Question

I want List all files in a FTP server for Indexing(Main Dir and Sub Directories).

How can I get a full list of the files accessible in the server?

Answer 1

Indy has a TIdFTP component, which has a List() method and a DirectoryListing property. Call List() and then loop through the resulting DirectoryListing as needed. Each item in the DirectoryListing will tell you whether it is a file or a subfolder. If you need to index an entire system, you will have to call List() in a recursive loop for each subfolder.

Something to keep in mind – there are literally hundreds of platform-specific directory listing formats still being used by FTP servers on the Internet today. The LIST command outlined in the original FTP specification, RFC 959, did not define any kind of formatting to be used for listings, so systems were free to use whatever they wanted to use, and they did do exactly that over the years. Windows and Unix formats are common, but they are not required. A formal listing format was not defined until RFC 3659 in the MLSD extension to FTP, which replaces the old LIST command (TIdFTP.List() does use MLSD if the server supports it).

I mention this because TIdFTP in Indy 10 uses a plugin system to support many of these different listing formats. Each format is implemented in a separate IdFTPListParse... unit in Indy. By default, only the NLST and MLSD formats are always enabled. For any other listing format you want to support, you need to include the appropriate IdFTPListParse... unit into your uses clause in order for TIdFTP to recognize it. For example, IdFTPListParseUnix and IdFTPListParseWindows. Alternatively, there is a IdAllFTPListParsers unit that enables all of the available parsers. When you call TIdFTP.List(), the TIdFTP.DirFormat property will be set to the name of the parser that was used to parse the raw listing data.