PerlScript

PerlScript, part of ActiveState's Perl for Windows package, is an ActiveX scripting engine. PerlScript allows you to add Perl as a scripting language to any ActiveX scripting host—in Internet Explorer, IIS or any Web server, or Microsoft's Windows Scripting Host (WSH), for example.

Microsoft's ActiveX scripting engines natively support VBScript and JavaScript scripting engines. Although those languages are adequate for many purposes, Perl can in many instances provide for features and more power. And if you're used to working with Perl, the capability to continue working in Perl rather than having to switch between languages is a nice advantage.

For the Web, PerlScript enables you to create Perl scripts embedded inside Web pages both on the client (Web browser) and the server side, in much the same way JavaScript and VBScript scripts and Active Server Pages (ASP) behave today.

PerlScript also works with the Windows Scripting Host, which enables you to control various aspects of the Windows system itself through the use of scripts (it's a replacement for old-fashioned DOS batch scripts). Windows Scripting Host has been built into all versions of Windows since Windows 98.

For information on ActiveX scripting in general, check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting. For information on PerlScript, see the simple documentation that comes with PerlScript at http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Reference/, or Matt Sergeant's excellent Complete Guide to PerlScript at http://www.fastnetltd.ndirect.co.uk/Perl/Articles/PSIntro.html.