How to make the columns in VBscript fixed

Question

Hi, I'm a beginner in VBscript and I got a script which obtains disk space usage of local drives. However, when some columns would contain long numeric value, some adjacent columns and even values are moving to the right and thus makes the output disorganized. I already

Please see below the contents of the script:

Option Explicit

const strComputer = "."
const strReport = "F:\dba_scripts\diskspace.txt"


Dim objWMIService, objItem, colItems
Dim strDriveType, strDiskSize, txt

Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_LogicalDisk WHERE DriveType=3")
txt = "DRIVE" & vbtab & vbtab & "SIZE" & vbtab & vbtab & "USED" & vbtab & vbtab & "FREE" & vbtab & vbtab & "FREE(%)" & vbcrlf
For Each objItem in colItems

    DIM pctFreeSpace,strFreeSpace,strusedSpace

    pctFreeSpace = INT((objItem.FreeSpace / objItem.Size) * 1000)/10
    strDiskSize = round((objItem.Size /1073741824),1) & " GB"
    strFreeSpace = round((objItem.FreeSpace /1073741824),1) & " GB"
    strUsedSpace = round(((objItem.Size-objItem.FreeSpace)/1073741824),1) & " GB"
    txt = txt & objItem.Name & vbtab & vbtab & strDiskSize & vbtab & vbtab & strUsedSpace & vbTab & vbtab & strFreeSpace & vbtab & vbtab & pctFreeSpace & vbcrlf

Next

writeTextFile txt,strReport
wscript.echo "Report written to " & strReport & vbcrlf & vbcrlf & txt

' Procedure to write output to a text file
private sub writeTextFile(byval txt,byval strTextFilePath)
    Dim objFSO,objTextFile

    set objFSO = createobject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

    set objTextFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strTextFilePath)

    objTextFile.Write(txt)

    objTextFile.Close
    SET objTextFile = nothing
end sub

The output file looks OK but when I send/email it using the free bmail, the results are disorganized (meaning some columns and values moved to the right.

My question is are there ways to make the columns and values results fixed ( meaning no columns and values are moving to the right )?

Answer 1

You could write out a table using HTML. This should work in an email.

Answer 2

Function RightJustified(ColumnValue, ColumnWidth)
   RightJustified = Space(ColumnWidth - Len(ColumnValue)) & ColumnValue
End Function

Usage example:

output = output & _
         RightJustified(strDiskSize, 15) & _
         RightJustified(strUsedSpace, 15) & _
         RightJustified(strFreeSpace, 15) & _
         RightJustified(pctFreeSpace, 15) & _
         vbCrLf

EDIT

Add the RightJustified function to your script.

Then, replace this line of your code:

txt = txt & objItem.Name & vbtab & vbtab & strDiskSize & vbtab & vbtab & strUsedSpace & vbTab & vbtab & strFreeSpace & vbtab & vbtab & pctFreeSpace & vbcrlf

with:

txt = txt & objItem.Name & _
      RightJustified(strDiskSize, 15) & _
      RightJustified(strUsedSpace, 15) & _
      RightJustified(strFreeSpace, 15) & _
      RightJustified(pctFreeSpace, 15) & _
      vbCrLf

---

EDIT 2

I added the RightJustified function at the bottom of your script, and then called it within your loop to format the columns. I also used it on the column headers. Below is the script and at the bottom is the output on my machine.

Option Explicit

const strComputer = "."
const strReport = "F:\dba_scripts\diskspace.txt"


Dim objWMIService, objItem, colItems
Dim strDriveType, strDiskSize, txt

Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_LogicalDisk WHERE DriveType=3")

txt = RightJustified("DRIVE", 10) & _
      RightJustified("SIZE", 15) & _
      RightJustified("USED", 15) & _
      RightJustified("FREE", 15) & _
      RightJustified("FREE(%)", 15) & _
      vbCrLf

For Each objItem in colItems

    DIM pctFreeSpace,strFreeSpace,strusedSpace

    pctFreeSpace = INT((objItem.FreeSpace / objItem.Size) * 1000)/10
    strDiskSize = round((objItem.Size /1073741824),1) & " GB"
    strFreeSpace = round((objItem.FreeSpace /1073741824),1) & " GB"
    strUsedSpace = round(((objItem.Size-objItem.FreeSpace)/1073741824),1) & " GB"

    txt = txt & _
      RightJustified(objItem.Name, 10) & _
      RightJustified(strDiskSize, 15) & _
      RightJustified(strUsedSpace, 15) & _
      RightJustified(strFreeSpace, 15) & _
      RightJustified(pctFreeSpace, 15) & _
      vbCrLf
Next

writeTextFile txt,strReport
wscript.echo "Report written to " & strReport & vbcrlf & vbcrlf & txt

' Procedure to write output to a text file
Sub writeTextFile(byval txt,byval strTextFilePath)
    Dim objFSO,objTextFile
    set objFSO = createobject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    set objTextFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strTextFilePath)
    objTextFile.Write(txt)
    objTextFile.Close
    Set objTextFile = nothing
End Sub

Function RightJustified(ColumnValue, ColumnWidth)
   RightJustified = Space(ColumnWidth - Len(ColumnValue)) & ColumnValue
End Function

Output produced:

 DRIVE           SIZE           USED           FREE        FREE(%)
    C:        48.4 GB        40.6 GB         7.8 GB           16.1
    D:       100.6 GB        56.8 GB        43.8 GB           43.5