Recommendations for a good VBScript editor?

[Todd M. Taylor]

Hello;

I am using a document management system that makes extensive use of
VBScript, and I would like recommendations for VBScript editors that have
the following features:

- Color-coded text
- Debugging (however limited it may be)

Wishful thinking features:
- Code formatting
- Intellisense

Obviously, NotePad doesn't have these features, and I have VisualStudio.NET
2003, but it won't allow me to debug VBScript files (making it about as
useful as NotePad) and it's a tad too bulky for modifying scripts.

I've downloaded AderSoft's VBEdit ($30 http://www.adersoft.com/), which is
pretty close to what I'm looking for, but doesn't have the code formatting
or Intellisense.

Any recommendations?

Sincerely,
Todd M. Taylor

[Robert Cohen]

Okay, you just openned up a vbscript fight again. Everyone and their mother
is going to have a suggestion

I wont recommend anything as I am still a Notepad scripter and am fine with
that.

But some scripters on this newsgroup that I respect mention primalscripts a
lot. http://www.sapien.com/primalscript.htm
but I am a cheapsake and won't purchase it. I like my notepad.

--
Robert Cohen
A legend in his own mind
--

"Todd M. Taylor" <flyg...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:O$815DzZD...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[Todd M. Taylor]

Thanks for your input, Robert :)

I could see why you won't purchase Primal Scripts... $179 is a pretty hefty
price tag, although it does look pretty good.

I just emailed Adersoft and their nifty 'lil application does support
Intellisense once registered, so about the only thing it doesn't do is
format code... for $30, I think I can live with that ;) It also comes with
a JScript editor, which is about the only other scripting language I deal
with that VisualStudio.NET doesn't handle well.

Sincerely,
Todd M. taylor

[Garan]

If you already have MS Office XP you can install a script editor as
part of the custom install; it's listed under the HTML editor
components. It has a Visual Studio look to it, color codes text, and
has a fairly useful object browser too. Office 2000 also includes an
earlier version, but it lacks most of the features the XP version has,
at least it still includes the object browser though.

"Todd M. Taylor" <flyg...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<O$815DzZD...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl>...

[Ruben Zevallos Jr.]

Hi Todd,

I'm using the www.ultraedit.com is the best that I know... and it works like
a glove for VB, HTML, JavaScript and other languages. I'm using since 1995.

Best,

Ruben

"Todd M. Taylor" <flyg...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:O$815DzZD...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[Todd M. Taylor]

Thanks Garan! The MS Script editor is EXACTLY what I was looking for... I
had the right tool under my nose all along and I didn't know it was there ;P

A note to anyone else who reads this...

When I installed this program from CD, no link was made anywhere on my
desktop. I found the EXE file in the following directory:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\MSE7.exe

Thanks again!
Todd M. Taylor

"Garan" <garan...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:a34263b0.03082...@posting.google.com...

[Todd M. Taylor]

After installing the MS Script Editor, I noticed that the Intellisense
wasn't working on my .vbs files. In order to make Intellisense work, you
must do 2 things:

1. Rename a .vbs file to a .htm file.
2. Add the following code:

'<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=VBSCRIPT>
.
.
your script goes here
.
.
'</SCRIPT>

You can keep the apostrophes (') there if they will booger-up your script.
Apparently the Script Editor just needs to see those lines in order to use
Intellisense.

Sincerely,
Todd M. Taylor

[Alex K. Angelopoulos [MVP]]

Robert Cohen wrote:
> Okay, you just openned up a vbscript fight again. Everyone and their
> mother is going to have a suggestion

That's not true, Robert. My mother likes Perl, and she wouldn't dream of
showing her face in a vbscript newsgroup... :|

[Alex K. Angelopoulos [MVP]]

You may also find that using WSF files works as well.

[Alex K. Angelopoulos [MVP]]

Comments beyond those made by other people already...

Todd M. Taylor wrote:
> Hello;
>
> I am using a document management system that makes extensive use of
> VBScript, and I would like recommendations for VBScript editors that
> have the following features:

First, some comments on features in the generic sense - those you asked for,
those you didn't.

> - Color-coded text

This is the simplest feature to expect; it can be done pretty easily by
almost any highlighting text editor

> - Debugging (however limited it may be)

This can be done by any tool that includes support for custom execution of
shell commands from within the editor; it will depend on the standard
debuggers installed for your system.

> Wishful thinking features:
> - Code formatting

Tough with VBScript; the syntax is cumbersome. Semantic Designs has an
extremely well-planned VBScript formatter, which has abilities and uses
going waaaaaay beyond mere formatting. I would suggest looking at it if
you're doing a lot with VBScript; you will find uses for it you never
dreamed of.

> - Intellisense

This is a tougher one. It's contextual and dynamic in some cases;
PrimalScript has pseudo-intellisense. SciTE can do it too with "API" files

What you didn't ask for:

There are several other features which are very useful in specific contexts.
I would include the following among those:

+ Capture of output text during execution - handy for console scripts. With
an editor which can do regex search of errors such as Textpad, it can then
automatically take you to the line-and-column of errors.
+ Regex search-replace
+ Visible line numbers, column cues
+ Macro support
+ Structured document parsing (being able to tell that a WSF or WSC has a
VBScript or JScript block and parse them appropriately, for example).
+ MDI

> Obviously, NotePad doesn't have these features, and I have
> VisualStudio.NET 2003, but it won't allow me to debug VBScript files
> (making it about as useful as NotePad) and it's a tad too bulky for
> modifying scripts.
>
> I've downloaded AderSoft's VBEdit ($30 http://www.adersoft.com/),
> which is pretty close to what I'm looking for, but doesn't have the
> code formatting or Intellisense.
>
> Any recommendations?

I only use notepad when I'm miles from home and have to. PrimalScript is
the Cadillac; other choices for general use include the following:

+ TextPad - only $27 bucks; doesn't do everything on your list but it's a
very good tool and it does a lot of things which aren't there.

+ SciTE - it will take a little customization, but this is the most
promising general editing tool out there, and it is free. It also does some
very complex things if you want it too, and is completely configurable.

+ gvim: the GUI vi, which has had facelifts over the last few years. If you
like vi, this is good; if modal text editors drive you berserk, steer clear
of it. There's a SourceForge project called Cream that mods gvim to make it
behave like a non-modal Windows editor.

+ emacs: there are Windows ports of this. I don't use it, but Dean Tsaltas
(one of the "Scripting Guys") has used it with a vbscript syntax script and
found it acceptable.

+ HTMLKit - a bit heavy in some ways, but a general editor which can also
use VBScript to build components for itself.

Generally these days I stick to 3 editing tools depending on what I am doing
how: PrimalScript, TextPad, and SciTE. I tend to use some scripts I have
written for special processing, integrated via tools references in the
editors.