VBScript - Retrieving a user's nested groups and getting rid of repetitions - windows

Question

For my work, I have to write a script in VBScript that retrieves a list of ALL groups a user belongs to, including nested groups, and take out nested groups that would be repeated throughout the list (as well as indent nested groups, further indent nested groups of nested groups, etc.)
I found a script that fetches the entire list of groups a user belongs to by Monimoy Sanyal on gallery.technet.microsoft.com, and tried to adapt it to my needs. Here is the script as edited by me:
Option Explicit
Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppend = 8
Dim ObjUser, ObjRootDSE, ObjConn, ObjRS
Dim GroupCollection, ObjGroup
Dim StrUserName, StrDomName, StrSQL
Dim GroupsList
Dim WriteFile
GroupsList = ""
Set ObjRootDSE = GetObject("LDAP://RootDSE")
StrDomName = Trim(ObjRootDSE.Get("DefaultNamingContext"))
Set ObjRootDSE = Nothing
StrUserName = InputBox("Enter user login", "Info needed", "")
StrSQL = "Select ADsPath From 'LDAP://" & StrDomName & "' Where ObjectCategory = 'User' AND SAMAccountName = '" & StrUserName & "'"
Set ObjConn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
ObjConn.Provider = "ADsDSOObject": ObjConn.Open "Active Directory Provider"
Set ObjRS = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
ObjRS.Open StrSQL, ObjConn
If Not ObjRS.EOF Then
ObjRS.MoveLast: ObjRS.MoveFirst
Set ObjUser = GetObject (Trim(ObjRS.Fields("ADsPath").Value))
Set GroupCollection = ObjUser.Groups
WScript.Echo "Looking for groups " & StrUserName & " is member of. This may take some time..."
'Groups with direct membership, and calling recursive function for nested groups
For Each ObjGroup In GroupCollection
GroupsList = GroupsList + ObjGroup.CN + VbCrLf
CheckForNestedGroup ObjGroup
Next
Set ObjGroup = Nothing: Set GroupCollection = Nothing: Set ObjUser = Nothing
'Writing list in a file named Groups <username>.txt
Set WriteFile = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Dim fso, f
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set f = fso.OpenTextFile("Groups " & StrUserName & ".txt", ForWriting,true)
f.write(GroupsList)
f.Close
WScript.Echo "You can find the list in the Groups " &StrUserName & ".txt file that has just been created."
Else
WScript.Echo "Couldn't find user " & StrUserName & " in AD."
End If
ObjRS.Close: Set ObjRS = Nothing
ObjConn.Close: Set ObjConn = Nothing
'Recursive fucntion
Private Sub CheckForNestedGroup(ObjThisGroupNestingCheck)
On Error Resume Next
Dim AllMembersCollection, StrMember, StrADsPath, ObjThisIsNestedGroup
AllMembersCollection = ObjThisGroupNestingCheck.GetEx("MemberOf")
For Each StrMember in AllMembersCollection
StrADsPath = "LDAP://" & StrMember
Set ObjThisIsNestedGroup = GetObject(StrADsPath)
'Not include a group in the list if it is already in the list (does not work for some reason?)
If InStr(GroupsList, ObjThisIsNestedGroup.CN) = 0 Then
GroupsList = GroupsList + vbTab + ObjThisIsNestedGroup.CN + VbCrLf
End If
'Recursion to look for nested groups and nested groups of nested groups and nested groups of nested groups of nested groups and...
CheckForNestedGroup ObjThisIsNestedGroup
Next
Set ObjThisIsNestedGroup = Nothing: Set StrMember = Nothing: Set AllMembersCollection = Nothing
End Sub
Rather than display a popup for EACH group found like the original script did, I store the entire list in a String (GroupsList = GroupsList + ObjGroup.CN + VbCrLf for direct groups, GroupsList = GroupsList + vbTab + ObjThisIsNestedGroup.CN + VbCrLf for nested groups in the recursive function,) and once the script is done looking for groups, it saves the String in a file. (f.write(GroupsList))
My problem is, despite the If "InStr(GroupsList, ObjThisIsNestedGroup.CN) = 0 in the recursive function, I still find myself with tons of repetitions throughout the results (our AD is kind of bloated with groups, it is a huge structure with many nested groups and nested groups in other nested groups, etc.) and the check doesn't seem to notice that ObjThisIsNestedGroup.CN is already found in GroupsList.
And I have no idea how to implement the indentation properly.
Any ideas? I'm rather new at scripting, so forgive me if the answer is obvious.

Answer 1

Add the groups as keys to a Dictionary, so the list contains only unique names, and Join() the Keys array for output:
Set GroupsList = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
GroupsList.CompareMode = vbTextCompare 'make keys case-insensitive
...
GroupsList(ObjGroup.CN) = True
...
f.Write Join(GroupsList.Keys, vbNewLine)

Answer 2

I found the solution for both problems. Well, the first problem I'm not sure how I fixed since I only reverted the code after making a modification and then it was magically working.
For the increasing indentation, I declared a global variable named RecurCount that I increment every time I call the recursive procedure, and decrease after the procedure. Then, within the procedure, I added a For i = 0 to RecurCount that adds a varying number of vbTabs depending on RecurCount.
Here's the working procedure:
Private Sub CheckForNestedGroup(ObjThisGroupNestingCheck)
On Error Resume Next
Dim AllMembersCollection, StrMember, StrADsPath, ObjThisIsNestedGroup, TabAdd, i
AllMembersCollection = ObjThisGroupNestingCheck.GetEx("MemberOf")
For Each StrMember in AllMembersCollection
If StrMember <> "" Then
StrADsPath = "LDAP://" & StrMember
Set ObjThisIsNestedGroup = GetObject(StrADsPath)
'If InStr(GroupsList, ObjThisIsNestedGroup.CN) = 0 Then (Uncomment this If and indent lines below to remove groups already in the list)
TabAdd = ""
For i = 0 to Recurcount
TabAdd = TabAdd & vbTab
Next
GroupsList = GroupsList & TabAdd & " " & ObjThisIsNestedGroup.CN & VbCrLf
'End If
'Recursion to include nested groups of nested groups
Recurcount = Recurcount + 1
CheckForNestedGroup ObjThisIsNestedGroup
Recurcount = Recurcount - 1
End If
Next
Set ObjThisIsNestedGroup = Nothing: Set StrMember = Nothing: Set AllMembersCollection = Nothing
End Sub
Don't forget to Dim Recurcount in the main script, and to make it 0 right before calling CheckForNestedGroup for the first time.