Secure FTP Action Plugin

[Ulrich]

I am currently working on a plugin for secure FTP. You can use this plugin to connect to secure FTP servers with SSL.

For now, it has limited functionality, as this is work in progress. But you can already do the following:

• Connect to servers using FTP with TLS/SSL, explicit mode
• Connect to servers using FTP with TLS/SSL, implicit mode
• Upload text or binary files
• Download text or binary files
• Disconnect from the server gracefully

Please note: This is for secure FTP servers (FTPS), not normal FTP servers communicating through a secure SSH tunnel!

Currently I have no directory navigation, listing, file renaming or removal - just upload and download, as written above. But these missing functions will be implemented in the near future.

The plugin is available as part of my Utilities package. Documentation is included, but also available here.

This plugin was tested against the free ZFTP Server and proved to work correctly with explicit and implicit TLS/SSL connections. Common, unsecure FTP connections are not supported - for those, please use the FTP plugin provided with AMS 7.0.

The plugin, in its current state, is free. I won't guarantee that latter versions with more functions will stay free as well. But if the current state of the action plugin is already enough to help you out in a commercial project, you may use it without problems.

Ulrich

[jassing]

Ulrich-
Thanks for your work -- if you like; I can create an account on my server for you to test against.

i will be giving your plugin a go; as I am currently shelling out to do some ftp'ing in SUF8 for a clienit... not as clean as i would like...

-josh

[Canter]

Thanks for your post. This is badly needed and I'm sure many will appreciate your efforts here.

[Dermot]

Excellent! thanks for sharing.

[Ulrich]

I updated the FTP2 plugin to version 1.0.0.1. Changes since the release yesterday:

• Functions renamed for better compatibility with the original AutoPlay "FTP" plugin:

  FTP2.ConnectExplicit();
  FTP2.ConnectImplicit();
  FTP2.Disconnect();
  FTP2.Upload();
  FTP2.Download();

• Some connection parameters are now boolean (as they should have been);
• New function FTP2.ChangeDir();
• New function FTP2.Delete();
• New function FTP2.Rename();

It would nice to know if somebody was able to perform FTPS connections and file transfers with this plugin.
Here is a simple script which uses the available functions so far:

res = FTP2.ConnectImplicit("192.168.0.14", "admin", "password", 990, true, false);
if (res ~= 0) then
    error = Application.GetLastError();
    Dialog.Message("FTP2", "Could not establish FTPS connection. ("..error..")");
else
    -- attempt secure file upload
    filename = "file-" .. System.GetDate(DATE_FMT_ISO) .. System.GetTime(TIME_FMT_HOUR)..System.GetTime(TIME_FMT_MIN)..System.GetTime(TIME_FMT_SEC) .. ".test";
    res = FTP2.Upload("D:\\TEMP\\sja.log", filename);
    if (res ~= 0) then
        error = Application.GetLastError();
        Dialog.Message("FTP2", "Could not upload file. ("..error..")");
    else
        -- rename the remote file
        res = FTP2.Rename(filename, "new-" .. filename);
        if (res ~= 0) then
            error = Application.GetLastError();
            Dialog.Message("FTP2", "Could not rename file. ("..error..")");
        else
            -- attempt download of the renamed file
            res = FTP2.Download("new-" .. filename, "D:\\TEMP\\down-" .. filename);
            if (res ~= 0) then
                error = Application.GetLastError();
                Dialog.Message("FTP2", "Could not download file. ("..error..")");
            else
                -- delete the remote file
                res = FTP2.Delete("new-" .. filename);
                if (res ~= 0) then
                    error = Application.GetLastError();
                    Dialog.Message("FTP2", "Could not delete file. ("..error..")");
                else
                    Dialog.Message("FTP2", "Done.");
                end
            end
        end
    end
    FTP2.Disconnect();
end

Ulrich

[Canter]

Well, AMS can't find the plugin, which I installed in the plugins directory. Using AMS7 (64 bit Vista, if that matters).

L Canter

[Ulrich]

You should create a new folder for the plugin under ..\AutoPlay Media Studio 7.0\Plugins\Actions, and unzip the files there. Like C:\Program Files\AutoPlay Media Studio 7.0\Plugins\Actions\FTP2\.., for example. Did you do that? There should already exist folders for CDAudio, Clipboard, FTP and SQLite.

I just tested on a fresh install of AMS7 over Windows Vista (32 bits) and the plugin was found as expected.

Ulrich

[ShadowUK]

Cool, I thought I could use this but my server is not FTPS.

[Canter]

OK, I had just put it in the project folder , not the application, so it does now see the plugin. However, I do get the following error message:
Attempt to call field 'Open_FTP_SSL_Implicit' (a nil value)

[Ulrich]

Canter, you are using the current version of the plugin with a function name used in the former release. Today Open_FTP_SSL_Implicit was renamed to ConnectImplicit, as I wrote earlier. Please check the help file and the example I provided here.

Ulrich

[Canter]

Thanks - you were right about that, but now I get 12002 errors, can't connect - I"ve tried accessing 3 different FTP servers, all the same result.

[Ulrich]

Are you absolutely sure that those were secure FTP servers? This plugin will not work with standard FTP servers without encrypted data exchange.

Here is a FTPS server, I'll leave it open for a couple of hours.

IP address: 74.86.188.83
Username: plugin
Password: ams70rocks
Protocol: Implicit SSL/TLS on port 990

Ulrich

[Dermot]

Works perfectly for me using your test FTP server.

[Canter]

That didn't work either - maybe I have something set wrong? Here is the debug trace output:

*** LOCATION: Page1 -> On Preload
[2]: Debug.ShowWindow(true);
[4]: result = FTP2.ConnectImplicit("74.86.188.83", "plugin", 'ams70rocks', 990, true, false);
TRACE: LastError = 0 ("Success.")
[5]: if (res ~= 0) then
[6]: error = Application.GetLastError();
[7]: Dialog.Message("FTP2", "Could not establish FTPS connection. ("..error..")");
TRACE: LastError = 0 ("Success.")
[40]: end

[Ulrich]

[2]: Debug.ShowWindow(true);
[4]: result = FTP2.ConnectImplicit("74.86.188.83", "plugin", 'ams70rocks', 990, true, false);
TRACE: LastError = 0 ("Success.")
[5]: if (res ~= 0) then
[6]: error = Application.GetLastError();
[7]: Dialog.Message("FTP2", "Could not establish FTPS connection. ("..error..")");
TRACE: LastError = 0 ("Success.")
[40]: end

I see that you did connect to the server successfully. Your script is wrong: You set the answer of ConnectImplicit into result, and in the next line you compare variable res (which should be nil), instead of result, against 0.

The line with TRACE: LastError = 0 ("Success.") should alert you that the connection was made successfully.

Ulrich