• You can use subroutines and procedures to keep your code readable.

• The script engine is picky about syntax, and does not give very readable error messages if a syntax error is encountered. Double check your script to make sure that all keywords are spelled correctly. A common mistake is to use ‘Endif’ instead of ‘End if’.

• All types are variant, which can cause problems during comparisons. For example,

If var = 1 then

…

End If

may fail even if var does equal 1. Instead, use

If CInt(var) = 1 then

…

End If

which will force the types to match. Make sure that var can never be non-numeric, however, or you will get a type mismatch error! This technique can also be used for other comparisons, such as dates or strings.

• You can create COM objects, including ADO objects or any custom objects that you write. You could write a set of business rules in C++ or Visual Basic, for example, and then use them in scripts. This is very powerful, and can greatly improve the performance of scripts which use intensive calculations.
• Objects are created differently in VBScript than in Visual Basic, using the CreateObject function. For example, instead of

Dim rsADO as new ADODB.Recordset

You use

Set rsADO = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")

• Sometimes there are subtle differences between Visual Basic functions and their VBScript counterparts. Often, new language features show up in one before the other. For example, Dictionaries were available in VBScript before they appeared in Visual Basic. Be sure to check the VBScript documentation for syntax details.