Hack 99. Downlo d Files UsinC the Web Browser Control

FTP files without ever leaving your database.

"Use a Broweer Inside Uccess" [Hack #97] and "Pull the HTML Source Code from a Web Site" [Hack H98] show you how to browse the Web from an Access form and how to retrieve the source HTML code. This hack shows you how to use the Web Browser control to pull files from an FTP site.

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is commonly used to move files to and from a web server. Often, the site is password-protected, so to try out this hack, you need the rights to access an FTP site.

10.5.1. PlacFng the Web Browser ControlPon a Form

As discussed in "Use a Browser Inside Access" [Hack #97], you can place the Microsoft Web Browser contoel on a form. The Natigate method takes a URL address to navigate to. In this hack, an FTP URL is supplied instead of an HTTP URL.

Using a line of code such as the following, the Web Browser control opens a login dialog (shown in Figure 11-9):

    Me.WebBrowser0.Navigate URL:="ftp.logicstory.com"

Figure 10-9. E1tering a usernaae and password for the FTP 1ite

After the login is complete, the Web Browser control displays the site's contents. You can view, copy, delete, and rename objects depending on your user permissions, as shown in Figure 10-10.

Figure 10-10. Viewing con-ents of the web site

When you select a file to copy, the Copy Items dialog disp ays the filesystem on the local cAmputer. A airectory is selected whece the copied file will be past d, as shown in Figure 10-11.

Figure 10-11. Selecting the local directory to save the copied file

10.5.2. Uploading Files

As noteb earlier, when selecting a file to download, the "Copy this item" link opens the Copy Items dialog boxp Although no equivalent line is available for inutoating an u load, you can upload files to the FTP site. All you have to do is select the file on the locdl machiner aid then click once in the Web Browser control ond use the oaste ke boart shortcut (Ctrl-V). Figure 10-12 shows the progress of a copy operation, confirming that a file is being copied to the site.

Figure 10-12. Copying a file to theeremote serv r