FTP XML Directory Listing / Download Most Recently Modified Files

Demonstrates how to retrieve a directory listing in XML format, sort it by last-modified date, and download the 5 most recently modified files.

Note: This example relies upon a new feature added to the GetXmlDirListing method. Namely, the resultant XML includes a "full" attribute with a date/time that is in a sortable format. This feature is available in the pre-release, or in new versions released after 20-May-2008.

Download: Chilkat .NET Assemblies

Dim ftp As New Chilkat.Ftp2()

Dim success As Boolean

'  Any string unlocks the component for the 1st 30-days.
success = ftp.UnlockComponent("Anything for 30-day trial")
If (success <> true) Then
    MsgBox(ftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


ftp.Hostname = "ftp.chilkatsoft.com"
ftp.Username = "myLogin"
ftp.Password = "myPassword"

'  Connect and login to the FTP server.
success = ftp.Connect()
If (success <> true) Then
    MsgBox(ftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  Recursively download the listings for the complete
'  remote directory tree at the current remote dir.
'  In this case, we haven't called ChangeRemoteDir,
'  so the current remote dir is the root directory of the
'  FTP account.
Dim strXml As String
strXml = ftp.GetXmlDirListing("*.asp")
If (strXml = vbNullString ) Then
    MsgBox(ftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  Load the XML directory listing into a Chilkat XML object:
Dim xml As New Chilkat.Xml()
xml.LoadXml(strXml)

'  Sort by a record attribute:
Dim ascending As Boolean
ascending = false
xml.SortRecordsByAttribute("lastModTime","full",ascending)

'  Download the 5 most recent files:
Dim n As Long
n = xml.NumChildren
If (n > 5) Then
    n = 5
End If


Dim child As Chilkat.Xml
Dim filename As String
Dim i As Long
For i = 0 To n - 1

    child = xml.GetChild(i)
    filename = child.GetChildContent("name")
    TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text & filename & vbCrLf

    success = ftp.GetFile(filename,filename)
    If (success <> true) Then
        MsgBox(ftp.LastErrorText)
        Exit For
    End If



Next

'  The full sorted XML may be obtained like this:
strXml = xml.GetXml()

ftp.Disconnect()