to type str instead of just s for string variables and the like), or you might have already defined a variable name that the wizard is using. Understand that you can always revise and modify the template scripts to fit better within your overall scripts. Not only can you change them, you probably should change them.

Suppose you want to write a script that restarts a remote server. You've done your browsing, and Win32_OperatingSystem has a method named Shutdown that looks like it'll do the trick. Using Scriptomatic or the WMI Query Wizard, you generate code similar to the following.

On Error Resume Next Dim strComputer Dim objWMIService Dim colItems strComputer = "." Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & _ strComputer & "\root\cimv2") Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery( _ "Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem",,48) For Each objItem in colItems WScript.Echo "BootDevice: " & objItem.BootDevice WScript.Echo "BuildNumber: " & objItem.BuildNumber WScript.Echo "BuildType: " & objItem.BuildType WScript.Echo "Caption: " & objItem.Caption WScript.Echo "CodeSet: " & objItem.CodeSet WScript.Echo "CountryCode: " & objItem.CountryCode WScript.Echo "CreationClassName: " & objItem.CreationClassName WScript.Echo "CSCreationClassName: " & _ objItem.CSCreationClassName WScript.Echo "CSDVersion: " & objItem.CSDVersion WScript.Echo "CSName: " & objItem.CSName WScript.Echo "CurrentTimeZone: " & objItem.CurrentTimeZone WScript.Echo "Debug: " & objItem.Debug WScript.Echo "Description: " & objItem.Description WScript.Echo "Distributed: " & objItem.Distributed WScript.Echo "EncryptionLevel: " & _ objItem.EncryptionLevel WScript.Echo "ForegroundApplicationBoost: " & _ objItem.ForegroundApplicationBoost WScript.Echo "FreePhysicalMemory: " & _ objItem.FreePhysicalMemory WScript.Echo "FreeSpaceInPagingFiles: " & _ objItem.FreeSpaceInPagingFiles WScript.Echo "FreeVirtualMemory: " & objItem.FreeVirtualMemory WScript.Echo "InstallDate: " & objItem.InstallDate WScript.Echo "LargeSystemCache: " & objItem.LargeSystemCache WScript.Echo "LastBootUpTime: " & objItem.LastBootUpTime WScript.Echo "LocalDateTime: " & objItem.LocalDateTime WScript.Echo "Locale: " & objItem.Locale WScript.Echo "Manufacturer: " & objItem.Manufacturer WScript.Echo "MaxNumberOfProcesses: " & _ objItem.MaxNumberOfProcesses WScript.Echo "MaxProcessMemorySize: " & objItem.MaxProcessMemorySize WScript.Echo "Name: " & objItem.Name WScript.Echo "NumberOfLicensedUsers: " & _ objItem.NumberOfLicensedUsers WScript.Echo "NumberOfProcesses: " & objItem.NumberOfProcesses WScript.Echo "NumberOfUsers: " & objItem.NumberOfUsers WScript.Echo "Organization: " & objItem.Organization WScript.Echo "OSLanguage: " & objItem.OSLanguage WScript.Echo "OSProductSuite: " & objItem.OSProductSuite WScript.Echo "OSType: " & objItem.OSType WScript.Echo "OtherTypeDescription: " & _ objItem.OtherTypeDescription WScript.Echo "PlusProductID: " & objItem.PlusProductID WScript.Echo "PlusVersionNumber: " & objItem.PlusVersionNumber WScript.Echo "Primary: " & objItem.Primary WScript.Echo "ProductType: " & objItem.ProductType WScript.Echo "QuantumLength: " & objItem.QuantumLength WScript.Echo "QuantumType: " & objItem.QuantumType WScript.Echo "RegisteredUser: " & objItem.RegisteredUser WScript.Echo "SerialNumber: " & objItem.SerialNumber WScript.Echo "ServicePackMajorVersion: " & _ objItem.ServicePackMajorVersion WScript.Echo "ServicePackMinorVersion: " & _ objItem.ServicePackMinorVersion WScript.Echo "SizeStoredInPagingFiles: " & _ objItem.SizeStoredInPagingFiles WScript.Echo "Status: " & objItem.Status WScript.Echo "SuiteMask: " & objItem.SuiteMask WScript.Echo "SystemDevice: " & objItem.SystemDevice WScript.Echo "SystemDirectory: " & objItem.SystemDirectory WScript.Echo "SystemDrive: " & objItem.SystemDrive WScript.Echo "TotalSwapSpaceSize: " & _ objItem.TotalSwapSpaceSize WScript.Echo "TotalVirtualMemorySize: " & _ objItem.TotalVirtualMemorySize WScript.Echo "TotalVisibleMemorySize: " & _ objItem.TotalVisibleMemorySize WScript.Echo "Version: " & objItem.Version WScript.Echo "WindowsDirectory: " & objItem.WindowsDirectory Next

First, you weren't interested in querying and displaying any information, so you can start by wiping out all of the WScript.Echo lines, leaving you with the following.

Regardless of how many operating systems the computer thinks it has, the one that's running is the one you want to shut down, and that'll be the primary one. You can modify the WQL query to just retrieve that instance of the class.

You probably don't want to shut down just the local computer, so you'll want to add some kind of prompt that collects the appropriate computer name.

On Error Resume Next Dim strComputer Dim objWMIService Dim colItems strComputer = InputBox("Shut down what computer?") Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & _ strComputer & "\root\cimv2") Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery( _ "Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE " & _ "Primary = TRUE",,48) For Each objItem in colItems Next

Now, let's say you want to use different variable names, and you don't want to turn off error checking. No problem-just be sure you change the variable names every time they appear in the script. A search and replace function is the most reliable way to do so, and you'll wind up with something like this.

Dim sComputer Dim oWMIService Dim oItems, oItem sComputer = InputBox("Shut down what computer?") Set oWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & _ sComputer & "\root\cimv2") Set oItems = oWMIService.ExecQuery( _ "Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE " & _ "Primary = TRUE",,48) For Each oItem in oItems Next

There, you've customized the template script to meet your exact needs. Really, you're not using much of the original wizard-generated code: You kept the variable declarations, the basic WQL query, and the For Each…Next construct. That's about it.

NOTE

It may seem odd to use a For Each…Next construct when you know your modified query will only return one instance. Why bother? Because the ExecQuery method will always return a collection, even if the query only returns one instance into the collection. You could have eliminated the For Each…Next construct and used oItems(0).Shutdown() instead, using the oItems(0) syntax to reference the first (and to your knowledge, the only) instance in the collection. Either way works fine.