Using FTP to upload each file * WHILE * Get a list of files

Question

We need to get about 100 very small files from a remote FTP server using vb.net. Our company will not allow us to buy (or install) any third-party ftp libraries ... therefore we are forced to use something like FtpWebRequest. (Or is there a better free choice that is already part of Visual Studio?)

This method works, but it is very slow. (I assume due to the constant login / logout.)

 Log in with user name and password.
 Get a file-list from the remote server.
 Log out
 Use that file-list to get each file separtely:
 Log in, get the file, log out.
 Log in 99 more times, get each file, log out each time.

Instead, we should probably do this, but it never works:

 Log in with user name and password.  ONCE.  Get a list of filenames.  Download each file.  Log out ONCE. 

We found examples of FREE “getting a list of FTP files” online and then “how to download 1 file from FTP” ... but we never see “get the name of the EACH file and download it now”.

 Dim fwr As Net.FtpWebRequest = Net.FtpWebRequest.Create (ftpSite)
 fwr.Credentials = New NetworkCredential (userName, password)
 fwr.KeepAlive = True
 fwr.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectory

    Dim sr As IO.StreamReader = Nothing
    Try
       sr = New IO.StreamReader (fwr.GetResponse (). GetResponseStream ())
       Do Until (sr.EndOfStream ())
          fileName = sr.ReadLine ()

          fwr.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile

          output = ""
          Dim sr2 As IO.StreamReader = Nothing
          Try
             sr2 = New IO.StreamReader (fwr.GetResponse (). GetResponseStream ())
             output = sr2.ReadToEnd ()

          Catch ex as exception

          End try

          If (Not sr2 Is Nothing) Then sr2.Close (): sr2 = Nothing

          Call MsgBox ("Got" & fileName & LF & output)
         Loop

    Catch ex as exception

    End try

    If (Not sr Is Nothing) Then sr.Close (): sr = Nothing
    If (Not fwr Is Nothing) Then fwr = Nothing

Answer 1

Take a look at my FTP class, this may be exactly what you need.

Public Class FTP '-------------------------[BroCode]-------------------------- '----------------------------FTP----------------------------- Private _credentials As System.Net.NetworkCredential Sub New(ByVal _FTPUser As String, ByVal _FTPPass As String) setCredentials(_FTPUser, _FTPPass) End Sub Public Sub UploadFile(ByVal _FileName As String, ByVal _UploadPath As String) Dim _FileInfo As New System.IO.FileInfo(_FileName) Dim _FtpWebRequest As System.Net.FtpWebRequest = CType(System.Net.FtpWebRequest.Create(New Uri(_UploadPath)), System.Net.FtpWebRequest) _FtpWebRequest.Credentials = _credentials _FtpWebRequest.KeepAlive = False _FtpWebRequest.Timeout = 20000 _FtpWebRequest.Method = System.Net.WebRequestMethods.Ftp.UploadFile _FtpWebRequest.UseBinary = True _FtpWebRequest.ContentLength = _FileInfo.Length Dim buffLength As Integer = 2048 Dim buff(buffLength - 1) As Byte Dim _FileStream As System.IO.FileStream = _FileInfo.OpenRead() Try Dim _Stream As System.IO.Stream = _FtpWebRequest.GetRequestStream() Dim contentLen As Integer = _FileStream.Read(buff, 0, buffLength) Do While contentLen <> 0 _Stream.Write(buff, 0, contentLen) contentLen = _FileStream.Read(buff, 0, buffLength) Loop _Stream.Close() _Stream.Dispose() _FileStream.Close() _FileStream.Dispose() Catch ex As Exception MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Upload Error: ", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error) End Try End Sub Public Sub DownloadFile(ByVal _FileName As String, ByVal _ftpDownloadPath As String) Try Dim _request As System.Net.FtpWebRequest = System.Net.WebRequest.Create(_ftpDownloadPath) _request.KeepAlive = False _request.Method = System.Net.WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile _request.Credentials = _credentials Dim _response As System.Net.FtpWebResponse = _request.GetResponse() Dim responseStream As System.IO.Stream = _response.GetResponseStream() Dim fs As New System.IO.FileStream(_FileName, System.IO.FileMode.Create) responseStream.CopyTo(fs) responseStream.Close() _response.Close() Catch ex As Exception MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Download Error: ", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error) End Try End Sub Public Function GetDirectory(ByVal _ftpPath As String) As List(Of String) Dim ret As New List(Of String) Try Dim _request As System.Net.FtpWebRequest = System.Net.WebRequest.Create(_ftpPath) _request.KeepAlive = False _request.Method = System.Net.WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectoryDetails _request.Credentials = _credentials Dim _response As System.Net.FtpWebResponse = _request.GetResponse() Dim responseStream As System.IO.Stream = _response.GetResponseStream() Dim _reader As System.IO.StreamReader = New System.IO.StreamReader(responseStream) Dim FileData As String = _reader.ReadToEnd Dim Lines() As String = FileData.Split(New String() {Environment.NewLine}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries) For Each l As String In Lines ret.Add(l) Next _reader.Close() _response.Close() Catch ex As Exception MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Directory Fetch Error: ", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error) End Try Return ret End Function Private Sub setCredentials(ByVal _FTPUser As String, ByVal _FTPPass As String) _credentials = New System.Net.NetworkCredential(_FTPUser, _FTPPass) End Sub End Class 

To initialize:

 Dim ftp As New FORM.FTP("username", "password") ftp.UploadFile("c:\file.jpeg", "ftp://domain/file.jpeg") ftp.DownloadFile("c:\file.jpeg", "ftp://ftp://domain/file.jpeg") Dim directory As List(Of String) = ftp.GetDirectory("ftp://ftp.domain.net/") ListBox1.Items.Clear() For Each item As String In directory ListBox1.Items.Add(item) Next 

Answer 2

Something that I just collected, the important part is fwr.Proxy = Nothing, otherwise it tries to automatically get the proxy server settings, which causes huge delays, so nothing forces it not to be used.

If you are using a proxy, obviously you need to set it to the actual proxy.

 Dim fwr As Net.FtpWebRequest = Net.FtpWebRequest.Create(ftpAddress) fwr.Credentials = New NetworkCredential(userName, password) fwr.KeepAlive = True fwr.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectory fwr.Proxy = Nothing Try Dim sr As New IO.StreamReader(fwr.GetResponse().GetResponseStream()) Dim lst = sr.ReadToEnd().Split(vbNewLine) For Each file As String In lst file = file.Trim() 'remove any whitespace If file = ".." OrElse file = "." Then Continue For Dim fwr2 As Net.FtpWebRequest = Net.FtpWebRequest.Create(ftpAddress & file) fwr2.Credentials = fwr.Credentials fwr2.KeepAlive = True fwr2.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile fwr2.Proxy = Nothing Dim fileSR As New IO.StreamReader(fwr2.GetResponse().GetResponseStream()) Dim fileData = fileSR.ReadToEnd() fileSR.Close() Next sr.Close() Catch ex As Exception End Try 

I know him a little late, but hopefully helps