Objective-C

Read Data from an SSH Channel

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.ChannelRead method, which reads incoming SSH channel messages. The only argument is the channel number; the ReadTimeoutMs property limits how long it waits. Received data is appended to the channel's receive buffer, then retrieved with a GetReceived... method.

The integer return value is -1 on error, -2 if nothing arrived before the timeout, 0 if EOF or channel close was processed, or — when greater than 0 — the total bytes currently buffered for the channel (not the bytes newly received by this call).

Background: SSH reading is a two-step pattern that trips people up at first: the Channel* read/poll methods move bytes from the network into an internal per-channel buffer, and a separate GetReceived... call hands that buffer to your code. A positive return is therefore a buffer total, not a count of what this call fetched. Note that a 0 return means EOF or close — buffered data can still remain and should be drained.

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Objective-C

#import <CkoSsh.h>
#import <NSString.h>

BOOL success = NO;

//  Demonstrates the Ssh.ChannelRead method, which reads incoming SSH channel messages.  The only
//  argument is the channel number.  The ReadTimeoutMs property limits how long it waits.

CkoSsh *ssh = [[CkoSsh alloc] init];

int sshPort = 22;
success = [ssh Connect: @"ssh.example.com" port: [NSNumber numberWithInt: sshPort]];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ssh.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  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.
NSString *password = @"mySshPassword";

success = [ssh AuthenticatePw: @"mySshLogin" password: password];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ssh.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

int channelNum = [[ssh OpenSessionChannel] intValue];
if (channelNum < 0) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ssh.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  Start a shell WITHOUT requesting a PTY.  Without a PTY the shell sees it is connected to a
//  raw data pipe and enters non-interactive mode: it suppresses the command prompt, does not
//  echo typed commands back, and skips interactive login scripts.  The output is therefore
//  clean and easily parseable -- but because no prompt is ever sent, code must not wait for
//  one.  Instead, have each command print a predictable marker, or wait for EOF / channel close.
success = [ssh SendReqShell: [NSNumber numberWithInt: channelNum]];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ssh.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

success = [ssh ChannelSendString: [NSNumber numberWithInt: channelNum] strData: @"uname -a\n" charset: @"utf-8"];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ssh.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  The return value is: -1 on error, -2 if nothing arrived before the timeout, 0 if EOF or
//  channel close was processed, or the total number of buffered bytes when greater than 0.
int result = [[ssh ChannelRead: [NSNumber numberWithInt: channelNum]] intValue];
if (result == -1) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ssh.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

if (result == -2) {
    NSLog(@"%@",@"No channel data arrived before the timeout.");
}

if (result == 0) {
    NSLog(@"%@",@"EOF or channel close was processed.  Buffered data may still remain.");
}

if (result > 0) {
    NSLog(@"%@%d",@"Total bytes buffered: ",result);
}

NSString *output = [ssh GetReceivedText: [NSNumber numberWithInt: channelNum] charset: @"utf-8"];
if (ssh.LastMethodSuccess == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ssh.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

NSLog(@"%@",output);

[ssh Disconnect];