Immediate Solutions


Playing an Audio File Using KiXtart

KiXtart has the built-in ability to play a WAV or SPK file using the Play command. To play an audio file using KiXtart, proceed as follows :

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and extract the latest version of KiXtart, from http://www.kixtart.org, to the new directory.

  3. Select StartRun and enter "kix32 scriptfile. "

Here, scriptfile is the full path of the new directory from step 1 and file name of a script file that contains the following:

  $Aud - "filename"  Play File  $Aud  

Here, filename is the full path and file name of the WAV or SPK file to play.

Scripting the Microsoft Media Player

Windows 2000/XP/2003 includes a free application called Media Player, designed to play audio and video files. Mplay32.exe is the 32-bit version of the standard Media Player, and this utility can play audio, video, and DirectShow files. This utility supports a limited amount of command-line switches.

Microsoft Media Player 9 is a Windows add-on that provides extremely enhanced functionality when compared to the older Windows multimedia players. Some of these features include media rights, MP3 (Motion Pictures Expert Group Layer 3 Audio) support, video streaming, radio tuners, and play list support. This player is intended to be the core Windows multimedia player and manager while replacing the older, built-in multimedia players, such as CDPlayer.exe and Mplay32.exe. This utility has limited support for Windows Script Host.

Playing a Media File from the Command Line

To play and then close a media file using Mplay32.exe and shell scripting, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Select StartRun and enter " scriptfile. bat."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 @Echo Off MPLAY32 /PLAY /CLOSE  "filename"  

Here, filename is the full path and file name to play.

Playing a Media File Using Windows Script Host

To play and then close a media file using Mplay32.exe and Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select StartRun and enter "cscript scriptfile. vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  SHELL  - CreateObject("wscript.shell")  SHELL.  Run "MPLAY32 /PLAY /CLOSE  filename  ". 0 

Here, filename is the full path and file name to play. The value within the Run command causes the media player to be hidden.

Playing Multiple Media Files Using a Play List

Many new audio players (for example, winamp ) utilize play lists to play one audio file after another. To play multiple media files using a play list, Mplay32.exe, and Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select StartRun and enter "cscript scriptfile. vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next PlayList (  "playlist"  ) SUB PlayList (  TXTfile  )  Set  SHELL  - CreateObject ("wscript.shell")  Set  FSO  - CreateObject ("Scripting.FileSystemObject")  Set  readfile - FSO.  OpenTextFile(  TXTfile,  1, false) Do while  readfile.  AtEndOfStream <> true  contents  - Trim(readfile.Readline)     If  contents  <> "" Then  SHELL.  RUN "MPLAY32 /PLAY /CLOSE " &  contents,  3, True     End If   Loop End Sub 

Here, playlist is the full path and file name of a playlist file. Each line of this file contains the full path and file name of an audio file to play.

Tip  

The value 3 within the SHELL.RUN command specifies to maximize the player. You can change this value to if you would like the player hidden.

Ejecting a CD Using Windows Script Host

Microsoft Media Player 9 does not currently support access through Windows Script Host. You can, however, use the Media Player 9 object model to display information and control the CD player. To eject a CD using the Media Player 9 object model and Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install Microsoft Media Player 9 and the latest version of Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select StartRun and enter "cscript scriptfile. vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  MPlayer  - CreateObject("WMPlayer.OCX")  MPlayer.  cdromCollection.item(x).eject() 

Here, x is the number of the CD-ROM drive (starting at 0).

Ejecting All CDs Using Windows Script Host

To eject all CDs using the Media Player 9 object model and Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install Microsoft Media Player 9 and the latest version of Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select StartRun and enter "cscript scriptfile. vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  MPlayer  - CreateObject("WMPlayer.OCX") Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")  Count  - 1 For Each  Drive  in  FSO.  Drives   If  Drive.  DriveType - 4 Then  Count-Count  +1   End If Next If  Count  > -1 Then   For  x  - 0 to  Count   MPlayer.  cdromCollection.item(  x  ).eject()   Next End If 

Here, a DriveType value of 4 indicates a CD-ROM player.

Scripting RealOne

RealOne is an advanced multimedia player from RealNetworks (http://www.real.com). Although this player is commonly used to play streaming media on the Internet, you can use these same ActiveX control calls to script RealPlayer using Windows Script Host.

Playing an Audio File

To play an audio file using the RealPlayer ActiveX control and Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Download and install the latest version of RealOne, from http://www.real.com, to the new directory.

  4. Select StartRun and enter "cscript scriptfile. vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  RPlayer  - CreateObject ("rmocx.RealPlayer G2 Control.1")  RPlayer.  SetSource "file:  filename  "  RPlayer.  DoPlay Wscript.Echo "Press OK to end." 

Here, filename is the full path and file name to play.

Playing an Audio File with Windows Script Host Controls

To play an audio file with basic controls using the RealPlayer ActiveX control and Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Download and install the latest version of RealOne, from http://www.real.com, to the new directory.

  4. Select StartRun and enter "cscript scriptfile. vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  RPlayer  - CreateObject("rmocx.RealPlayer G2 Control.1") CMD - 2 Do While  CMD  <> 10   Select Case  CMD  Case 0  RPlayer.  DoPlay    Case 1  RPlayer.  DoPause    Case 2 If  AUD  - "" Then  AUD  -  "filename"    AUD   - InputBox("Please enter the name of the audio file to play", "Audio File",  AUD  )  RPlayer.  SetSource "file:" &  AUD  Case 3     WScript.Quit  End Select  Message  - "Choose a command:" & vblf & vblf & _     "0: Play file" & vblf & _     "1: Pause file" & vblf & _     "2: Choose file" & vblf & _     "3: Quit" & vblf  CMD  - InputBox(Message, "RealPlayer Commands", "0") Loop 
Note  

The highlighted code above must be entered as one paragraph.

Here, filename is the full path and file name to play.

Playing Multiple Audio Files Using a Play List

Many new audio players (for example, winamp) utilize play lists to play one audio file after another. To play multiple media files using a play list, the RealPlayer ActiveX control, and Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Download and install the latest version of RealOne, from http://www.real.com, to the new directory.

  4. Select StartRun and enter "cscript scriptfile. vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  RPlayer  - CreateObject("rmocx.RealPlayer G2 Control.1") Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set  readfile - FSO  .OpenTextFile(  TXTfile  , 1, false) PlayList ("  playlist  ") Wscript.Echo "Press OK to end." SUB PlayList(  TXTfile  )   Do while  readfile  .AtEndOfStream <> true  filename  - Trim(readfile.Readline)        If  filename  <> "" Then  RPlayer  .SetSource "file:  filename  "  RPlayer  .DoPlay     End If   Loop End Sub 

Here, filename is the full path and file name to play.

Scripting the Office Assistant

The Office Assistant is an interactive animated character used to help and entertain users of Microsoft Office. You can only access the assistant object model through an Office application object model. This means that you must have an Office application installed in order to automate an office assistant. To script the Office Assistant in Excel using Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Install the latest version of Microsoft Excel.

  3. Download and install the latest version of Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  4. Select Start/Run and enter "cscript scriptfile .vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set  objXL  - CreateObject("Excel.Application")  objXL  .Workbooks.Add  objXL  .Visible - False  objXL  .Assistant.Visible - True With  objXL  .Assistant   .Reduced - True   .Left - 300   .Top - 300   .MoveWhenInTheWay - True End With Set Balloon -  objXL  .Assistant.NewBalloon  Balloon  .Heading - "Multiple Selections"  Balloon  .Text - "Please make a selection"  Balloon  .CheckBoxes(1).Text - "Selection 1"  Balloon  .CheckBoxes(2).Text - "Selection 2"  Balloon  .Show If  Balloon  .CheckBoxes(1).Checked Then   Wscript.Echo "You selected check box 1." End If If  Balloon  .CheckBoxes(2).Checked Then   Wscript.Echo "You selected check box 2." End If  objXL  .quit 

Related solution:

Found on page:

Automating Applications through an Application Object

100

Scripting Microsoft Agent Using Windows Script Host

Microsoft Agent is an ActiveX technology that allows you to use animated characters to present information to your users. This technology can be used in presentations, logon scripts, new user setups, and any other situation where an interaction is needed.

Scripting a Character to Speak

Many developers use Microsoft Agent to entertain, educate, or guide their users through a process. To script a Microsoft Agent character to speak using Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Microsoft Agent, a text-to-speech engine, a Microsoft Agent character, and Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select Start/Run and enter "cscript scriptfile .vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  SHELL  - CreateObject("wscript.shell") Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")  aCHAR  -  "charname"  Set  ACTL  - CreateObject("Agent.Control.2")  ACTL  .Connected - True   If Not IsObject(  ACTL  ) Then     Wscript.Echo "Microsoft Agent was not found on your "& _       "system." & vblf & "Please install and try again."     Wscript.Quit   End If  ACTL  .Connected - True  ACTL  .Characters.Load  aCHAR, aCHAR  & ".acs" If Err.Number <> 0 Then   Wscript.Echo "Could not locate the Agent called" &  aCHAR  Wscript.Quit End If Set  CREF - ACTL  .Characters(  aCHAR  )  CREF  .Show  CREF  .Speak "Hello there!" WScript.Echo "Press OK to close" 

Here, charname is the name of the agent character to use.

Scripting a Character to Speak a WAV File

Microsoft Agent has the ability to accept a WAV (WAVeform Audio) file and appear to speak it based on the gaps of silence detected . This allows you to use a real voice, as opposed to a synthesized voice, to speak to your users. To use Microsoft Agent to speak a WAV file, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Microsoft Agent, a text-to-speech engine, a Microsoft Agent character, and Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select Start/Run and enter "cscript scriptfile .vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  SHELL  - CreateObject("wscript.shell") Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") aCHAR - "charname" Set  ACTL  - CreateObject("Agent.Control.2")  ACTL  .Connected - True   If Not IsObject(  ACTL  ) Then     Wscript.Echo "Microsoft Agent was not found on your" & _       "system" & vblf & "Please install and try again."     Wscript.Quit   End If  ACTL  .Connected - True  ACTL  .Characters. Load  aCHAR, aCHAR  & ".acs" If Err.Number <> 0 Then   Wscript.Echo "Could not locate the Agent called" &  aCHAR  Wscript.Quit End If Set  CREF - ACTL  .Characters(  aCHAR  )  CREF  .Show  CREF  .Speak "", "  WAVFile  " WScript.Echo "Press OK to close" 

Here, charname is the name of the agent character to use, and WAVFile is the full path and file name of the WAV file to use.

Scripting a Character to Sing

You can make the Microsoft Agent appear to sing by modifying the pitch and speed of the agent's voice. To make a Microsoft Agent character sing the Imperial March from Star Wars, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Microsoft Agent, a text-to-speech engine, a Microsoft Agent character, and Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select Start/Run and enter "cscript scriptfile .vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  SHELL  - CreateObject("wscript.shell") Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")  aCHAR  - "  charname  " Set  ACTL  - CreateObject("Agent.Control.2")  ACTL  .Connected - True    If Not IsObject(  ACTL  ) Then      Wscript.Echo "Microsoft Agent was not found on your" & _        "system." & vblf & "Please install and try again."      Wscript.Quit    End If  ACTL  .Connected - True  ACTL  .Characters. Load  aCHAR, aCHAR  & ".acs" If Err.Number <> 0 Then   Wscript.Echo "Could not locate the Agent called" &  aCHAR  Wscript.Quit End If Set  CREF - ACTL  .Characters(  aCHAR  )  CREF  .Show   CREF  .Speak "\Chr-""Monotone""\Map-""\Pit-98\Spd-50\DUN DUN \Spd-134\DUN \Spd-50\DUN \Pit-78\DUN \Pit-117\Spd-200\DUN \Pit-98\Spd-50\DUN \Pit-78\DUN \Pit-117\Spd-150\DUN   \Pit-98\Spd-50\DUN" "-" "" "\"    CREF  .Speak "\Chr-""Monotone""\Map-""\Pit-147\Spd-50\DUN DUN DUN \Pit-156\Spd-67\DUN \Pit-117\Spd-134\DUN \Pit-92\Spd-67\DUN \Pit-78\Spd-80\DUN \Pit-117 \Spd-77\DUN \Pit-98\Spd-67\DUN""-""""\"  Wscript.Echo "Press OK to end the show" 
Note  

The highlighted code above must be placed on one line.

Here, charname is the name of the agent character to use.

Scripting a Character to Read

You can make the Microsoft Agent speak any text that you can interpret in Windows Script Host. To make a Microsoft Agent character read a text file using Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Microsoft Agent, a text-to-speech engine, a Microsoft Agent character, and Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select Start/Run and enter "cscript scriptfile .vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  SHELL  - CreateObject("wscript.shell") Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")  aCHAR  - "  charname  " Set  ACTL  - CreateObject("Agent.Control.2")  ACTL  .Connected - True    If Not IsObject(  ACTL  ) Then      Wscript.Echo "Microsoft Agent was not found on your" & _        "system." & vblf & "Please install and try again."      Wscript.Quit    End If  ACTL  .Connected - True  ACTL  .Characters. Load  aCHAR, aCHAR  & ".acs" If Err.Number <> 0 Then   Wscript.Echo "Could not locate the Agent called" &  aCHAR  Wscript.Quit End If Set  CREF - ACTL  .Characters(  aCHAR  )  CREF  .Show ReadTXT ("  textfile  ") WScript.Echo "Press OK to close" SUB ReadTXT(  TXTfile  )   Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")   Set  readfile - FSO  .OpenTextFile(  TXTfile  , 1, false)   Do while  readfile  .AtEndOfStream <> true  contents - readfile  .Readline     If  contents  <> "" THEN  CREF  .Speak  contents  End IF   Loop  contents  - NULL  readfile  .close End Sub 

Here, charname is the name of the agent character to use, and textfile is the full path and file name of the text file to read.

Scripting a Character to Check for Events

In Chapter 8, you learned how to check for events using Windows Management Instrumentation. To make a Microsoft Agent character notify you of events using WMI and Windows Script Host, proceed as follows:

  1. Create a new directory to store all files included in this example.

  2. Download and install the latest version of Microsoft Agent, a text-to-speech engine, the Merlin Microsoft Agent character, and Windows Script Host, from http://www.microsoft.com, to the new directory.

  3. Select Start/Run and enter "cscript scriptfile .vbs."

Here, scriptfile is the full path and file name of a script file that contains the following:

 On Error Resume Next Set  SHELL  - CreateObject("wscript.shell") Set  FSO  - CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")  aCHAR  - "Merlin" Set  ACTL  - CreateObject("Agent.Control.2")  ACTL  .Connected - True  If Not IsObject(  ACTL  ) Then    Wscript.Echo "Microsoft Agent was not found on your" & _       "system." & vblf & "Please install and try again."    Wscript.Quit   End If  ACTL  .Connected - True  ACTL  .Characters. Load  aCHAR, aCHAR  & ".acs" If Err.Number <> 0 Then   Wscript.Echo "Could not locate the Agent called" &  aCHAR  Wscript.Quit End If Wscript.Echo "Press CTRL+C to end this script." Set  CREF - ACTL  .Characters(  aCHAR  )  CREF  .MoveTo 200,200  CREF  .Show  CREF  .Play "Wave"  CREF  .Play "Restpose"  CREF  .Speak "Hello, my name is Merlin!"  CREF  .Play "Greet"  CREF  .Play "Restpose"  CREF  .Speak "I am your personal CPU monitoring assistant!"  CREF  .Play "Announce"  CREF  .Play "Restpose"  CREF  .MoveTo 0.0  CREF  .Speak "I will now monitor your CPU usage and notify" & _   "you when an overload occurs."  CREF  .Play "StartListening"  Computer  - InputBox("Enter the computer name", "CPU Monitor", "localhost")  CPULoad  - InputBox("Enter the CPU overload threshhold", "CPU threshhold", "75")  Poll  - InputBox("Enter the polling interval", "Poll Interval", "5") If  Computer  - "" Then  Computer  - "Localhost" If  CPULoad  - "" Then  CPULoad  - 75 If  Poll  - "" Then  Poll  - 5  Set  ProLoad  - GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel- impersonate}!\" &   Computer  & "\root\cimv2") .ExecNotificationQuery("SELECT * FROM ___InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN " &  Poll  & " WHERE TargetInstance ISA `Win32_Processor' and TargetInstance .LoadPercentage > " &  CPULoad  ) If Err.Number <> 0 then   WScript.Echo Err.Description, Err.Number, Err.Source End If Do   Set  ILoad - ProLoad  .nextevent   If Err.Number <> 0 then     WScript.Echo Err.Number, Err.Description, Err.Source     Exit Do Else  AMessage - ILoad  .TargetInstance.DeviceID & _     " is overloaded at " & _  ILoad  .TargetInstance.LoadPercentage & "%!"  CREF  .Stop  CREF  .Show  CREF  .Play "GetAttention"  CREF  .Play "GetAttentionContinued"  CREF  .Play "GetAttentionReturn"     CREF.Speak AMessage     RandomAction   End If Loop Sub RandomAction()   ulimit - 5.0   llimit - 1.0   Randomize  X  - Int((  ulimit - llimit  )*Rnd() +  llimit  )   Select Case  X  Case 1  CREF  .Play "Acknowledge"   Case 2  CREF  .Play "Alert"   Case 3  CREF  .Play "Explain"   Case 4  CREF  .Play "Sad"   Case 5  CREF  .Play "Uncertain"   End Select End Sub 
Note  

The highlighted code above must be placed on one line.

Here, computer is the name of the system to monitor; CPULoad is the CPU utilization threshold to monitor for (1 “100); and poll is the number of seconds to set as the polling interval to check for events. The subprocedure RandomAction creates a random number and then specifies an animation based on that number.

Warning  

If you run this script with WSCRIPT, you will only be able to terminate the script by ending the WSCRIPT.EXE process through the Task Manager.

Related solution:

Found on page:

Monitoring CPU Utilization

192




Windows Admin Scripting Little Black Book
Windows Admin Scripting Little Black Book (Little Black Books (Paraglyph Press))
ISBN: 1933097108
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 89

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