Visual Basic Script

Visual Basic Script (VBS) is a script language developed by Microsoft based on Visual Basic (VB) or Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). It is a reduced version of Visual Basic and is mainly used in connection with ASP (Active Server Pages) and the creation of dynamic websites. Since VBS is loaded during the runtime, it is called an interpreted script language.

Use with ASP is the server-side practice, while VB script can also be used on the client side in combination with Internet Explorer. VB Script sends data to host applications by using Windows scripts. Microsoft’s Common Object Model is being utilized. This allows individual parts of a script to be interpreted directly without having to load other implementations or script languages. In this way, different program parts can be created independently of a particular programming language. Microsoft still supports the use of VB Script, but the script language has already been replaced by Visual Basic.NET.

Practical relevance

In principle, VB Script also provides access to Windows operating systems, databases such as MySQL and access or the libraries of Microsoft Office programs. Thus, VB Script can also be used for attacks. Even Microsoft’s own email service Outlook blocks VB Script. In fact, VB Script has been used in many international Hacker attacks on servers and operating systems.

VB Script, similar to JavaScript, is also suitable for supplementing HTML documents with code components that increase the functionality of web documents, such as forms, dialog boxes, or commodity baskets. However, since JavaScript from Netscape and JScript from Microsoft have prevailed, VB Script is not used much on the client side. This is also because only Internet Explorer can interpret VB Script. Plugins are available for other browsers.

Relevance to search engine optimization

VB Script should be integrated on the client-side only with caution not just for security reasons, but also because search engines crawlers cannot read script languages. A redirect being set up via VB Script can have a negative effect on the Ranking of a website. A better choice is a Redirect, ideally with a status code 301. It is also important to avoid cases where a website can only be reached via a script. Menus that have been programmed with scripts and texts that are output via scripts are mistakes from the viewpoint of search engine optimization. More elegant solutions can be found, which can be implemented using HTML and CSS.