Sample code for 30+ languages & platforms
Delphi ActiveX

Download an FTP File as Text with a Charset

See more FTP Examples

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ftp2.GetRemoteFileTextC method, which downloads a remote file, decodes the bytes using a named charset, and returns the text. The first argument is the remote filename and the second is the charset. A byte-order mark for the selected encoding is recognized and omitted.

Background: This is the encoding-aware way to read a remote text file: you name the charset (utf-8, iso-8859-1, and so on) so multibyte and accented characters decode correctly, and a leading BOM is stripped automatically. Prefer it over GetRemoteFileTextData whenever the file's encoding is known, which is almost always.

Chilkat Delphi ActiveX Downloads

Delphi ActiveX
var
success: Integer;
ftp: TChilkatFtp2;
fileText: WideString;

begin
success := 0;

//  Demonstrates the Ftp2.GetRemoteFileTextC method, which downloads a remote file, decodes the
//  bytes using a named charset, and returns the text.  The 1st argument is the remote filename
//  and the 2nd is the charset.

ftp := TChilkatFtp2.Create(Self);

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

//  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;

//  Download a UTF-8 text file.  A byte-order mark for the selected encoding is recognized and
//  omitted from the returned text.
fileText := ftp.GetRemoteFileTextC('public_html/readme.txt','utf-8');
if (ftp.LastMethodSuccess = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
Memo1.Lines.Add(fileText);

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