VBScript in a Nutshell

Accessing Other Object Models

Although most of the programming done with Outlook forms is likely to involve the Outlook object model, there may be times when you want to access data from some other application or draw on some system service provided by a particular object model. The VBScript CreateObject function is used for this purpose to access the object model of some other application, while the VBScript GetObject function is the only means available to get a reference to an existing instance of an application (that is, to a running application). (For the syntax of both functions, see their entries in Chapter 9 The Language Reference.)

Warning

The Outlook object model’s Application object also has a CreateObject method. Although you can call this method, its use is not recommended from within Outlook. The GetObject function exists solely within VBScript, and is not implemented as a method of the Outlook Application object.

As Table 6.15 shows, you can instantiate objects like the following using these methods:

ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)

ADO is a data access technology that offers a uniform methodology for accessing data regardless of location or format. ADO has a relatively “flat” object model, and many objects (like the Recordset object, or the Connection object) can be instantiated independently of one another.

Data Access Objects (DAO)

DAO is a data access technology intended primarily for use with Access databases. Its top-level object is named DBEngine.

The Dictionary object ...