Visual Basic 6.0

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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Visual Basic 6.0

Dim success As Long
success = 0

'  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.

Dim ssh As New ChilkatSsh

Dim sshPort As Long
sshPort = 22
success = ssh.Connect("ssh.example.com",sshPort)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
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.
Dim password As String
password = "mySshPassword"

success = ssh.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Dim channelNum As Long
channelNum = ssh.OpenSessionChannel()
If (channelNum < 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
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.
success = ssh.SendReqShell(channelNum)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

success = ssh.ChannelSendString(channelNum,"uname -a" & vbLf,"utf-8")
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  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.
Dim result As Long
result = ssh.ChannelRead(channelNum)
If (result = -1) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

If (result = -2) Then
    Debug.Print "No channel data arrived before the timeout."
End If

If (result = 0) Then
    Debug.Print "EOF or channel close was processed.  Buffered data may still remain."
End If

If (result > 0) Then
    Debug.Print "Total bytes buffered: " & result
End If

Dim output As String
output = ssh.GetReceivedText(channelNum,"utf-8")
If (ssh.LastMethodSuccess = 0) Then
    Debug.Print ssh.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.Print output

ssh.Disconnect