Collectors for Windows systems

VBScript collectors for Windows systems are run in the Windows Script Host environment. They use the Component Object Model to access elements of the Windows environment, for example, FileSystemObject and TextStream.

Prerequisite Scanner runs the VBScript collectors to obtain the actual values for prerequisite properties for the Windows environment. Each collector can obtain data for one or many prerequisite properties.

For each prerequisite property in a VBScript collector, the collector writes the name of the prerequisite property and its actual value as standard output. Prerequisite Scanner writes this standard output to a temporary text file, that is, localhost_hw.txt.

You can create custom common VBScript collectors to collect data for prerequisite properties that apply to any product and product version. You can also create custom product-specific ones to collect data that applies to a specific product and product version.

When you run the Prerequisite Scanner, it runs the collectors in the following order: predefined VBScript collectors; the custom common VBScript collectors in the ips_root/lib directory; and the custom product-specific VBScript collectors by searching for the product_code[_<version>].vbs file in the ips_root/Windows directory.

For example, the env.tcrhome.vbs file is a custom collector that checks the home directory environment variable for Tivoli® Common Reporting. It is stored in the ips_root/lib directory.

VBScript collectors must adhere to the following rules:

Naming convention for the custom common VBScript collector file
It contains a prerequisite property to be made available to any product and product version, that is, all configuration files:
```
prefix_identifier.]property_name.vbs
```
Where:
- prefix_identifier is the prefix identifier for a predefined category of prerequisite properties as outlined in Table 1. This prefix identifier is required by some of the predefined categories, for example, env.
- property_name is the prerequisite property name, for example, tcrhome.
Store this type of VBScript collector in the ips_root/lib directory.
Naming convention for the custom product-specific VBScript collector file
It contains properties to be made available to a specific product and product versions, that is, one configuration file:
```
product_code[_version].vbs
```
Where:
- product_code
  It is the variable to represent a product code on either Windows or UNIX systems. Product codes identify the product and optionally the version of the operating system that is supported by that product. They are stored in the codename.cfg file. A product that supports multiple platforms might have multiple product codes, with each one identifying a product, platform, and version of the operating system as required.
- <version> is the 8-digit code to represent the version, release, modification, and level, with 2 digits for each part of the code; for example, 7.3.21 is 07032100.
Store this type of VBScript collector in the ips_root/Windows directory.
Standard output for each prerequisite property is as follows:
```
WScript.Echo "property_name=" & var_for_value
```
- property_name that represents the prerequisite property as written in the configuration file, for example,
```
env.tcrhome.
```
- var_for_value, that is, the VBScript variable for the actual value that the collector obtains for the prerequisite property.
For example, the following standard output writes the prerequisite property for the Tivoli Common Reporting home environment variable and its actual value:
```
WScript.Echo "env.tcrhome=" & tcr_home
```