Impact of VBScript.dll being disabled by default

[yaju]

Hi

Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5 will no longer be usable due to the invalidation of vbscript.dll in 2027.
VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp will need to be changed to vba-regex, etc.

WebDriverManager.cls

Dim oRegExp As New VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp
Dim matches As VBScript_RegExp_55.MatchCollection
Dim match As VBScript_RegExp_55.match

[GCuser99]

@yaju I changed this to a discussion...

Yes, I agree - it's possible that we may need to replace functionality that relies on the VBScript libraries (not just RegExp!). While we wait to know the full scope of what MS plans to remove, I do think it is wise to contemplate alternatives now.

BTW, as an experiment, we have already implemented @sihlfall's vba-regex in the twinBASIC DLL version of SeleniumVBA. It seems to work just fine. You can help that development along by letting @sihlfall's know how important you think his/her work is...

[6DiegoDiego9]

Thanks @yaju for reminding me about that!

After reading (again) this page, it seems that it will only impact regexes, although even just those would be a big thing!

However, according to this image, in 2027, until a TBD future date, they will only make it an (installable) option, so it will be a soft stop for personal use at home:

I found a video showing what we will have to do to install it in Windows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOcp074SJnY&t=141s

Another positive news is that, in addition to @sihlfall's vba-regex, we may have the two lighter options shown here too:

• Script Control OCX
• Microsoft HTML Object Library (MSHTML)

I still didn't dedicate any time trying them thought.
I think that I will worry about it in a couple of years because, who knows, maybe Microsoft could even come out with new or improved integrated implementations, like the recent new regular expressions worksheet formulas.

[dornech]

Well, if I am not wrong MSHTML is linked to the old Internet Explorer rendering machine Trident. I am not sure if I called MSHTML a serious future-proof replacement option for VBS regex ?

[GCuser99]

BTW @6DiegoDiego9, I had tried the script control quite some time ago and it did not work for me (Class not Registered, even though the reference existed and was checked).

Using MSHTML for regular expressions is a clever idea that I had not thought of. But I have had some issues getting that library to work consistently across different applications and different versions of applications (32-bit vs 64-bit) - the reason I have replaced it in our code recently.

[dornech]

BTW: when replacing regular expression, one might need to be careful. Itreid to use regexes developped for Microsoft regexes and was surprised to learn that they are not fully compatible f. e. with Python regex. I. e. I wrote a small translator.

As per my documentationI noted the following differences:

Differences in the area of the standard syntax:
- for group replacements notation is <n> instead $

Differences if regular expressions are used together with Eval():

• different numerical value for True: VB environment = -1, Python = 1
  -> boolean expressions need to be adjusted
• string concatenation is '&' in VB and '+' in Python
  assumption: '+' is not used for source expressions even allowed
• '+' may not be applied on int/str in Python
  -> numerical expressions must be bracketed in str()
  - language functions are to be replaced. Implemented:
  "Format" for numerical values