FtpWebRequest - Access to IBM AS/400 FTP Server - 501 Character (/) not allowed in object name.

Question

Hello everybody

I'm trying to communicate with an AS/400 FTP Server. As a first try I just execute the WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectory method, which translates to the NLST FTP command. Doing the same accessing a Microsoft FTP Server or a UNIX FTP Server works fin.

This is the code to get the listing:

Dim Uri As System.Uri = New System.Uri(listUrl) Dim listRequest As FtpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(Uri), FtpWebRequest) listRequest.Credentials = New System.Net.NetworkCredential(User, Password)listRequest.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectory listRequest.KeepAlive = False listRequest.UseBinary = False listRequest.UsePassive = False Dim listResponse As FtpWebResponse = CType(listRequest.GetResponse(), FtpWebResponse) Reader = New StreamReader(listResponse.GetResponseStream()) Return reader.ReadToEnd()

This is a short trace where the error is occurring (see highlighted section):

System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpWebRequest#8707876::.ctor(ftp://192.168.133.2/mak)
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpWebRequest#8707876::GetResponse(Method=NLST.)
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] Associating FtpWebRequest#8707876 with FtpControlStream#50927418
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Received response [220-QTCP at 192.168.133.2. 220 Connection will close if idle more than 15 minutes.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Sending command [USER TESTUSER]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Received response [331 Enter password.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Sending command [PASS ********]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Received response [230 TESTUSER logged on.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Sending command [OPTS utf8 on]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Received response [501 OPTS unsuccessful; specified subcommand not recognized.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Sending command [PWD]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Received response [257 "QGPL" is current library.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Sending command [CWD QGPL/]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpControlStream#50927418 - Received response [501 Character (/) not allowed in object name.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [5116] FtpWebRequest#8707876::(Releasing FTP connection#50927418.)
System.Net Error: 0 : [5116] Exception in the FtpWebRequest#8707876::GetResponse - The remote server returned an error: (501) Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
System.Net Error: 0 : [5116] at System.Net.FtpWebRequest.SyncRequestCallback(Object obj)
at System.Net.FtpWebRequest.RequestCallback(Object obj)
at System.Net.CommandStream.Abort(Exception e)
at System.Net.FtpWebRequest.FinishRequestStage(RequestStage stage)
at System.Net.FtpWebRequest.GetResponse()

The AS/400 FTP Server dose not allow a "/" for changing directories. The server would accept an alternative filenameformat (quote site namefmt 1) which would accept slashes.
 
Is there a write method that I could override to filter the CWD command and change it?
Or is there a way to insert the "site namefmt 1" command?

I hope someone can help me with this problem!

Answer 1

I will look into this.
Is this server reacheable over the internet?

Answer 2

Sorry. The server is not reachable over the internet.

Answer 3

OK we will look into this

Answer 4

Currently FtoWebRequest does not support quote and I cannot think of a way you'll be able to overide the method without exposing our code 

Answer 5

Has anything changed regarding this behavior since the last post?  (11-30-2005)

Has Microsoft come up with any workarounds, so that we can connect to AS/400, VMS & MVS FTP servers using .Net?

Answer 6

Did anyone ever answer this?  I am trying to do the same thing!!!!

Answer 7

Katie,

I came to a complete deadend with Microsoft on this.  Simply not supported and no workarounds.

I'm currently converting my code over to using WeOnlyDo - wodFtpDLX.NET component.

It's relatively inexpensive and was the only 3rd party component that I could find to handle the SSH protocol in addition to all the variations of SSL.

I am currently working with the developers of this software, so that their component correctly parses directory stuctures for AS/400, MVS & VMS. 

Since I already had the parsing logic in my program, I kept it in as a precautionary fail-over.  The main thing I was after anyway, was for the component to handle making the connections via the correct protocol.

Here's a link if you want to check into this software to see if it meets your needs.

http://www.weonlydo.com/index.asp?showform=FtpDLX.NET

Hopefully this will save you some time and frustration.

Good Luck, Dave

Answer 8

Unfortunately your scenario is still not supported for FtpWebRequest. We will work on getting this fixed in a future release

Mariya

Answer 9

As you can see from Mariya’s message (28.09.2006) FtpWebRequest dose still not support the special directory and file structure of AS/400.

As a workaround I start FTP.EXE in a separate process. It is not the nicest way to do the work but it works. Of course it dose not support any secure transport but as I work over VPN it is not necessary.

This is an example how to retrieve files from the FTP-Server:

---

Public Class FTPExample

 

    'These variables hold the result from Output and Error steams

    'from the process

    Private Shared FTPOutput As System.Text.StringBuilder = Nothing

    Private Shared FTPError As System.Text.StringBuilder = Nothing

 

    Public Shared Function FTPGet(ByVal RemotePath As String, _

           ByVal LocalPath As String, _

           ByVal FileNames() As String) As Boolean

 

        'FTP Process initalization

        Dim FTPProcess As New Process()

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "ftp.exe"

 

        'UseShellExecute to false to enable redirection

        'of INPUT/OUTUT/ERROR

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False

 

        'Hide window

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden

 

        'Redirection of OUTPUT- and ERROR-Streams

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.StandardOutputEncoding = _

                             System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding(850)

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.StandardErrorEncoding =  _

                             System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding(850)

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = True

 

        'Creation of OUTPUT- and ERROR-StringBuilder

        FTPOutput = New System.Text.StringBuilder()

        FTPError = New System.Text.StringBuilder()

 

        'Eventhandler for OUTPUT- and ERROR-Streams

        AddHandler FTPProcess.OutputDataReceived, _

                   AddressOf FTPOutputHandler

        AddHandler FTPProcess.ErrorDataReceived, _

                   AddressOf FTPErrorHandler

 

        'Redirection of INPUT

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = True

 

        'This process argument forces the FTP.EXE to execute first

        'the file "FTPLogin".

        'Be aware of the current directory when you use a

        'relative file path or use absolute file path.

        'in our case it contains in the first line an open statement

        'in the second the username and in the third the password

        'example:

        'open 192.168.1.1

        'joe

        '12345

        FTPProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = "-s:FTPLogin"

 

        'Starting the process

        FTPProcess.Start()

 

        'Creating reference to Input-Writer

        Dim FTPStreamWriter As System.IO.StreamWriter = _

                               FTPProcess.StandardInput

 

        'Start reading asynchronously

        FTPProcess.BeginOutputReadLine()

        FTPProcess.BeginErrorReadLine()

 

        'Sending commands to FTP-Process

        FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("DEBUG")

        FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("PROMPT")

        FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("QUOTE SITE LISTFMT 0")

        FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("QUOTE SITE NAMEFMT 0")

        FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("LCD " + LocalPath)

        FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("CD " + RemotePath)

        FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("ASCII")

        If FileNames Is Nothing Then

            'retrieve all files from the remote path if nothing is defined

            FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("MGET *.*")

        Else

            'retrieve the selected files from the remote path

            For Each FileName As String In FileNames

                FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("GET " + _

                   System.IO.Path.GetFileName(FileName))

            Next

        End If

        FTPStreamWriter.WriteLine("QUIT")

 

        'Waiting for process termination

        FTPProcess.WaitForExit()

 

        'Close Input-Writer

        FTPStreamWriter.Close()

 

        'process OUTPUT/ERROR results

        If FTPError.Length = 0 Then

            Debug.WriteLine("FTPProcess Error: <empty>")

        Else

            Debug.WriteLine("FTPProcess Error: " + FTPError.ToString)

        End If

        If FTPOutput.Length = 0 Then

            Debug.WriteLine("FTPProcess Output: <empty>")

        Else

            Debug.WriteLine("FTPProcess Output: " + FTPOutput.ToString)

        End If

 

        'Removing Eventhandlers for Output and Error-streams

        RemoveHandler FTPProcess.OutputDataReceived, _

                      AddressOf FTPOutputHandler

        RemoveHandler FTPProcess.ErrorDataReceived, _

                      AddressOf FTPErrorHandler

 

        'Closing process object

        FTPProcess.Close()

        FTPProcess.Dispose()

        FTPProcess = Nothing

 

        'doing some error handling

        Return (FTPError.Length = 0)

    End Function

 

    Private Shared Sub FTPOutputHandler(ByVal sendingProcess As Object, _

                       ByVal outLine As DataReceivedEventArgs)

        'Collecting Output

        If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(outLine.Data) Then

            FTPOutput.Append(outLine.Data + Environment.NewLine)

        End If

    End Sub

 

    Private Shared Sub FTPErrorHandler(ByVal sendingProcess As Object, _

                       ByVal outLine As DataReceivedEventArgs)

        'Collecting Error

        If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(outLine.Data) Then

            FTPError.Append(outLine.Data + Environment.NewLine)

        End If

    End Sub

End Class

---

 

I hope this helps you a little bit.

 

Answer 10

Thanks for the update... I've been trying to do the same thing and running into this error.  Thanks for the helpful information. 

FYI, we've use the Xceed .NET FTP component to access the AS400 programmatically.  Its fully featured, but its not cheap.

http://www.xceedsoft.com/products/FtpNet/index.aspx

 

 

Answer 11

I have the same problem with accessing MVS.  Took me forever to try and fail.  In the end I found this post and lo-and-behold!  It doesn't work!!! 

Answer 12

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but is wininet no longer an option after VB6?

Answer 13

Great Work-Around, Thanks!

Answer 14

I am dumbfounded that Microsoft let this slide! Entire classes of FTP servers can't be accessed all because of a path separator!! Microsoft, an easy fix to this would be to expose a path separator property on the FtpWebRequest class, that way people whose server doesn't support a / as the path separator can specify what it is. That, or don't insist on appending a slash to the end of the path.

When a simple program like ftp that's been built into the OS for years can do something that complex .NET can't do it's a shame, especially when the only problem is a slash character... The quality of Microsoft products is going down, erm, getting even worse.

Answer 15

This is really helpful. However, I noticed that it does not truely work in interactive mode. The system does not process my commands as I write them via the stream writer (even if I set AutoFlush). It does nothing until the WaitForExit. And then I get my response back all at once.

Is there any way to make this code more responsive?

Answer 16

Another option in terms of FTP, and the option I ultimately went with, is Indy. This is a huge free library, around 2.5 MB, of networking protocols. It can handle FTP, HTTP, IMAP, etc. This is an example of the code I used to do my FTP.

 

Code Snippet

Indy.Sockets.FTP ftp = new Indy.Sockets.FTP();

try {

ftp.Host = "eagle";

ftp.Username = someusername;

ftp.Password = somepassword;

ftp.Connect();

if(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(directory))

ftp.ChangeDir(directory);

ftp.Put(decryptedPathname, filename, false);

}

catch(Exception x) {

this.MessageBox(String.Format(Messages.TransferError, someusername, x.Message));

okay = false;

}

finally {

ftp.Quit();

}

 

Answer 17

Hello,

 

Try configuring the iSeries FTP server to use *PATH in name format and *HOMEDIR as default directoy.

You will need SECOF rights to access FTP configuration:

   CHGFTPA NAMEFMT(*PATH) CURDIR(*HOMEDIR)

 

Hope this helps you a little bit.

 

 

Answer 18

Unfortunately, I cannot ask my customers to change their FTP parameters.  But thanks for the workaround.  I hope it helps the others here.  And I hope MS addresses the issue.

Answer 19

Hi,

I've the same problem as posted here, but the strange thing that the code succedded in putting file via ftp to the AS400 from the local machine (Windows XP, IIS 5), and it failed when we put the site on the production web server (Windows Server 2003, IIS 6).

I've tried the AS400 configuration on the AS400 test machine, and it worked successfully , but the problem that we can't change the ftp directory of the AS400 production machine as this will lead to changing all the running applications

My code is as shown below:
    public static void FTPPutFile(string strFileName, string strFTPPath)
    {
        try
        {
            string strFilePath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["XMLPathOUT"] + strFileName;
            string URI = strFTPPath + strFileName;
            FtpWebRequest ftp = (FtpWebRequest)FtpWebRequest.Create(URI);

  ftp.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["AS400UserName"],   ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["AS400Password"]);

            ftp.KeepAlive = false;
            ftp.UseBinary = true;
            ftp.Proxy = null;

            //Write
            ftp.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.UploadFile;
            Stream stream = ftp.GetRequestStream();
            FileStream fs = new FileStream(strFilePath, FileMode.Open);
            byte[] buffer = new byte[(int)fs.Length];
            fs.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
            stream.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);

            fs.Close();
            stream.Close();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            clsHelperMethods.HandleError(ex);
            throw (ex);
        }

    }

Answer 20

I was having the same problem trying to connect to an IBM MVS server...after reading these posts I thought it was hopeless...but I finally got something to work for both uploading and downloading files:

ftp://myFTPsite/%2F%27path.filename%27 - I hope this works for others.

Answer 21

 

Thanks FTPOdyssey, you really saved my day yesterday, I also had to connect to a MVS server via FTPWebRequest and after almost giving up, I finally found your post here and your solution worked! Thanks!!

Answer 22

Hello FTPOdyssey,

 

I am getting this error 501 and wanted to know what you have tried out. The link that you have given doesnt seem to work.

 

thanks

VJ

 

Answer 23

Here is how I used that statement:

 

Dim request As FtpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create("ftp://" & strFTPsite & "/%2F'" & strHostFile & "'") 

 

Replace the strFTPsite with the FTP site you are trying to connect to, and the strHostFile with the path and filename like this: mypath.myfile.

 

 

Answer 24

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately didnt work in my case. I used a batch file instead. Thanks once again

VJ

 

 

Answer 25

We have the same problem. We solve it using an open source library called edtFTPnet. You can show it in http://www.enterprisedt.com/products/edtftpnet/overview.html

I write you a little part of our source code. It works great with AS/400 FTP.

string ftpUserID = "anyUser";

string ftpPassword = "xxxxxxxxxxxx";

string ftpServerIP = "as400.host";

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

int i;

FTPClient ftp = new FTPClient();

ftp.RemoteHost = ftpServerIP;

ftp.Connect();

ftp.User(ftpUserID);

ftp.Password(ftpPassword);

ftp.ChDir("PERSONAL_DIR");

string[] files=ftp.Dir();

for(i=0;i<=files.Length-1;i++)

{

MessageBox.Show(files[i]);

}

}

The traces are:
--------------------- AS400 .NET STANDARD TRACE -----------------------
220-QTCP at COMPANY.
220 Connection will close if idle more than 5 minutes.
USER anyuser
331 Enter password.
PASS xxxxxxxxxx
230 ANYUSER logged on.
OPTS utf8 on
501 OPTS unsuccessful; specified subcommand not recognized.
PWD
257 "QGPL" is current library.
CWD QGPL/
501 Character (/) not allowed in object name.
221 QUIT subcommand received.

--------------------- AS400 edtFTPnet TRACE ----------------------
220-QTCP at COMPANY.
220 Connection will close if idle more than 5 minutes.
USER anyuser
331 Enter password.
PASS xxxxxxxxxx
230 ANYUSER logged on.
PWD
257 "QGPL" is current library.
CWD PERSONAL_DIR
250 "PERSONAL_DIR" is current library.
PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (171,18,1,8,282,33).
NLST
125 List started.
250 List completed.

Bye ;).

Answer 26

Thank you FTPOdyssey, works like a charm, no open source garbage necessary.

Answer 27

Limason showed a correct solution for this using the native FTP client via the Process class.  All legal FTP commands are supported. 
There is one other solution which no body showed, that's writing a native socket FTP client class especially for the AS/400 and or Mainframe.  It wouldn't take that long to do and could be a tad more robust as well... 

I also believe on the AS/400 that the system admin's can configure FTP to be in Namefmt 1 as the default as well.

---

Javaman

Answer 28

Has anyone ever found a solution for sending QUOTE or SITE commands through the FTPWebRequest object?

Answer 29

DaveWendt, did you ever get WeOnlyDo to work with AS/400?

Answer 30

This solution works for me, if you set the URL to ftp://serverName/%2F it will drop you into the Root, if you are not allow to access the root you must know what exact static path you are able to access.  (At least in my case thats how it is working)

Thanks for the tip!

Answer 31

Thanks Marcos,

Your solution solved this problem for me! My code is actually simpler with edtFTPnet than it was with FTPWebRequest

Answer 32

Hi,

 

I am having the same problem with AS400. 

When I am opening the above link it showing some error , can you please  post the code one more time ASAP.

 

please its urgent...

 

thanks in advance

 

 

 

Answer 33

I was having the same problem connecting to an AS/400.  I tried different ftp web requests, and they all raised a WebException.  A few things that helped me out - I followed sfibich's suggestion and set my uri to ftp://10.1.1.1/%2f, but that still raised a WebException.  In the exception handler I did this:

    Catch exWeb As WebException
      clsShared.PostMsg("WebException error in " & "FtpPrintWorkingDirectory: " & exWeb.ToString, 1)
      bReturn = False

      Try
        Dim ftpResp As FtpWebResponse
        ftpResp = DirectCast(exWeb.Response, FtpWebResponse)
        clsShared.PostMsg("WebException error in " & "FtpPrintWorkingDirectory with StatusCode [" & ftpResp.StatusCode & "], StatusDescription [" & ftpResp.StatusDescription & "]", 1)

      Catch ex2 As Exception
        ' do nothing
      End Try

The ftpWebResponse object in the exception allowed me to see the error returned from the ftp server.  In my case the StatusDescription was "501 Character (/) not allowed in object name.<CR><LF>".  Now I was finally getting the same error that started this thread.  So I started playing with the URI class, and using the URIBuilder.  I ended up with this method for building the uri in my ftpPut function:

      ub = New UriBuilder
      ub.Scheme = Uri.UriSchemeFtp
      ub.Host = 10.1.1.1/%2f
      ub.UserName = UserName
      ub.Password = Password
      ub.Path = FtpPathName & "/" & RemoteFile

      clsShared.PostMsg("Uri is [" & ub.Uri.ToString & "]", 9)

I was trying to avoid using forward slashes as much as possible.  There was a lot of trial and error here.  I kept printing out the uri string so I could see what worked and what didn't.  The correct uri for the UploadFile ftp method was ftp://USER:PASS@10.1.1.1///folder/FileName.tmp.  I would have never guessed that three forwad slashes was the solution.

I am also setting the Credentials property of the ftpRequest with the same user and pass.  I know this is redundant, but it's working so I'm not going to mess with it.

 

Answer 34

Fantastic - thanks

Answer 35

Hi All,

I've been searching and trying quite a lot to get ftpwebrequest working with AS/400...
I found that you just need to specify the right path (syntax) to get access to both, IFS and library system:

 

IFS:

ftp://10.5.1.20// [folder/file.ext]

 

Library System:

ftp://10.5.1.20//qsys.lib [/somelib.lib/somefile.file[/somemember.mbr]]

 

Just try the path in your browser and you'll see...

 

Uri ur = new Uri("ftp://10.5.1.20//<<folder>>");
// ---  or --- Uri ur = new Uri("ftp://10.5.1.20//qsys.lib/<<library>>.lib");
FtpWebRequest wr = (FtpWebRequest)FtpWebRequest.Create(ur);
wr.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("<<user>>","<<password>>");
wr.UsePassive = true;
wr.UseBinary = true;
wr.KeepAlive = true;

try
{
	  wr.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectory;
	  WebResponse rs = wr.GetResponse();
	  Stream st = rs.GetResponseStream();
	  StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(st);
	  textBox1.Text = sr.ReadToEnd();
	  sr.Close();
	  st.Close();
	  rs.Close();
}
catch (Exception se)
{
	MessageBox.Show(se.Message);
}

Answer 36

Like Robert, I found the double-forward-slash is needed if your path contains a bunch of directories.

For me, I needed to FTP a file to the IFS directory - way in there, so my path was something like:

//usr//local//wu-ftpd//ftp//XAMA//reportingreq/test.xml

My code looks something like this, given that:

mServer = ftp://server
mUser and mPass are strings passed into the method
local = text.xml     --- the local file
remote = //usr//local//wu-ftpd//ftp//XAMA//reportingreq/test.xml
(remote contains the full path including the filename)

            try
            {
                FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(mServer + remote);  //uri
                request.UseBinary = mUseBinary; //true
                request.EnableSsl = mUseSsl;  //false
                request.UsePassive = true;
                request.KeepAlive = true;
                request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(mUser, mPass);
                request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.UploadFile;

                //local is the file on my local directory, the one I am "putting" - it's a string.
                StreamReader sourceStream = new StreamReader(local, Encoding.Default);
                byte[] fileContents = Encoding.Default.GetBytes(sourceStream.ReadToEnd());
                sourceStream.Close();
                request.ContentLength = fileContents.Length;

                Stream requestStream = request.GetRequestStream();         //Connect...
                requestStream.Write(fileContents, 0, fileContents.Length); //Here is where we send the data/file
                requestStream.Close();

                FtpWebResponse response = (FtpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

                _log.InfoFormat("Upload File Complete, status {0}", response.StatusDescription);

                response.Close();

            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                _log.Error(e.Message);
                bRet = false;
            }

Answer 37

Thanks man! This helped. To reciprocate, here is my object oriented class to try encapsulating the basic functionality. I'm sure I will tweak it more, but this exposes get, put, change directory, and list directory.

Public Class MyFTP
    Const TIMEOUT_SECONDS As Integer = 15
    Private mDomain As String
    Private mWorkingFolder As String
    Private mUserID As String
    Private mPassword As String
    Private ReadOnly Property tempFileName() As String
        Get
            Return mWorkingFolder & "temp.txt"
        End Get
    End Property
    Private ReadOnly Property loginFileName() As String
        Get
            Return mWorkingFolder & "login.txt"
        End Get
    End Property
    Public Sub New(ByVal Domain As String, ByVal WorkingFolder As String, _
                   ByVal UserID As String, ByVal Password As String)
        mUserID = UserID
        mWorkingFolder = WorkingFolder
        If Not mWorkingFolder.EndsWith("\") Then
            mWorkingFolder = mWorkingFolder & "\"
        End If
        mPassword = Password
        mDomain = Domain
        Call DeleteTempFiles()
        Call InitializeConnection()
    End Sub
    Private Sub DeleteTempFiles()
        If IO.File.Exists(tempFileName) Then
            Call IO.File.Delete(tempFileName)
        End If
        If IO.File.Exists(loginFileName) Then
            Call IO.File.Delete(loginFileName)
        End If
    End Sub
    'These variables hold the result from Output and Error steams
    'from the process
    Private Shared mFTPOutput As System.Text.StringBuilder = Nothing
    Public ReadOnly Property FTPOutput() As String
        Get
            Return mFTPOutput.ToString
        End Get
    End Property
    Private Shared mFTPError As System.Text.StringBuilder = Nothing
    Public ReadOnly Property FTPError() As String
        Get
            Return mFTPError.ToString
        End Get
    End Property
    Private mFtpStreamWriter As System.IO.StreamWriter
    Private mConnection As Process = Nothing
    Private Sub SendWithWait(ByVal input As String)
        Dim outputLength As Integer = mFTPOutput.Length
        mFtpStreamWriter.WriteLine(input)
        mFtpStreamWriter.Flush()
        'uses the confirmation message (sent by having DEBUG on) to know that the transfer is complete
        Dim waitStart As Date = Now
        Do
            Call Threading.Thread.Sleep(100)
        Loop Until mFTPOutput.Length > outputLength _
        Or (Now.Subtract(waitStart)).TotalSeconds >= TIMEOUT_SECONDS
        If (Now.Subtract(waitStart)).TotalSeconds >= TIMEOUT_SECONDS Then
            Throw New Exception("Command timed out:" & vbCrLf & input)
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Sub Send(ByVal input As String)
        SendWithWait(input)
    End Sub
    Private Shared Sub FTPOutputHandler(ByVal sendingProcess As Object, ByVal outLine As DataReceivedEventArgs)
        'Collecting Output
        If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(outLine.Data) Then
            mFTPOutput.Append(outLine.Data + Environment.NewLine)
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Shared Sub FTPErrorHandler(ByVal sendingProcess As Object, _
                       ByVal outLine As DataReceivedEventArgs)
        'Collecting Error
        If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(outLine.Data) Then
            mFTPError.Append(outLine.Data + Environment.NewLine)
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub InitializeConnection()
        Dim thisFtpProcess As New Process()
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "ftp.exe"

        'UseShellExecute to false to enable redirection
        'of INPUT/OUTUT/ERROR
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False

        'Hide window
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden

        'Redirection of OUTPUT- and ERROR-Streams
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.StandardOutputEncoding = System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding(850)
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.StandardErrorEncoding = System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding(850)
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = True

        'Creation of OUTPUT- and ERROR-StringBuilder
        mFTPOutput = New System.Text.StringBuilder()
        mFTPError = New System.Text.StringBuilder()

        'Eventhandler for OUTPUT- and ERROR-Streams
        AddHandler thisFtpProcess.OutputDataReceived, AddressOf FTPOutputHandler
        AddHandler thisFtpProcess.ErrorDataReceived, AddressOf FTPErrorHandler

        'Redirection of INPUT
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = True

        'create temporary login file
        Dim loginText As New System.Text.StringBuilder
        Call loginText.AppendLine("open " & mDomain)
        Call loginText.AppendLine(mUserID)
        Call loginText.AppendLine(mPassword)
        Call loginText.AppendLine("CD ..")
        Call loginText.AppendLine("DEBUG")
        Call IO.File.WriteAllText(loginFileName, loginText.ToString)
        thisFtpProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = "-s:" & loginFileName

        'Starting the process
        Call thisFtpProcess.Start()

        'Creating reference to Input-Writer
        mFtpStreamWriter = thisFtpProcess.StandardInput()

        'Start reading asynchronously
        Call thisFtpProcess.BeginOutputReadLine()
        Call thisFtpProcess.BeginErrorReadLine()

        mConnection = thisFtpProcess

        'start connection to server
        'Send("OPEN " & mDomain)
        'send user & password
        'Send(mUserID)
        'Send(mPassword)
        Send("ASCII")
        'set local path to the "working folder"
        Send("LCD " + mWorkingFolder)
    End Sub
    Public Sub CloseConnection()
        If mConnection Is Nothing Then
            Throw New Exception("FTP connection not open")
        End If
        Send("QUIT")

        'Waiting for process termination
        mConnection.WaitForExit()

        'Close Input-Writer
        mFtpStreamWriter.Close()

        'process OUTPUT/ERROR results
        If FTPError.Length = 0 Then
            Debug.WriteLine("FTPProcess Error: <empty>")
        Else
            Debug.WriteLine("FTPProcess Error: " + FTPError.ToString)
        End If
        If FTPOutput.Length = 0 Then
            Debug.WriteLine("FTPProcess Output: <empty>")
        Else
            Debug.WriteLine("FTPProcess Output: " + FTPOutput.ToString)
        End If

        'Removing Eventhandlers for Output and Error-streams
        RemoveHandler mConnection.OutputDataReceived, AddressOf FTPOutputHandler
        RemoveHandler mConnection.ErrorDataReceived, AddressOf FTPErrorHandler

        'Closing process object
        mConnection.Close()
        mConnection.Dispose()
        mConnection = Nothing

        Call DeleteTempFiles()

        'final error handling
        If FTPError.Length <> 0 Then
            Throw New Exception(FTPError.ToString)
        End If
    End Sub
    Public Sub SetRemotePath(ByVal remotePath As String)
        Send("CD " + remotePath)
    End Sub

    Public Function GetFile(ByVal remoteFileName As String) As String
        'send FTP command to get the file
        Call SendWithWait("GET """ & remoteFileName & """ """ & tempFileName & """")

        'read the file text into memory
        Dim contents As String = IO.File.ReadAllText(tempFileName)

        'clean up - delete the temporary file that was just created
        Call IO.File.Delete(tempFileName)

        Return contents
    End Function
    Public Sub PutFile(ByVal contents As String, ByVal remoteFileName As String)
        'write the file text from memory
        Call IO.File.WriteAllText(tempFileName, contents)

        'send FTP command to put the file
        Call SendWithWait("PUT """ & tempFileName & """ """ & remoteFileName & """")

        'clean up - delete the temporary file that was just created
        Call IO.File.Delete(tempFileName)
    End Sub
    Public Sub ChangeDirectory(ByVal newRemoteDirectory As String)
        'send FTP command to get the file
        Call SendWithWait("CD " & newRemoteDirectory)
    End Sub
    Private Enum DirectoryStructure
        PDS = 1
        DataSet = 2
    End Enum
    ''' <summary> Note that this does not always work with complex filters (more than one asterisk) </summary>
    Public Function GetDirectoryContents(Optional ByVal fileFilter As String = "") As String()
        Dim outputLength As Integer = mFTPOutput.Length
        'send FTP command to get the directory list
        Call SendWithWait("DIR " & fileFilter)
        Call SendWithWait("NOOP")

        Dim waitStart As Date = Now
        Dim newOutput As String
        Dim outputLines As String()
        Do
            newOutput = mFTPOutput.ToString.Substring(outputLength)
            outputLines = newOutput.Replace(vbCrLf, vbLf).Split(CChar(vbLf))
            'NOOP gets back the "Invalid command." response
            '(and the last line is always empty string, hence the -2)
            If (Now.Subtract(waitStart)).TotalSeconds >= TIMEOUT_SECONDS Then
                Throw New Exception("Unable to interpret output of directory listing:" & vbCrLf & newOutput)
            End If
        Loop Until outputLines(outputLines.Length - 2) = "Invalid command."

        Dim headerLine As String
        Dim listingStructure As DirectoryStructure
        headerLine = outputLines(2)
        If headerLine.StartsWith(" Name") Then
            'this is a PDS. Output will look something like this:
            '---> PORT 10,5,16,140,16,122
            '---> LIST
            ' Name     VV.MM   Created       Changed      Size  Init   Mod   Id
            '#CONCLRA  01.00 2001/03/19 2001/03/19 11:36     1     1     0 #CONCLR
            '#KC99A01  01.01 2009/05/14 2009/05/14 09:09  3523  3835     0 KRCRAN 
            'PAMA103                                                              
            'PAMA106                                                              
            'PAMA604   01.01 2011/06/12 2011/06/12 10:52   232   178     0 RXSREE 
            'PAPA99A   01.85 2006/11/03 2011/09/26 09:28  1554     0     0 RXSREE 
            'PAPA99AA  01.50 2001/03/26 2004/01/15 07:58  1334  1221     0 MWCOPE 
            'PAPA99C   01.38 2001/04/09 2006/02/08 13:51   647   581     0 PARITT 
            '(last line blank)
            listingStructure = DirectoryStructure.PDS
        ElseIf headerLine.StartsWith("Volume") Then
            'this is a list of datasets. Output will look something like this:
            '---> PORT 10,5,16,140,16,122
            '---> LIST
            'Volume Unit    Referred Ext Used Recfm Lrecl BlkSz Dsorg Dsname
            'TSOPK1 3390   2011/07/29  1    8  FB      80  4560  PO  BMCCAT.JCL
            'TSOPK1 3390   2011/09/29  2    4  VB    4092  4096  PS  BMCCAT.SQL
            'TSOPK1 3390   2011/09/30 16  240  FB      80  4560  PO  JCL
            'TSOPK1 3390   2011/05/12  1   15  FB      80  4560  PO  JCLE
            'TSOPK1 3390   2011/09/30  1    1  FB      80 27920  PS  LOGON.CLIST
            '(last line blank)
            listingStructure = DirectoryStructure.DataSet
        ElseIf headerLine = "No members found." Then
            Dim emptyStringArray As String()
            ReDim emptyStringArray(-1)
            Return emptyStringArray
        Else
            Throw New Exception("Unable to interpret output of directory listing:" & vbCrLf & newOutput)
        End If

        Const headerRows As Integer = 3
        Const trailerRows As Integer = 2
        Dim fileNames As String()
        ReDim fileNames(outputLines.Length - headerRows - trailerRows - 1)

        For i As Integer = 0 To fileNames.Length - 1
            Dim thisLine As String = outputLines(i + headerRows)
            If listingStructure = DirectoryStructure.PDS Then
                thisLine = thisLine.Substring(0, 8).Trim
            ElseIf listingStructure = DirectoryStructure.DataSet Then
                thisLine = thisLine.Substring(56).Trim
            End If
            fileNames(i) = thisLine
        Next

        Return fileNames
    End Function
End Class

Answer 38

Since this thread has helped us to resolve our problems uploading files with the FTPWebRequest to AS/400, here is our solution:

We first changed our url to the following format:

ftp://[ip]/%2F/QSYS.LIB[/some other.LIBs]/test.xml

%2F sends you to the root as explained by other posts here. From there we navigate through some libraries to the destination. This worked well until we got to the uploading part of the FTP as you can see in this trace log file

System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpWebRequest#18796293::(Releasing FTP connection#34948909.)
System.Net Verbose: 0 : [3664] WebRequest::Create(ftp://10.1.1.10///QSYS.LIB/TESTLIB.LIB/test.xml)
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpWebRequest#46104728::.ctor(ftp://10.1.1.10///QSYS.LIB/TESTLIB.LIB/test.xml)
System.Net Verbose: 0 : [3664] Exiting WebRequest::Create() -> FtpWebRequest#46104728
System.Net Verbose: 0 : [3664] FtpWebRequest#46104728::GetRequestStream()
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpWebRequest#46104728::GetRequestStream(Method=STOR.)
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] Associating FtpWebRequest#46104728 with FtpControlStream#12289376
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [220-QTCP at AS400.
220 Connection will close if idle more than 5 minutes.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Sending command [USER TESTUSER]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [331 Enter password.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Sending command [PASS ********]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [230 TESTUSER logged on.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Sending command [OPTS utf8 on]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [501 OPTS unsuccessful; specified subcommand not recognized.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Sending command [PWD]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [257 "QGPL" is current library.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Sending command [CWD //QSYS.LIB/TESTLIB.LIB/]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [250-NAMEFMT set to 1.
250 "/QSYS.LIB/TESTLIB.LIB" is current library.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Sending command [TYPE I]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [200 Representation type is binary IMAGE.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Sending command [PASV]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [227 Entering Passive Mode (10,1,1,10,102,233).]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Sending command [STOR test.xml]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#12289376 - Received response [501 Unknown extension in database file name.]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpWebRequest#46104728::(Releasing FTP connection#12289376.)
System.Net Error: 0 : [3664] Exception in the FtpWebRequest#46104728::GetRequestStream - The remote server returned an error: (501) Syntax error in parameters or arguments.

So we changed test.xml to test.FILE instead and it worked! Instead of the indicated error message we got

System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#55915408 - Sending command [STOR test.FILE]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#55915408 - Received response [150 Sending file to member TEST in file TEST in library TESTLIB.]

To keep the extension .xml, our final URI now looks like this:

ftp://10.1.1.10/%2F/QSYS.LIB/TESTLIB.LIB/test.xml.FILE

where test.xml is the filename and extension of your choice. Trace file result:

System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#32854180 - Sending command [STOR test.xml.FILE]
System.Net Information: 0 : [3664] FtpControlStream#32854180 - Received response [150 Sending file to member TEST.XML in file TEST.XML in library TESTLIB.]

Note: It seems this syntax with .FILE is only needed if you are uploading to libraries. when uploading to an IFS folder the .FILE should (must?) be left out. That leaves The following URI:

ftp://10.1.1.10/%2F/some/long/path/test.xml

Thanks everyone for your valuable input! Hope this helps someone else.