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How can I FTP from my VB program?

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Summary: Visual Basic is a powerful and fairly easy to use programming language. You can use a VB program to transfer files using FTP with an add-in.

How can I FTP from my VB program?

FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a common way of moving files around the internet. After HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) it might well be the next most common. Normally FTP is performed by a stand-alone program. Microsoft Windows comes with an FTP client program, as does Linux. In addition there are many additional ftp clients available as well, typically providing additional features and functionality. (In the Windows arena, CuteFTP seems to be particularly popular.)

If you want to have a program you've written transfer files for via FTP then your options change. For quick and dirty solutions including most batch files or scripts, simply spawning the command line versions of existing FTP tools is a fairly reasonable compromise. I'm particularly fond of ncftpget and ncftpput that are available free from NcFTP Software for this approach. (NcFTP also produces an ftp server package for Unix, as well as a license-able cross-platform ftp library.)

If you're looking for something a little more streamlined then ChilKat FTP may be the solution, particularly if you're programming in Visual Basic. This free ActiveX control plugs in to your VB application and provides a robust and relatively easy to use interface. I recently started using ChilKat FTP in one of my applications and have been pleasantly surprised. (ChilKat also makes several other interesting plug in components, though most are not free.)

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Recent Comments

This is ridiculous. The only solution offered here is a control you have to pay for now. And where the $%^@ is Leo?

Posted by: Vyl at May 9, 2006 06:56 AM

Use winsock to connect to the party and formulate FTP message, then followed by file's content(can be in binary or text) that's it!

Posted by: Supachai at June 14, 2006 11:47 PM

How can i download file on time interval from server without downloading redundant data from same file using vb6

Posted by: daulat at July 27, 2006 03:11 AM

You don't have to buy the Standard version of Chilkat FTP. I couldn't find it on their site but a Google search turned it up quickly. I'm still coding wih it, but if it does everything it seems to I am impressed.

Posted by: Chris at August 9, 2006 10:13 AM

I have multiple files in a specified FTP site.
Please help me how can I upload the data in each file at ftp site to a file in hard disc one after the other using VB6.

Posted by: Bhargavi at August 10, 2006 11:06 PM

Hi Leo,

Could you share with me on create VB 6 program that is able to FTP to the FTP server.

Thanks.

Best Regards,

Posted by: widya at August 10, 2006 11:59 PM

i am using vb6 i want a upload/download facilty in our program it can be posible

Posted by: Mahesh at August 14, 2006 04:32 AM

"This is ridiculous." - I agree!!!...
But the comments are helpful, thx Supachai. ;))

Posted by: leo the lion at January 23, 2007 05:44 PM

There's a free, open-source FTP component called edtFTPnet available at http://www.enterprisedt.com/products/edtftpnet/overview.html

There are also some commercial versions, which extend this component with things like GUI controls and encryption, but the free version is a fully functional FTP component.

Posted by: Hans Andersen at March 22, 2007 08:51 PM

Personal use. If it is Free.

Posted by: shital at December 12, 2007 04:39 AM

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