Passing a C# string to VBscript

Question

I am using a windows form and am trying to pass a string to a vbscript. The program is asking the user to select a folder, I am trying to take the folder selection and pass it through to the vbscript.

C# Code:

String SelectedFolder = @"C:\Users";

        folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath = SelectedFolder;
        if (folderBrowserDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            //Set selectedFolder equal to the folder that was choosen
            SelectedFolder = folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath;
    //Call VBScript
     System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(".vbsPath");

VBScript:

TargetFolder = Request.QueryString("SelectedFolder")
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set objFolder = objShell.Namespace(TargetFolder)
Set colItems = objFolder.Items
For Each objItem in colItems
objItem.InvokeVerbEx("Print")
Next

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Request.QueryString? so you want to pass the string to a classic-asp page written in vbscript as a url argument? — Alex K.
– Alex K., Commented Sep 28, 2011 at 13:33
I'm sorry, I am very new to vbscript and have been looking for a way to access the string; the Request.QueryString was the only thing that I have found that looked like it might work but does not. Is there any way to pass the C# string to VBscript? — dhk
– dhk, Commented Sep 28, 2011 at 13:59

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:12:01Z

1

C# side

Use the Process.Start overload that accepts command-line parameters:

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("C:\path\to\my.vbs", selectedFolder);

If the selectedFolder can contain spaces (which is likely to happen), you should enclose the argument in quotes.

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("C:\path\to\my.vbs", 
    "\"" + selectedFolder + "\"");

In fact, if the path can contain quotes and/or trailing backslashes, escaping gets a lot more complicated, see these questions (and others) for details: Escape command line arguments in c#, Passing command-line arguments in C#.

VBScript side

In your VBScript, read the first command line parameter:

targetFolder = WScript.Arguments.Item(0)

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:12

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answered Sep 28, 2011 at 14:24

Heinzi

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2 Comments

dhk Over a year ago

Trying it out now. Thank you very much for your help!

Heinzi Over a year ago

@dhk: You're welcome! Don't forget to click on the check mark next to my answer, so that others know that this question has been answered.

finoutlook · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-28 14:10:31Z

You could write the string to a file which both sets of code can access, or a database. That way it won't matter which programming language you are using at all e.g. could be C# to PHP.

Write file:

string content = "folder=" + folder;
System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(@"c:\config.txt");
file.WriteLine(content);
file.Close();

Read file:

System.IO.StreamReader file = new System.IO.StreamReader(@"c:\config.txt");
string content = file.ReadToEnd();
// extract value of folder setting here
file.Close();

(Of course the reading would need to be in VB, but would be very similar. Note: code based on: MSDN Example)

David · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-28 14:12:14Z

Going back and forth from VBScript to C# is adding a lot of complexity. If possible, it would really be easier to choose one or the other.

You can do anything in C# that you can in VBScript. (How you do it is probably different, but you can do all the same tasks - file access, database access, etc.) If it's feasible, you may be better off just working in C#.

I'm doing a bit of a guess based on the context of the question here, but I'm trying to answer in my own head why you'd want to do this, and the only thing I can think of is that you don't know how to display a folder dialog box in VBScript, so you're resorting to trying to do it in C#. Is that correct?

If so, you can show a folder dialog in VBScript as shown here: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/vbstech_ui_browsefolder.php

Thank you for the reply, I am trying to cycle through each file in a folder and print them, I know it can be done in VB.net but I cannot find the equivalent in C#.net. Looking back at it now, I should have phrased this question differently(Sorry I'm quite new to the site).

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