Need to sense a keystroke in VBscript to end a loop - vbscript

Question

I am really new to VBscript; like I litteraly just started about a half hour ago, but I just need it for a super simple program. It runs a Do Until loop, and I want it to stop when I press the spacebar. I have everything else done, I just need to know if/how to detect the keystroke. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You need to put your script into an hta file (basically a web page with a program's permissions) see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms536473(VS.85).aspx. Then set up an event handler for space key. Instead of a do loop do a timer and do 1 thing a timer tick. Your space key event handler cancels the timer.
onkeydown Event
Fires when the user presses a key.
Syntax
Inline HTML <ELEMENT onkeydown = "handler" ... > All platforms
Event property object.onkeydown = handler JScript only
object.onkeydown = GetRef("handler") Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) 5.0 or later only
Named script <SCRIPT FOR = object EVENT = onkeydown> Internet Explorer only
Event Information
Bubbles Yes
Cancels Yes
To invoke Press any keyboard key.
Default action Returns a number specifying the keyCode of the key that was pressed.
setInterval Method
Evaluates an expression each time a specified number of milliseconds has elapsed.
Syntax
iTimerID = window.setInterval(vCode, iMilliSeconds [, sLanguage])
Parameters
vCode Required. Variant that specifies a function pointer or string that indicates the code to be executed when the specified interval has elapsed.
iMilliSeconds Required. Integer that specifies the number of milliseconds.
sLanguage Optional. String that specifies any one of the possible values for the LANGUAGE attribute.
Return Value
Integer. Returns an identifier that cancels the timer with the clearInterval method.
Remarks
The setInterval method continuously evaluates the specified expression until the timer is removed with the clearInterval method.

Answer 2

This is a operative, non advisable (you are advised), option. But it generates a line write to console (jump to next line) every time it checks for the key press.
Function GetParentProcessId()
Dim processesList, process
Set processesList = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\cimv2")
Set processesList = processesList.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE (Name = 'cscript.exe') AND Commandline LIKE '%"+WScript.ScriptName+"%'" )
For Each process in processesList
GetParentProcessId = process.ParentProcessId
Next
End Function
Dim parentProcessId
parentProcessId = GetParentProcessId()
Dim shell
Set shell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Dim input, i
i=0
Do While True
WScript.StdOut.Write "Press space to stop process. Step [" & i & "]" & vbCR
i = i + 1
If (i Mod 10) = 0 Then
shell.AppActivate parentProcessId
shell.SendKeys "~"
input = WScript.StdIn.ReadLine()
If input = " " Then
Exit Do
End If
End If
WScript.Sleep 50
Loop
WScript.StdOut.WriteLine vbCFLF & "Process ended"
WScript.Quit