Copy and delete the file from the FTP SERVER using Windows Service in c#

Question

I am trying to implement a windows service that will ping a FTP site and copy its contents once in every 3 hours.

This service has functions to

1. List all files in the FTP site

2. Copy one file

3. Delete the copied file

4. Repeats step 2 and 3 for all files in the site

Answer 1

Use FtpWebRequest . MSDN has samples for everything you need:

List all files

FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/");
request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectoryDetails;

Copy one file

FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/test.htm");
request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile;

Delete the copied file

FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/test.htm");
request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DeleteFile;

Answer 2

There are two classes which will be of great value to you for FTP. First, FtpWebRequest and second, FtpWebResponse . As for writing a windows service: this , and this should be helpful as well.

An example lifted from MSDN to delete a file:

public static bool DeleteFileOnServer(Uri serverUri)
{
    // The serverUri parameter should use the ftp:// scheme.
    // It contains the name of the server file that is to be deleted.
    // Example: ftp://contoso.com/someFile.txt.
    // 

    if (serverUri.Scheme != Uri.UriSchemeFtp)
    {
        return false;
    }
    // Get the object used to communicate with the server.
    FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(serverUri);
    request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DeleteFile;

    FtpWebResponse response = (FtpWebResponse) request.GetResponse();
    Console.WriteLine("Delete status: {0}",response.StatusDescription);  
    response.Close();
    return true;
}

With a little bit of work you should be able to modify that to do every thing you need in terms of FTP Access.