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Delphi ActiveX

Start a Remote Shell with QuickShell

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Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.QuickShell method, which starts a remote shell using the simplified sequence OpenSessionChannelSendReqPtySendReqShell. It takes no arguments and returns the shell channel number, or -1 on failure. The default PTY size is 80 columns by 24 rows.

Background: Note that QuickShell does allocate a PTY, so unlike a bare SendReqShell the remote shell runs interactively: it prints a command prompt, echoes the commands you send, and runs interactive login scripts. That is convenient for terminal-style work but means the output contains prompts and echoed input that scripted parsing must tolerate. The method returns as soon as the shell request is accepted — it does not consume the initial login text or prompt, so read and discard that before relying on command output.

Chilkat Delphi ActiveX Downloads

Delphi ActiveX
var
success: Integer;
ssh: TChilkatSsh;
sshPort: Integer;
password: WideString;
channelNum: Integer;
caseSensitive: Integer;
output: WideString;

begin
success := 0;

//  Demonstrates the Ssh.QuickShell method, which starts a remote shell using the simplified
//  sequence OpenSessionChannel, SendReqPty, and SendReqShell.  It takes no arguments and returns
//  the shell channel number, or -1 on failure.  The default PTY size is 80 columns by 24 rows.

ssh := TChilkatSsh.Create(Self);

sshPort := 22;
success := ssh.Connect('ssh.example.com',sshPort);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ssh.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  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.
password := 'mySshPassword';

success := ssh.AuthenticatePw('mySshLogin',password);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ssh.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  Start the shell.  Note that QuickShell allocates a PTY, so the remote shell runs
//  interactively: it prints a command prompt and echoes the commands that are sent to it.
channelNum := ssh.QuickShell();
if (channelNum < 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ssh.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  QuickShell returns as soon as the shell request is accepted -- it does not wait for or
//  consume the initial login text or prompt.
success := ssh.ChannelSendString(channelNum,'uname -a; echo DONE_MARKER' + #10,'utf-8');
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ssh.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  IMPORTANT: Set a read timeout before receiving until a match.  ReadTimeoutMs defaults to 0,
//  which means no limit -- without it, this call waits forever if the received data never
//  contains a match.
ssh.ReadTimeoutMs := 15000;

caseSensitive := 0;
success := ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(channelNum,'DONE_MARKER','utf-8',caseSensitive);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ssh.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

output := ssh.GetReceivedText(channelNum,'utf-8');
if (ssh.LastMethodSuccess = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ssh.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
Memo1.Lines.Add(output);

ssh.Disconnect();