FTP client options

[Phillip D Ferguson]

Hey all,

for a project i have been hunting around for a while on a way to implement a
ftp client in java. I don't need any fancy gui, just the basic api's and
code.

Jakarta commons net seems the most well know and stable but i don't know how
to install and access the member functions etc. I have looked into the
sun.net.ftp but the lack of support is not good. I realise there are a lot
of 3rd party api's out there and all i really want is a reliable one that it
should be too hard to implement my FTP client.
I have read the RFC 959 etc that tells you exactly to build one from the
ground up, but i would really like a abstraction layer above that so i am
just specifying locations, ports, IP addresses, file locations and file
names.

Essentially i'd love to see some examples that talk through uploading and
downloading a file through FTP. All i really need is to upload a file to a
FTP server, and a similar client to download the file from the same server.

I don't need anything fancy just a simple little client that will upload and
download files. I am quite happy to used 3rd party api's but i really need
some good examples.
Does anyone have any suggestions that they could talk me through or post
instructions etc?

Cheers

Phillip Ferguson

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Phillip D Ferguson wrote on 06.02.2006 22:20:

Jakarta commons net seems the most well know and stable but i don't know how
to install and access the member functions etc.

That shouldn't be that hard.

Install: Put the library into your classpath
Use: Read the javadocs and google for examples if that isn's sufficient

Where exactly is your problem?

Thomas

 

[Phillip D Ferguson]

I have downloaded the commons-net-1.4.1-src.zip package from here
http://jakarta.apache.org/site/downloads/downloads_commons-net.cgi

I can't find the library in there to insert into my classpath. What do you
mean by classpath?
I've tried googling for examples but its very difficult to find a vasic one
without additional complications.
Where are the javadocs you are referring to?

My problem is simply the integration, adding the library and finding a good
example where i can build and learn from.

Thanks

Phillip

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Phillip D Ferguson wrote on 06.02.2006 23:08:

I have downloaded the commons-net-1.4.1-src.zip package from here
http://jakarta.apache.org/site/downloads/downloads_commons-net.cgi

I can't find the library in there to insert into my classpath.

You have to download the binaries not the source in order to use the
library. If you download the source you need to build the .jar file and
the Javadocs yourself.

The binary is available on the same page.

What do you mean by classpath?

This is absolute basic Java knowledge. If you don't even understand the
concept of the classpath, I'd suggest you go back to the beginning
before writing an FTP client

Where are the javadocs you are referring to?

Inside the binary distribution.
Apart from that they are available online:
http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/net/apidocs/index.html

I've tried googling for examples but its very difficult to find a vasic one
without additional complications.

Some basic examples are listed in the FAQ
http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/net/faq.html

The overview page at
http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/net/index.html
also has two links for additional articles.

Thomas

 

[Phillip D Ferguson]

Thomas

thank you for the input, i really appreciate it!
The reason for my unfamiliarity with the classpath is that in my compiler
( Eclipse) it used the term Build path instead, and also i have not used any
3rd party libraries before. I'm quite familiar with the concept of a
classpath.... just not used them before!
Thanks for the links, i have already seen them and well......... i guess its
getting late, late enough for me not to recognise them!
No doubt i'll be back tomorrow with queries on the jakarta package!

Thanks

Phillip

 

[Roedy Green]

for a project i have been hunting around for a while on a way to implement a
ftp client in java. I don't need any fancy gui, just the basic api's and
code.

Looks like you have hit the hot spots already. Have a look at the
links for http://mindprod.com/jgloss/ftp.html

 

[Roedy Green]

What do you
mean by classpath?

see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/classpath.html
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/gettingstarted.html

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Thomas

thank you for the input, i really appreciate it!
The reason for my unfamiliarity with the classpath is that in my compiler
( Eclipse) it used the term Build path instead, and also i have not used any
3rd party libraries before. I'm quite familiar with the concept of a
classpath.... just not used them before!

That's precisely the reason why I always advocate to learn a programming
environment/language without an IDE. You get used to all the basics
which are usually obfuscated by the IDEs

Thomas