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PowerBuilder

Receive from an SSH Channel Until a Pattern Matches

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Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch method, which receives text until the accumulated text matches a pattern. The arguments are the channel number, the pattern, the charset, and whether matching is case-sensitive. Existing buffered text is checked before waiting for more network data.

Important: Set the ReadTimeoutMs property before calling this method. It defaults to 0, meaning no limit, so without it the call waits forever if the received data never contains a match.

Background: Driving a shell channel means knowing when the remote side has finished talking. With no PTY requested the shell is non-interactive and never prints a prompt, so the reliable signal is a marker you deliberately echo after your command. This method automates "read until you see X." The pattern syntax is deliberately minimal: literal characters plus *, which matches zero or more characters and can span line breaks. ? and bracket classes are not supported, and backslash does not escape a literal *.

Chilkat PowerBuilder Downloads

PowerBuilder
integer li_rc
integer li_Success
oleobject loo_Ssh
integer li_SshPort
string ls_Password
integer li_ChannelNum
integer li_CaseSensitive
string ls_Output

li_Success = 0

//  Demonstrates the Ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch method, which receives text until the
//  accumulated text matches a pattern.  The 1st argument is the channel number, the 2nd is the
//  pattern, the 3rd is the charset, and the 4th selects case-sensitive matching.  The pattern
//  supports literal characters plus "*", which matches zero or more characters.

loo_Ssh = create oleobject
li_rc = loo_Ssh.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.Ssh")
if li_rc < 0 then
    destroy loo_Ssh
    MessageBox("Error","Connecting to COM object failed")
    return
end if

li_SshPort = 22
li_Success = loo_Ssh.Connect("ssh.example.com",li_SshPort)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Ssh.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Ssh
    return
end if

//  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.
ls_Password = "mySshPassword"

li_Success = loo_Ssh.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",ls_Password)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Ssh.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Ssh
    return
end if

li_ChannelNum = loo_Ssh.OpenSessionChannel()
if li_ChannelNum < 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Ssh.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Ssh
    return
end if

//  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.
li_Success = loo_Ssh.SendReqShell(li_ChannelNum)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Ssh.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Ssh
    return
end if

//  There is no prompt to wait for, so make the command itself announce when it has finished
//  by echoing a marker after it.
li_Success = loo_Ssh.ChannelSendString(li_ChannelNum,"ls -l /tmp; echo DONE_MARKER~n","utf-8")
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Ssh.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Ssh
    return
end if

//  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.
loo_Ssh.ReadTimeoutMs = 15000

//  Receive until the marker appears in the output.
li_CaseSensitive = 0
li_Success = loo_Ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(li_ChannelNum,"DONE_MARKER","utf-8",li_CaseSensitive)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Ssh.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Ssh
    return
end if

ls_Output = loo_Ssh.GetReceivedText(li_ChannelNum,"utf-8")
if loo_Ssh.LastMethodSuccess = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Ssh.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Ssh
    return
end if

Write-Debug ls_Output

loo_Ssh.Disconnect()


destroy loo_Ssh