Visual Basic .NET FTP Client Sample Source Code

Network Component provides an easy-to-use development interface to a variety of IP protocols. By using Network Component, you can very easily create or enhance applications with network features.

Network Component features the following: DNS, FTP, HTTP, HTTPs, ICMP Ping, IP-to-Country, MSN, NTP, RSH, SCP, SFTP, SNMP v1/v2c (Get, GetNext, Set), SNMP Traps, SNMP MIB, SSH, TCP, Telnet, TFTP, UDP, Telnet, Wake-On-LAN and more.

Network Component can be well integrated into any development platform that supports ActiveX objects.

This document describes how the Network Component FtpServer object can be integrated into your projects.

The most important functions of the FtpServer object are:

Connect - connect to the (remote) FTP server on port 21 or any alternate port;
Disconnect - to diconnect after a connect call;
GetCurrentDir - retrieve the current directory;
ChangeDir - change the current directory;
CreateDir - create a new directory;
RenameDir - rename a directory;
DeleteDir - delete a directory;
FindFile - find a specific file in the current directory;
FindFirstFile - iterate over all files in the current directory; find the first file;
FindNextFile - iterate over all files in the current directory; find the next file;
RenameFile - rename a file in the current directory;
DeleteFile - delete a file in the current directory;
GetFile - get (download) a file, either using binary transfer or ASCII transfer;
PutFile - put (upload) a file, either using binary transfer or ASCII transfer;

Step 1: Download and install the Network Component

Download Network Component from the ActiveXperts Download Site and start the installation. The installation guides you through the installation process.

Step 2: Create a new Visual Basic .NET Project

Launch Microsoft Visual Studio (for instance 'Microsoft Visual Studio 2008') from the Start menu. Choose 'New' from the 'File' menu and click on 'Project'. In the 'New Project' dialog, select a Visual Studio template (for instance: 'Console Application'). Select a name for the application (for instance: 'DemoApp') and a name for the solution (for instance: 'DemoSolution'). Also, select the directory where you want to store the project (for instance: 'C:\MyProjects):

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Step 3: Refer to the Network Component Library

Now that a new project has been created, you must add a reference to the Network Component in the project to be able to use the the Network Component object. To do so, choose 'Add Reference...' from the 'Project' menu. In the 'Add Reference' dialog that pops up, select the 'COM' tab and select the 'Network Component 4.4 Type Library' as shown in the following picture:

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Click 'OK' to close the 'Add Reference' dialog.

On top of your code, type the following line to use the Network Component namespace:

Imports AxNetwork

Step 4: Create the object

In your Main function, declare and create the following object:

Public m_objFtpServer As FtpServer

m_objFtpServer = New FtpServer()

Appendix: Full source code

Imports System.IO
Imports AxNetwork

Module FtpGetProgram

  Sub Main()
    Dim objFtpServer As AxNetwork.FtpServer = New AxNetwork.FtpServer
    Dim objFtpFile As AxNetwork.FtpFile = Nothing
    Dim strSaveAs As String = ""

    ' A license key is required to unlock this component after the trial period has expired.
    ' Call 'Activate' with a valid license key as its first parameter. Second parameter determines whether to save the license key permanently 
    ' to the registry (True, so you need to call Activate only once), or not to store the key permanently (False, so you need to call Activate
    ' every time the component is created). For details, see manual, chapter "Product Activation".
    '
    ' objFtpServer.Activate("XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX", False)
    '

    ' Display component information
    Console.WriteLine("ActiveXperts Network Component {0}{1}Build: {2}{3}Module: {4}{5}License Status: {6}{7}License Key: {8}{9}", objFtpServer.Version, Environment.NewLine, objFtpServer.Build, Environment.NewLine, objFtpServer.Module, Environment.NewLine, objFtpServer.LicenseStatus, Environment.NewLine, objFtpServer.LicenseKey, Environment.NewLine)

    ' Set Logfile (optional, for debugging purposes)
    objFtpServer.LogFile = Path.GetTempPath() + "Ftp.log"
    Console.WriteLine("Log file used: {0}{1}", objFtpServer.LogFile, Environment.NewLine)

    objFtpServer.BinaryTransfer = True ' Allow binary file transfer

    ' Connect
    objFtpServer.Connect("ftp.activexperts-lab.com", "anonymous", "me@myself.dom")
    Console.WriteLine("Connect, result: " & objFtpServer.LastError.ToString() & " (" & objFtpServer.GetErrorDescription(objFtpServer.LastError) & ")")
    If (objFtpServer.LastError = 0) Then

      ' Change directory
      objFtpServer.ChangeDir("/samples/network-component")
      Console.WriteLine("ChangeDir, result: " & objFtpServer.LastError.ToString() & " (" & objFtpServer.GetErrorDescription(objFtpServer.LastError) & ")")
      If (objFtpServer.LastError = 0) Then
        ' Iterate over all files
        objFtpFile = objFtpServer.FindFirstFile()
        Console.WriteLine("FindFirstFile, result: " & objFtpServer.LastError.ToString() & " (" & objFtpServer.GetErrorDescription(objFtpServer.LastError) & ")")
        While (objFtpServer.LastError = 0)

          Console.WriteLine("Name: " & objFtpFile.Name)
          Console.WriteLine("   IsDirectory: " & objFtpFile.IsDirectory)
          Console.WriteLine("   Size (bytes): " & objFtpFile.Size)
          Console.WriteLine("   Creation date (seconds): " & objFtpFile.DateSeconds)
          Console.WriteLine("   Creation date: " & objFtpFile.Date)

          ' To save the file, call the GetFile function. 
          ' strSaveAs = "C:\temp\" & objFtpFile.Name
          ' objFtpServer.GetFile objFtpFile.Name, strSaveAs 
          ' Console.WriteLine( "GetFile, result: " & objFtpServer.LastError.ToString() & " (" & objFtpServer.GetErrorDescription(objFtpServer.LastError) & ")" )

          ' To delete a file, call the DeleteFile function. 
          ' objFtpServer.DeleteFile objFtpFile.Name
          ' Console.WriteLine( "DeleteFile, result: " & objFtpServer.LastError.ToString() & " (" & objFtpServer.GetErrorDescription(objFtpServer.LastError) & ")" )

          objFtpFile = objFtpServer.FindNextFile()
          Console.WriteLine("FindNextFile, result: " & objFtpServer.LastError.ToString() & " (" & objFtpServer.GetErrorDescription(objFtpServer.LastError) & ")")
        End While

        objFtpServer.Disconnect()
        Console.WriteLine("Disconnect, result: " & objFtpServer.LastError.ToString() & " (" & objFtpServer.GetErrorDescription(objFtpServer.LastError) & ")")
      End If
    End If

    Console.WriteLine("Ready.")
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000) ' Sleep for 5 seconds before exit		

  End Sub

End Module

You can download the complete samples here. There are many other working Network Component scripts on our site and shipped with the product.

NOTE: Demo Projects are created with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

The Network Component project ships with a set of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET samples, including samples for Microsoft Visual C# .NET. The projects are created with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

Users with a later version of Microsoft Visual Studio can open such a project. The Visual Studio Conversion Wizard will guide you through the process of converting the project to the version used.

Contact Info

ActiveXperts Network Component

Crumbtrail