VBscript code to capture stdout, without showing console window

Question

This is a VBScript code example that shows how to catch whatever a command line program sends to standard output. It executes the command xcopy /? and shows the

Answer 1

This proof of concept script:

' pocBTicks.vbs - poor man's version of backticks (POC)

Option Explicit

' Globals

Const SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE =  7
Const ForReading         =  1

Dim goFS  : Set goFS  = CreateObject( "Scripting.FileSystemObject" )
Dim goWSH : Set goWSH = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )

' Dispatch
WScript.Quit demoBTicks()

' demoBTicks -
Function demoBTicks()
  demoBTicks = 1
  Dim aCmds : aCmds = Array( _
      "dir pocBTicks.vbs" _
    , "dur pocBTicks.vbs" _
    , "xcopy /?" _
  )
  Dim sCmd
  For Each sCmd In aCmds
      WScript.Echo "########", sCmd
      Dim aRet : aRet = BTicks( sCmd )
      Dim nIdx
      For nIdx = 0 To UBound( aRet )
          WScript.Echo "--------", nIdx
          WScript.Echo aRet( nIdx )
      Next
  Next
  demoBTicks = 0
End Function ' demoBTicks

' BTicks - execute sCmd via WSH.Run
'  aRet( 0 ) : goWSH.Run() result
'  aRet( 1 ) : StdErr / error message
'  aRet( 2 ) : StdOut
'  aRet( 3 ) : command to run
Function BTicks( sCmd )
  Dim aRet    : aRet     = Array( -1, "", "", "" )
  Dim sFSpec2 : sFSpec2  = goFS.GetAbsolutePathName( "." )
  Dim sFSpec1 : sFSpec1  = goFS.BuildPath( sFSpec2, goFS.GetTempName() )
                sFSpec2  = goFS.BuildPath( sFSpec2, goFS.GetTempName() )

  aRet( 3 ) = """%COMSPEC%"" /c """ + sCmd + " 1>""" + sFSpec1 + """ 2>""" +  sFSpec2 + """"""
  Dim aErr
 On Error Resume Next
  aRet( 0 ) = goWSH.Run( aRet( 3 ), SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE, True )
  aErr      = Array( Err.Number, Err.Description, Err.Source )
 On Error GoTo 0
  If 0 <> aErr( 0 ) Then
     aRet( 0 ) = aErr( 0 )
     aRet( 1 ) = Join( Array( aErr( 1 ), aErr( 2 ), "(BTicks)" ), vbCrLf )
     BTicks    = aRet
     Exit Function
  End If

  Dim nIdx : nIdx = 1
  Dim sFSpec
  For Each sFSpec In Array( sFSpec2, sFSpec1 )
      If goFS.FileExists( sFSpec ) Then
         Dim oFile : Set oFile = goFS.GetFile( sFSpec )
         If 0 < oFile.Size Then
            aRet( nIdx ) = oFile.OpenAsTextStream( ForReading ).ReadAll()
            goFS.DeleteFile sFSpec
         End If
      End If
      nIdx = nIdx + 1
  Next
  BTicks = aRet
End Function

shows how to use .Run and temporary files to get something like backticks with a hidden console. Decent file handling, quoting in sCmd, cleaning of the returned strings, and dealing with encodings will require more work. But perhaps you can use the strategy to implement something that fits your needs.