Peoplecode FTP function

Many processes are executed on the server for performance reasons. Their output and log files, such as process logs and *.spf files from SQR, are usually handled in the following ways:

loaded into a table to be viewed in a on-line panel

saved to another location and picked up through 3-party reporting tools

moved to another server by using a server script

Here's a simple alternative to the above methods - FTP to client directly and use the rich set of tools on the client side to view or manipulate it.
The function accepts 5 parameters:

FTP site

Directory

File Name

Login ID

Password

The sample code retrieves a readme.txt from Microsoft's ftp site into the directory path pointed to by the environment variable TEMP. As is, it supports the Get operation in ASCII mode. Binary mode and other operations can be easily implemented. It’s doable to even build a simple FTP client into PS.

Copy the function declaration:

Declare Function InternetOpenA Library "wininet.dll" (string Value As string, long Value As number,
string Value As string, string Value As string, long Value As number) Returns long As number;
Declare Function InternetConnectA Library "wininet.dll" (long Value As number, string Value As
string, integer Value As number, string Value As string, string Value As string, long Value As
number, long Value As number, long Value As number) Returns long As number;
Declare Function FtpSetCurrentDirectoryA Library "wininet.dll" (long Value As number, string Value
As string) Returns long As number;
Declare Function FtpGetFileA Library "wininet.dll" (long Value As number, string Value As string,
string Value As string, long Value As number, long Value As number, long Value As number, long Value
As number) Returns boolean;
Declare Function InternetCloseHandle Library "wininet.dll" (long Value As number) Returns integer
As number;Function FTPGet(&HOST As string, &DIR As string, &FILE As string, &ACCT As string, &PW As string)
Returns boolean;
&OPEN_PRECONFIG = 0;
&FTP_PORT = 21;
&INET_FTP = 1;
&INET_PASSIVE = 134217728;
&FTP_ASCII = 1;
&HOPEN = InternetOpenA("Peoplecode FTP", &OPEN_PRECONFIG, "", "", 0);
If &HOPEN > 0 Then
  &HCONN = InternetConnectA(&HOPEN, &HOST, &FTP_PORT, &ACCT, &PW, &INET_FTP,
  &INET_PASSIVE, 0);
  If &HCONN > 0 Then
     If All(&DIR) Then
        &HDIR = FtpSetCurrentDirectoryA(&HCONN, &DIR);
     Else
        &HDIR = 1;
     End-If;
     If &HDIR Then
        &HFILE = FtpGetFileA(&HCONN, &FILE, GetEnv("TEMP") | "\" | &FILE, 0, 0, &FTP_ASCII, 0);
        If &HFILE Then
           &RC = InternetCloseHandle(&HCONN);
           &RC = InternetCloseHandle(&HOPEN);
           Return True;
        End-If;
     End-If;
     &RC = InternetCloseHandle(&HCONN);
  End-If;
  &RC = InternetCloseHandle(&HOPEN);
End-If;
Return False;
End-Function;

Copy the sample test to a FieldChange event run on the Client:

&XX = FTPGet("ftp.microsoft.com", "softlib", "readme.txt","anonymous","");
If &XX Then
WinExec("start " | GetEnv("TEMP") | "\"|"readme.txt", 1, False);
Else
WinMessage("fail");
End-If;

For NT client, replace "start" with "cmd /c start" so the line looks like:

WinExec("cmd /c start " | GetEnv("TEMP") | "\"|"readme.txt", 1, False);

Account ID & Password considerations - The demonstration uses a simple "anonymous" and null as password. Additional code can be added to prompt the user. They can also be defined based on operator ID/Classes. Permission for this account should then be set up accordingly for the FTP purpose only. The retrieval of ID & password can be encapsulated in the FTP function as well. The function then requires 3 parameters instead of 5.

(This article was originally published on 02/14/02 at www.slerp.com. PSTools version 5,6,7)