How do I include a common file in VBScript (similar to C #include)?

Question

You can create a (relatively) small function in each file that you want to include other files into, as follows:

sub includeFile (fSpec)
    dim fileSys, file, fileData
    set fileSys = createObject ("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    set file = fileSys.openTextFile (fSpec)
    fileData = file.readAll ()
    file.close
    executeGlobal fileData
    set file = nothing
    set fileSys = nothing
end sub

and then use it to include specific files - these are executed as if they were inline.

includeFile "commonapi.vbi"
includeFile "dbcalls.vbi"

It basically opens the file, reads the entire contents into a string, then executes that string. There's no error handling on the I/O calls since this sort of stuff is usually done once on program start, and you want to fail if there's a problem including it.

---

Note that the includeFile function can be compressed to:

Sub includeFile(fSpec)
    With CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
       executeGlobal .openTextFile(fSpec).readAll()
    End With
End Sub

Or even to (if you're not adverse to long lines):

Sub includeFile(fSpec)
    executeGlobal CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").openTextFile(fSpec).readAll()
End Sub

The "Windows Script Host" framework (if ya want to call it that), offers an XML wrapper document that adds functionality over regular vbs files. One of which is the ability to include external script files of both the VBscript and Jscript flavors. I never got very deep into it, but I think it would do what you're wanting to do. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/15x4407c(VS.85).aspx

You can include JavaScript, VBScript, or modules of other WScript script languages.

Example WSF file:

<job id="IncludeExample">
   <script language="JavaScript" src="sprintf.js"/>
   <script language="VBScript" src="logging.vbs"/>
   <script language="VBScript" src="iis-queryScriptMaps.vbs"/>
</job>

If the above file is called "iis-scriptmaps.wsf", run it this way with cscript.exe:

cscript.exe  iis-scriptmaps.wsf

I know this is an old thread but I post my answer anyway so others can learn what I have learnt about VBS and WSF files by "trial and error" :

So to have the same functionality as in other languages you can create one WSF file and include all of your VBS libs there, including the main program.

Something like this :

<job id="MainProg">
  <script language="VBScript" src="Constants.vbs"/>
  <script language="VBScript" src="FileFunctions.vbs"/>
  <script language="VBScript" src="SendMail.vbs"/>
  <script language="VBScript" src="LoggingFunctions.vbs"/>
  <script language="VBScript" src="MainProgram.vbs"/>   
  <script language="VBScript">
    ' Here we call the main program
    MainProgram()
  </script>
</job>

In Constants.vbs collect all constants you want to use later and in the other VBS files define your functions. In your main program file MainProgram.vbs, create a sub called MainProgram() and write your program there. In this subroutine, you can use all of the constants and functions defined in the other VBS files.

For example :

sub MainProgram()
  ' Local variables
  Dim strMessage, strSendTo, strSubject
  ' OpenFile is a function from FileFunctions.vbs
  strMessage = OpenFile("C:\Msg\message.html")
  strSendTo = "[email protected]"
  strSubject = "Daily report - " & date
  ' SendMessage is a function from SendMail.vbs
  ' cFrom and cServer are constants from Constants.vbs
  SendMessage(cFrom, strSendTo, strSubject, strMessage, cServer)
  ' Logger is a function from LoggingFunctions.vbs
  Logger("Daily report sent - " & now())
end sub

Hope you get the idea and I could help some people write better VBS apps :)

Building on the accepted answer, here's an include sub procedure which takes a path relative to the script location instead of the working directory:

Sub include( relativeFilePath ) 
    Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    thisFolder = fso.GetParentFolderName( WScript.ScriptFullName ) 
    absFilePath = fso.BuildPath( thisFolder, relativeFilePath )
    executeGlobal fso.openTextFile( absFilePath ).readAll()
End Sub

Note the you can additionally use . and .. parts in your path to include files in parent folders, etc. and it will not matter where you launch the script from. Example:

include "..\Lib\StringUtilities.vbs"

Is this VBScript being used locally, or served classic ASP style?

If its classic ASP, you can use SSI todo it:

<!-- #include virtual="/PathTo/MyFile.vbs" -->

You can use the ExecuteGlobal function to run arbitrary VBS code in the global namespace. An example can be found here : http://www.source-code.biz/snippets/vbscript/5.htm