Delphi ActiveX

Set FTP Command and Directory-Listing Charsets

Demonstrates the CommandCharset and DirListingCharset properties, which control how non-ASCII text is encoded in commands (including remote paths and filenames) and how directory-listing responses are decoded.

Background: FTP predates Unicode, so servers vary in how they encode filenames; getting non-ASCII names right means matching the server's encoding on both sides. CommandCharset (default ANSI) governs outgoing paths and filenames, while DirListingCharset governs decoding of LIST/NLST/MLSD replies. Modern servers typically use UTF-8 — often negotiated automatically via OPTS UTF8 ON — but setting these explicitly resolves mojibake with servers that do not advertise it.

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Delphi ActiveX

var
success: Integer;
ftp: TChilkatFtp2;
listing: WideString;

begin
success := 0;

ftp := TChilkatFtp2.Create(Self);

ftp.Hostname := 'ftp.example.com';
ftp.Username := 'myFtpLogin';

//  CommandCharset is the encoding used for commands containing non-ASCII text, including remote
//  paths and filenames.  The default is ANSI; set utf-8 when the server uses UTF-8 filenames.
ftp.CommandCharset := 'utf-8';

//  DirListingCharset is used only to decode directory-listing responses (LIST, NLST, MLSD).  It
//  does not affect commands or paths.
ftp.DirListingCharset := 'utf-8';

//  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
//  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
ftp.Password := 'myPassword';

success := ftp.Connect();
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  Non-ASCII remote paths and listings are now encoded/decoded as UTF-8.
listing := ftp.GetTextDirListing('');
if (ftp.LastMethodSuccess = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
Memo1.Lines.Add(listing);

success := ftp.Disconnect();
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;