Question

I want to read a file from a FTP server without downloading it to a local file. I wrote a function but it does not work:

private string GetServerVersion()
{
    WebClient request = new WebClient();

    string url = FtpPath + FileName;
    string version = "";

    request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(ftp_user, ftp_pas);

    try
    {
        byte[] newFileData = request.DownloadData(new Uri(FtpPath)+FileName);
        string fileString = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(newFileData);
    }
    catch (WebException e)
    {
    }
    return version;
}

Answer 1

Here’s a simple working example using your code to grab a file from the Microsoft public FTP servers:

WebClient request = new WebClient();
string url = "ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/fortran/" +"README.TXT";
request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("anonymous", "[e-mail]");

try
{
  byte[] newFileData = request.DownloadData(url);
  string fileString = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(newFileData);
  Console.WriteLine(fileString);
}
catch (WebException e)
{
  // Do something such as log error, but this is based on OP's original code
  // so for now we do nothing.
}

I reckon you’re missing a slash on this line here in your code:

string url = FtpPath + FileName;

Perhaps between FtpPath and FileName ?