in reply to perl and VB

Not sure if you're meaning a "visual basic" script (they're exes) or if you're meaning run a "vbscript". Either way, you could run either from within Perl using the system() call.

Examples:
 $return_code = system("MyVBProgram.exe"); #VB complied program

 $return_code = system("cscript MyVBScript.vbs"); #VBScript

~CubicSpline
"No one tosses a Dwarf!"