FULLY CUSTOMISABLE BATCH AND PS USER CREATON TOOL HYBRID
Jackson Van Dyke 2013-2014

Short Instructions:

1. Change the settings in the settings file to fit your own
2. Add your own users to the UserList file
3. Do not remove the first two lines in Settings.ini - Only edit the parts below the instructional section
   Include YEARLVL where you want to include the students year level in the student year level groups section
4. Do not remove the first line in UserList.csv
5. Run the script through the executable file included.

OTHER INFORMATION:
The students home directories will automatically be mapped to their accounts at their first logon.
If you wish to change this or any part of the program, contact me at my addresses below and I'll make
sure to make you a personalised script with your desired settings.

Student homedrives will be mapped under this format: DIRECTORY\YEARLVL\USERNAME
If you want that to be changed, I can also change that for you.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Create a file in any directory called UserList.csv.
   This should be laid out as so:
   USERNAME,BASIC/DEFAULT ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT,FULL NAME, YEAR LEVEL (If applicable)
   Skip the first line or use it as a reference as it is automaitcally skipped.
   I have also included a reference UserList.csv that you may modify to your liking. 

2. Create your own custom settings through the included Settings.ini
   If the script fails please let me know and I'll go over things with you.

3. Run the script
   DO NOT modify the script unless you know what you're doing.
   The script should be able to add any number of users that you throw at it.

4. If you wish to include a group containing the user's year level, if a student, add the group name and where
   the year level occurs, add YEARLVL.

5. Please also note that adding users to the Exchange server will depend on the speed of your network.
   Also note that users are automatically added to a mailbox group equal to their year level. If you wish
   I can customise this for you, I did this becuase I am too lazy to add anything extra right now.
   However for many schools and organisatins this should be fine.

6. This application is fully customisable. Students do not necessarily have to be students and teachers don't have to be teachers     etc.
   Simply change the settings file accordingly to fit your organisations needs. 


Background:

I am a student that designs and implements programs in order to make both myself and others lives easier.
I constantly try to push the boundaries of scripting languages such as BATCH which many believe is highly limited.
I hold several Microsoft certifications as well as high distinctions, distinctions and medals for various
computing courses.

Late last year I set myself a goal. I wanted to create a bulk user reation tool completely in BATCH.
I prefer BATCH to other scripting languages such as PS and VBS because of it's ease of use and because it runs
completely on tolls included on every modern Windows PC. So I set up a fully functioning test lab containing an
Exchange server, DC, web server and file server. This was everything that I needed in order to test and develop the script.

I later realised this was not possible when I got around to adding e-mail accounts for the users. For this I had to
turn to PowerShell in order to make it work however the solution I came up with ended up only needing to be one line.

At the moment the script is at 144 lines. Comparing this to many other programs of the type, it is remarkably small.

Please suggest anything you want me to add or implement into the program at the e-mail addresses below.
Ask me if you need any help configuring thigs or adding anything extra to the script.

I can be contacted at:

jacksonvd@live.com.au
jacksonvd@amnet.net.au

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank the users at StackOverflow for assisting in some automation tasks in the code, i.e. getting the custom
number of sections in the domain name.