VB.NET

Control How FTP Directory Listings Are Requested

Demonstrates the AllowMlsd, PreferNlst, and ListOption properties, which control which listing command Chilkat uses and what options it passes.

Background: FTP has three listing commands with different trade-offs. MLSD is machine-readable and standardized, so AllowMlsd (on by default) prefers it when the server supports it. When it must fall back to the legacy commands, PreferNlst chooses names-only NLST over the fuller LIST, and ListOption appends flags such as -a (to include hidden files) literally to LIST. Together they adapt listing to a particular server's capabilities and conventions.

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VB.NET

Dim success As Boolean = False

Dim ftp As New Chilkat.Ftp2

ftp.Hostname = "ftp.example.com"
ftp.Username = "myFtpLogin"

'  AllowMlsd (default True) requests machine-readable MLSD listings when the server advertises
'  support.  MLSD is preferred because its format is standardized.
ftp.AllowMlsd = True

'  PreferNlst (default False) chooses NLST over LIST when a legacy listing is needed and MLSD is
'  unavailable.  NLST returns only names.
ftp.PreferNlst = False

'  ListOption is appended literally to a legacy LIST command; "-a" sends "LIST -a" to include
'  hidden files on Unix servers.
ftp.ListOption = "-a"

'  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 = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(ftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


Dim n As Integer = ftp.GetDirCount()
Debug.WriteLine("Entries: " & n)

success = ftp.Disconnect()
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(ftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If