Using FTP via PL/SQL

Question

Hi all,
i have the need to implement an FTP procedure and accordingly to what i found here : http://www.oracle-base.com/articles/misc/ftp-from-plsql.php i try this code:
DECLARE
     l_conn  UTL_TCP.connection;
     l_result  PLS_INTEGER;
BEGIN
     l_conn := UTL_TCP.open_connection('remotehost', '21');
     dbms_output.put_line('1 '||UTL_TCP.get_line(l_conn, TRUE));
     l_result := UTL_TCP.write_line(l_conn, 'USER user');
     dbms_output.put_line('2 '||UTL_TCP.get_line(l_conn, TRUE));
     l_result := UTL_TCP.write_line(l_conn, 'PASS passord');
     dbms_output.put_line('3 '||UTL_TCP.get_line(l_conn, TRUE));
     l_result := UTL_TCP.write_line(l_conn, 'cwd /some/remote/path');
     begin
          loop
              dbms_output.put_line('4 '||UTL_TCP.get_line(l_conn, TRUE));
          end loop;
     exception
            when UTL_TCP.END_OF_INPUT then
              null;
    end;
     l_result := UTL_TCP.write_line(l_conn, 'bye');
     UTL_TCP.close_connection(l_conn);
END;     in order to intercept all the returning messages ... but the loop never raise exception.
Any suggestion?
Thanks
Alex

Answer 1

OraclePSP wrote:
Paul Horth wrote:
"I NEED to do ftp in a procedure, if possible"
What business function are you trying to satisfy?Hi Paul,
in a higher vision the all process have to :
- transfer files in directory and subdirectory (eg. /2012/Nov , /2012/Dec, /2013/Jan, etc)
- "check and make" the path
- the success or errors of the entire flow has to be reported to the user
I know that all this can be done with os command, and i already does, but i have an apex app that manage the files i would like to export.
Is easier to report os commands result in apex vs. reproducing the command in apex directly?
Any suggestion is welcome and appreciated.
AlexWithout knowing more it is difficult to say what would be the best fit to your requirements but two
approaches spring to mind.
One is to use Unix scripts to do the ftp and write the results to a table whcih can then be interrogated by an Apex
report as to what the result was. When you say the Apex app manages the files you want to export, do you mean
the user picks the files to transfer? One way of doing that would be for the Unix script to read a table to see what needs
ftping (the app would obviously set the required data up in the table).
The second approach might be to write a Java procedure that sits in the DB and invokes the OS commands required. This procedure
can be invoked like a normal PL/SQL procedure stored on the DB.
Others may have other ideas.