Windows Me Annoyances

Networking with Scripts

VBScript has a few limited networking functions built in that can be used for mapping network drives and connecting to network printers. For advanced network functionality, you’ll have to look into a different scripting language. For more information on networking, see Chapter 7.

The following routines provide access to some of the more useful network-related functions in VBScript.

The following function checks a given drive letter to see if it has already been mapped. It returns TRUE if the drive letter has been mapped, FALSE if it hasn’t:

Function AlreadyMapped(DriveLetter)
  Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
  Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
  Set AllDrives = WshNetwork.EnumNetworkDrives(  )

  If Left(DriveLetter,1) <> ":" then DriveLetter = DriveLetter & ":"
  ConnectedFlag = False
  For i = 0 To AllDrives.Count - 1 Step 2
    If AllDrives.Item(i) = UCase(DriveLetter) Then ConnectedFlag = True
  Next

  AlreadyMapped = ConnectedFlag
End Function

This subroutine maps a drive letter to any valid remote path:

Sub MapNetDrive(DriveLetter, RemotePath)
  Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
  Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
  WShNetwork.MapNetworkDrive DriveLetter, RemotePath
End Sub

This subroutine maps an unused printer port (e.g., LPT3) to any valid remote network printer:

Sub MapNetPrinter(Port, RemotePath) Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network") ...