Manually Parsing FTP Resource Listings with CFFTPCreateParsedResourceListing

Introduction

CFFTP (Common File and Folder Transfer Protocol) is a protocol used for transferring files over the internet. One of its many features is the ability to list resources on an FTP server, such as directories and files. The CFFTPCreateParsedResourceListing function is a powerful tool for parsing these resource listings. However, sometimes developers may want to use this functionality without relying on the CFFTP library. In this article, we will explore how to manually parse FTP resource listings using the CFFTPCreateParsedResourceListing function.

Understanding the CFFTPCreateParsedResourceListing Function

The CFFTPCreateParsedResourceListing function is a part of the CFFTP library. It takes in several parameters and returns a parsed representation of the FTP resource listing. The most important parameter for this article is the sResourceListing parameter, which specifies the resource listing to be parsed.

{< highlight javascript >}
CFFTPCreateParsedResourceListing(
  pResourceListing,
  cResourceType,
  pResourceDescription,
  pResourceURI,
  pParentResource,
  pCurrentResource,
  pListFlags
)
{/highlight}

In this function, pResourceListing is a pointer to the resource listing that will be parsed. The other parameters specify additional information about the resource listing, such as its type, description, URI, parent resource, and current resource.

Parsing FTP Resource Listings

To manually parse an FTP resource listing, we need to understand how CFFTP structures its resource listings. A resource listing typically consists of a list of resources, where each resource has several attributes such as name, path, and type.

Here is a basic example of what the sResourceListing parameter might look like:

{
  "type": "directory",
  "name": "root",
  "path": "/",
  "children": [
    {
      "type": "file",
      "name": "file1.txt",
      "path": "/file1.txt"
    },
    {
      "type": "directory",
      "name": "subdir",
      "path": "/subdir"
    }
  ]
}

Breaking Down the Resource Listing

To parse this resource listing, we need to break it down into its individual components. Each component has a specific type and set of attributes.

Parsing the Root Resource

The root resource is the top-level resource in the list. It typically has the following attributes:

type: The type of the resource (e.g., directory or file).
name: The name of the resource.
path: The path to the resource on the FTP server.

Parsing Child Resources

Each child resource is a sub-resource of the root resource. It typically has the following attributes:

type: The type of the resource (e.g., directory or file).
name: The name of the resource.
path: The path to the resource on the FTP server.

Parsing Sub-Child Resources

Each sub-child resource is a further sub-resource of the child resource. It typically has the same attributes as the child resource, but with additional information specific to the sub-child resource.

Implementing Manual Resource Listing Parsing

To implement manual resource listing parsing, we need to iterate through each component of the resource listing and extract its attributes. Here is some sample code that demonstrates how this might be done:

function parseResourceListing(resourceListing) {
  const parsedResources = [];

  function processResource(resource) {
    const parsedResource = {};

    parsedResource.type = resource.type;
    parsedResource.name = resource.name;
    parsedResource.path = resource.path;

    if (resource.children && resource.children.length > 0) {
      parsedResource.children = [];
      for (const child of resource.children) {
        const childParsed = processResource(child);
        parsedResource.children.push(childParsed);
      }
    }

    return parsedResource;
  }

  for (const resource of resourceListing.resources) {
    const parsedResource = processResource(resource);
    parsedResources.push(parsedResource);
  }

  return parsedResources;
}

This code defines a parseResourceListing function that takes in a raw resource listing and returns an array of parsed resources. The processResource function is a recursive function that processes each resource in the list, extracting its attributes and parsing its child resources.

Example Use Case

To use this manual resource listing parsing implementation, we need to create a raw FTP resource listing and pass it into our parseResourceListing function. Here is an example:

function main() {
  const ftpResourceListing = {
    type: "directory",
    name: "root",
    path: "/",
    children: [
      {
        type: "file",
        name: "file1.txt",
        path: "/file1.txt"
      },
      {
        type: "directory",
        name: "subdir",
        path: "/subdir"
      }
    ]
  };

  const parsedResources = parseResourceListing(ftpResourceListing);

  console.log(parsedResources);
}

This code creates a raw FTP resource listing and passes it into our parseResourceListing function. The resulting array of parsed resources is then logged to the console.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored how to manually parse FTP resource listings using the CFFTPCreateParsedResourceListing function. We broke down the process into its individual components, parsing the root resource and child resources, and implementing a recursive function to handle sub-child resources. We also provided an example use case demonstrating how to create a raw FTP resource listing and pass it into our manual parser.

This article demonstrates that with a little bit of effort and understanding, developers can manually parse FTP resource listings without relying on the CFFTP library.

Last modified on 2025-03-19