excel: how to convert .bas file to vbscript/exe or running from command line?

Question

How to convert .bas file to vbscript/exe or running from command line ? I did script in Excel by MS Visual Basic for Aplications, but i can run this scrip only under Excel.

Answer 1

I think the simplest option is to save the .bas file with a .vbs extension and modify your code to VBScript; then run it under Windows Script Host (WSH). Keep in mind that in VBA under Excel you have access to a number of built-in objects; in VBScript under WSH you'll have to create or access those objects yourself (see this answer) with the CreateObject or GetObject functions. (WSH has its own set of built-in objects.) In the case of Excel, you'd need to start with:

Dim xlApp
Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

Keep in mind that in VBScript, variables do not have a type, so all statements such as:

Dim i As Integer
Dim wks As Excel.Worksheet

need to have the As clause removed:

Dim i
Dim wks

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For exact details on the differences between the two, see INFO: Visual Basic for Applications Features Not in VBScript and INFO: VBScript Features Not in Visual Basic for Applications.

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VBA has a built-in IDE and debugger which you don't have when running code under WSH, but you can use Visual Sudio to debug the script file. (In the event that you can't install VS 2015 Community Edition, the Visual Studio integrated shells also work -- 2013, 2012, 2010.

Debug your scripts by calling them from the commandline as follows:

cscript yourscript.vbs //D //X

or:

wscript yourscript.vbs //D //X

If you have Office 2007 or earlier installed, you can use the Microsoft Script Editor for debugging; there's no need to download and install VS. Nevertheless, VS is far more powerful than both Microsoft Script Editor and the VBA debugger.