Creating Script Headers

  • Article

Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Scripting Guide

Whenever you document something, it is a good idea to make clear what you are documenting; do not require readers to read the entire manual to determine whether this really is the information they are looking for. The same is true of scripts. If your scripts are shared with others, it is strongly recommended that you include information about the script, and that you include it at the very beginning of the script in the form of a script header.

Script headers are a collection of comments that explain the purpose and history of a script. Script headers detail such things as:

  • The name of the script.

  • The date the script was created.

  • The author of the script.

  • The purpose of the script.

  • A history of revisions made to the script.

For example, an organization might use the following standard script header:

'*  Script name:   NewUsers.vbs
'*  Created on:    8/15/2000
'*  Author:        Ken Myer
'*  Purpose:       Creates new user accounts and new Exchange 2000 mailboxes.
'*                 Adds new users to security groups based on job title and
'*                 department.
'*  History:       Pilar Ackerman 10/15/2000
'*                 Modified to reflect new area code.

Simply by reading the header, you can tell what a script does, when it was written, how often it has been modified, and who to contact if you have questions about the script or the script code.