Powershell get return value from visual basic script - powershell

Question

I have some old code in visual basic script. Instead of re-writing this old code into PowerShell, I'd like to call the VB scripts from PowerShell and capture their return value.
How can I get the return value of a visual basic script in powershell?
Something like this:
$returnValue = Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock{.\vbs\legacyVbsFunction.vbs}
The visual basic function may look like this
Function MyFunction() As Double
Return 3.87 * 2
End Function

Answer 1

It sounds like you want to capture a VBScript's (stdout) output:
$output = cscript.exe //nologo .\vbs\legacyVbsFunction.vbs
Note that $output will either be a single string - if the script outputs just 1 line - or an array of strings in case of multi-line output.
For example, assuming that .\vbs\legacyVbsFunction.vbs contains the following code:
Function MyFunction
MyFunction = 3.87 * 2
End Function
' Call the function and print it to stdout.
Wscript.Echo(MyFunction)
You could capture the output and convert it to a [double] as follows:
[double] $output = cscript.exe //nologo .\vbs\legacyVbsFunction.vbs
$output then contains 7.74.

Answer 2

You can actually embed a vbscript function right in powershell using a com object called ScriptControl, but it only works in 32-bit powershell, C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe: Embed VBS into PowerShell
function Call-VBScript
{
$sc = New-Object -ComObject ScriptControl
$sc.Language = 'VBScript'
$sc.AddCode('
Function MyFunction
MyFunction = 3.87 * 2
End Function
')
$sc.CodeObject
}
$vb = Call-VBScript
$returnvalue = $vb.MyFunction()
"returnvalue is " + $returnvalue
I found out you can run a job as 32-bit:
$returnvalue =
start-job {
function Call-VBScript {
$sc = New-Object -ComObject MSScriptControl.ScriptControl.1
$sc.Language = 'VBScript'
$sc.AddCode('
Function MyFunction
MyFunction = 3.87 * 2
End Function
')
$sc.CodeObject
}
$vb = call-vbscript
$vb.MyFunction()
} -runas32 | wait-job | receive-job
"returnvalue is " + $returnvalue

Answer 3

You don't really have an exit code in the VBS, you have a return for a function.
To actually have a return code you must close the script with something like:
wscript.quit(0)
or
wscript.quit(returncode)
In the powershell script you must execute the vbs something like this:
(Start-Process -FilePath "wscript.exe" -ArgumentList "Script.vbs" -Wait -Passthru).ExitCode