We routinely use scripts and programs to control programs such as FTP on HP
3000's from Windows, UNIX, Linux and iSeries computers and we use a number
of different tools and techniques.

The answer to your question may depend on which library he's using.  It is
difficult to give a general answer to such a question. There are several
issues involved that must be dealt with by your approach.  There are issues
involved in 1) having a program on the client side pretend to be an
interactive terminal, 2) MPE FTP weirdness ("non-standard" behavior), 3) MPE
version differences in FTP behavior, etc. To get an idea of what I'm writing
about from a cmd.exe window ftp to an HP 3000 and then to a UNIX machine.
You will see obvious differences in the dialog.  Most libraries are not
prepared to handle the MPE-like strings that come back.  Another example is
the convention of adding ./ to the front of files to be transferred.  Still
another example is the use of PASV that most FTP clients seemingly
automatically request. The really interesting issues come up when something
goes wrong.  What happens if you loose the connection?  Will the whole thing
just hang indefinately?

The best solution for someone who is doing a one-of of these interactions is
probably to do it with a solution based on a tool that already knows about
talking to MPE and has made appropriate allowances for it.  Probably the
easiest way I've found to such a thin is use WRQ's Reflection and have it
record a session that does what you want to do.  You could then save the
recorded VB program and then optionally turn it into a program in a fashion
similar to that shown on our website
http://www.xformix.com/vbexample/index.html.  In this case the "library" you
would be using is the free one that comes with the Reflection terminal
emulator.


Charles Finley
Transformix Computer Corporation
(760)-439-3146

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Paul H. Christidis
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 12:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Issuing 'site stream' from VBasic application


A co-worker has developed a Windows based application in Visual Basic.  One
of its functions involves the transmission of a data file to our HP3000 for
further processing.  My recommendation was for the VBasic application to
issue a 'site stream' command after uploading the data file to complete the
process.

He is using a windows based library containing a number of 'FTP' methods,
and has been successful in uploading the file.  He has not, however, been
able to find a method that will allow him to issue the 'site stream' FTP
command.

Before we embark on the route of having something on the host side that
would monitor the presence of a data file, I thought that I'd ask the list
members if anyone has been successful in issuing the 'site stream' command
from a VBasic application, and if so, whether they would be willing to
share some code snippet (declarations and invocation of the method).

Regards
Paul Christidis

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *