File Transfer, Overview

Home

4D Internet Commands v16

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the primary means of transferring documents and applications from one computer to another. FTP "sites" are computers throughout the world running FTP server software. The File Transfer Protocol provides a means for disparate systems to exchange files. Client applications on a variety of platforms can all log into a FTP server in order to upload or download text or binary files. The FTP routines within the 4D Internet Commands give developers the tools to create FTP clients within their 4D databases.

Notes:

When specifying pathnames in the FTP commands, you should always treat file locations on the FTP site as a Unix directory, even if you know the FTP host to be a Macintosh running FTP server software. Whatever the platform, the FTP server software will internally convert your Unix pathname to the format it needs to serve its documents to connected clients.
For greater flexibility, 4D Internet commands let you pass a POP3, IMAP or FTP connection reference directly to low-level TCP commands and vice versa. For more information, refer to the Low Level Routines, Overview section
The FTP commands of 4D Internet Commands work with files whose names have a limited length. The following table provides the maximum number of characters based on the OS:
Windows OS X
32 bits 255 63
64 bits 255 1024