That is a good solution.  A colleague of mine actually wrote this.  It was
an image DB and a command file to execute the ftp.  It was a configurable
process ID (or "procid" is what we called it), which was the image key.
Command would be

!xeq ftpme !procid

The procid would be linked to all the info that an FTP script would need.

He wrote it so you can override the DB parameters on the command line as
well.  Pretty cool stuff.  I wrote the Powerhouse Quick screens to enter the
FTP configs which held the host, username, password, remote directory, local
directory, and a few other parameters.  We also had an environment variable
or item in the DB.  You could have an FTP procid config for multiple
environments, such as Development, Test or Production, etc.  This would
prevent accidentally sending test data to Production :)  You can get as
bland or complicated as you want, but this is a good road to travel down in
my opinion.  I'm sure my colleague wouldn't mind explaining it in more
detail.  It is pretty extensive to explain it in e-mail.  I could give you
more detail as well, but he would be able to explain some of the road blocks
in the designing process.  Just e-mail me and I'll contact him if you are
interested.  Or he might see this thread and get mad at me for offering his
services :) ha  I don't think he would mind though.


Thank You,
Dane Bodamer
Home: 732-367-5771
Cell: 732-674-3277
E-Mail : [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Anderson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] FTP - automate process from HP


> Passwords for the FTP server's user id have always bothered me, being
> clear text passwords in your job stream. If you don't have a fancy and
> rather expensive job scheduler, then prompting for the password will not
> work for unattended (Automated) processing, so what do you do?
>
> In this (No 3rd party software wanted) example the password is X123y
> -----------------
> !job jaobname,user.acct
> !Setvar pass
> '![chr(%130)]![chr(%61)]![chr(%62)]![chr(%63)]![chr(%171)]'
> !echo open 10.10.10.10 > ftpcmd
> !echo user myusername >> ftpcmd
> !echo !pass >> ftpcmd
> ------------------
> Admittedly most of us on the 3000-l will know that these are octal
> values of ASCII characters. It's a quick-n-dirty method that attempts to
> hide a strings of ASCII characters, or passwords, it's better than
> spelling it out in the job stream file.
>
> A better method that I have used on M.P.E. is to create an image
> database that has a ftpsession master (Manual Master), and a FTP-file
> detail Dataset. A logging Dataset is a good idea also. The session-mstr
> contains a unique session-id x(32), ipaddr, username and password,
> directory, and so on. The dtl Dataset contains session-id (as a path to
> the session master), localfile, hostfile, ASCII/binary, put/get, maybe
> even the "REC=" parameters, think about it. Write a program that will
> read your FTPDB by session-id, create and write to ftpcmd
> (new/temporary) based on the records linked to the session-id, and start
> an FTP (Child process) using this file as input, GETvar FTP@ to check on
> success or fail. In you job stream all you got to do is:
> -----------------
> !RUN filetran;info="the-session-id"
> !if ftplasterr <> 0 then
> bla,bla,bla....
> ------------------
>
> my $0.02,
> Michael.
>
>
> >>> Robert Mills <[log in to unmask]> 12/17/03
> 08:39AM >>>
> !job ftp,user.account
> !echo open [ip address] > ftpcmd
> !echo user [login name] [password] >> ftpcmd
> !echo exitonerror >> ftpcmd
> !# following command not necessary if files will sit in login root
> directory.
> !echo cd [directory] >> ftpcmd
> !echo put [local file 1] [remote file 1] >> ftpcmd
> !echo put [local file 2] [remote file 2] >> ftpcmd
> !echo put [local file 3] [remote file 3] >> ftpcmd
> !echo quit >> ftpcmd
> !ftp < ftpcmd
> !if ftplasterr <> 0 then
> !  # place error reporting code here.
> !  endif
> !eoj
>
> regards,
>
> Robert W.Mills
> Systems Development Manager
> Windsong Services
> (01689) 870622 x3005
>
>
> Edward Effinger <mailto:[log in to unmask]> wrote on 17
> December
> 2003 14:15:
>
> > Hi.
> >
> > I am currently ftp'ing 3 files from our HP929 to another site on a
> > daily basis.
> >
> > How might I automate this process?
> >
> > The 3 files are always the same name and the other ftp site requires
> a
> > login and password.
> >
> > Thanks for any advice received
> > Ed
> >
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>
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