VB.NET

Open a Remote Directory on an SFTP Server

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.OpenDir method, which opens a remote directory and returns a handle for reading its entries. The only argument is the directory path. Close the handle with CloseHandle when finished.

Background: Listing a directory in SFTP is a handle-based operation, mirroring file access: open the directory to get a handle, read its entries, then close it. The handle is passed to ReadDirListing to retrieve the names and attributes. As with file handles, the directory handle is a server-side resource that should be closed to avoid exhausting the server's limits.

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VB.NET

Dim success As Boolean = False

'  Demonstrates the SFtp.OpenDir method, which opens a remote directory and returns a handle for
'  reading its entries.  The only argument is the directory path.

Dim sftp As New Chilkat.SFtp

'  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
Dim port As Integer = 22
success = sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",port)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.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 = "mySshPassword"

success = sftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


success = sftp.InitializeSftp()
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  Open the remote directory.  OpenDir returns a handle string.
Dim handle As String = sftp.OpenDir("subdir")
If (sftp.LastMethodSuccess = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.WriteLine("Opened directory, handle = " & handle)

'  The directory entries are read with ReadDirListing using this handle.

'  Close the handle when finished.
success = sftp.CloseHandle(handle)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


sftp.Disconnect()