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How to reference to WIN32 object under MS Windows 7 64bit in VBScript

I have this VBScript that works just fine in the local html page under MS Windows 7 32bit because it referenced to MS Windows Text-to-Speech package is 32 bits.

Dim sapi
Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
  For Each Voice In sapi.getvoices
     I = I + 1
     msgbox "" & (I - 1) & " - " & Voice.GetDescription
Next

The problem I am facing is that the same package under MS Windows 7 64 is installed under C:\Windows\SysWOW64\

So it is visible if you start this console

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Speech\SpeechUX\sapi.cpl

enter image description here

And it has impact to the VBScript above because it uses 64bit SAPI and not 32 SAPI.

So I would like to find a correct way/code to use

Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")

for WIN32 objects. So it is kinda how to create ActiveX Win32 under Windows 64 bit in VBScript of the HTML page.

How it can be done?

Solution

  • It wasn't clear when you first posed the question that the VBScript was being run inside an Internet Browser (assuming Internet Explorer as built-in support for VBScript in other browsers is none existent).

    In the scenario where an Internet Browser is being used the same rules when dealing with multiple architectures applies. Instead of the client being the scripting host (cscript or wscript) the Internet Browser takes on this role.

    We thus have to make sure we are using the correct architecture version of the browser.

    x64 (64 Bit)

    %ProgramFiles%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe

    x86 (32 Bit)

    %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe

    If the wrong architecture version of the Internet Browser is executed the CreateObject() function will look in the wrong part of the registry for the corresponding ProgId (sapi.spvoice), which can lead to errors like this:

    Error: ActiveX component can't create object
    Code: 800A01AD
    Source: Microsoft VBScript Runtime Error

    This is more common with applications that are solely 32 bit as the 64 bit part of the registry will never contain the corresponding registered COM components.

    You may sometimes find that for whatever reason you have to register the COM DLL manually which can also be confusing for some. It's important to understand the differences.

    Register a x64 COM DLL

    %SystemRoot%\System32\regsvr32.exe

    Register a x86 COM DLL

    %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\regsvr32.exe

    It's also important to note that this only applies to 64 bit Windows Operating Systems as 32 bit ones will just contain the 64 bit equivalent locations. Both %ProgramFiles(x86) and SysWOW64 are locations specific to 64 bit Windows Operating Systems only.