WSH - Creating custom icons

Is it possible to create a .wsc icon handler, and how would I go about it?
I'm talking about the registry setting "ShellEx\IconHandler."

I think you may be hinting at overkill here. It seems to me that you would just like to change the system-wide default icon for .wsc files. Yes?

If that's so, then there's no need to create an icon handler. Icon Handlers are used to display dynamic icons based on some environmental status. The best example I can think of is the Recycle Bin. It displays one icon when it's empty and another when it is not. This icon is dynamically changed by means of an Icon Handler (which involves some fairly in-depth programming ability).

If you simply want to change the default icon for a registered file type, there's no need to go through all of that. It's much simpler.

The first way to change the icon is through the Windows UI.

Method 1: Change the Default Icon for a Registered File Type:

1. Open My Computer and choose Folder Options... from the Tools menu.
2. Select the File Types tab in the Folder Options dialog.
3. Locate and select the file type you wish to change the default icon for in the Registered File Types: box and then press the Advanced button.
4. In the Edit File Type dialog, press the Change Icon... button.
5. Press the Browse... button and locate the resource that contains the icon you wish to use.
6. Select the icon in the box below and press the OK button.
7. Press OK to close all remaining dialogs.

The second method of changing the default icon for a registered file type involves editing the Windows Registry.

Method 1: Change the Default Icon for a Registered File Type:

1. Press Start and then Run... to open the Run dialog box.
2. Enter regedit and press OK to launch the Microsoft Registry Editor.
3. In the left pane, navigate to the key that matches the file extension for the file type you wish to change the icon for under the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT branch. e.g.

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wsc

4. In the right pane, note the Data component for the (Default) string value. e.g. For .wsc files, the Data component will say scriptletfile.
5. Navigate to the key matching the value you just found under the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT branch. e.g.

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scriptletfile

6. Expand this key and select the DefaultIcon key.
7. Edit the (Default) string value with the location of the new icon resource you wish to use. e.g.

   C:\WINDOWS\system32\scrobj.dll,0

8. Close the Microsoft Registry Editor. You may need to rebuild the Icon Cache or restart Windows for changes to take effect.

Alternatively, you can use a .reg file similar to the one below.

Thanx, I've done that plenty of times. I'm talking about dynamic icons. My example is MicroSoft Word's html files which have an icon of their own, different from regular html files. I read a little about the icon handler, and saw that windows will call the component listed in the registry and call certain methods in it. I just don't know if a .wsc com object qualifies, or if I'd need a .dll written in C.
Truth to be told, VB.NET is not far beyond my scope, although it's not my mother tongue, as my screen name suggests. So if that's what I need, how would I do it there?

In that case, yes, you would need a COM object that exposes the correct interfaces. (Which excludes a .wsc, unfortunately.) You can learn more here.

Creating Icon Handlers

OK, I posted in the .net forum already. But I'm wondering if it would be possible to mimic any necessary interface. How should Windows know the difference? I can add any method/property that's needed. Or I can create another .wsc to fill that role.

The problem is that you need an actual interface. There's no way to create your own interfaces in WSC as you would with compiled code.