How to Connect to FTP and List Files in C# Using Visual Studio

In this tutorial, we'll walk through the process of establishing an FTP connection and listing files on an FTP server using C# in Visual Studio. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is commonly used for transferring files between a client and a server over a network.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio installed on your machine.
• Basic knowledge of C# programming language.

Step 1: Create a New C# Project

Open Visual Studio and create a new C# Console Application project.

Step 2: Add Required Namespace

Add the System.Net namespace to your project. This namespace contains classes for networking, including FTP operations.

using System.Net;

Step 3: Connect to FTP Server

To connect to an FTP server, you need to create an FtpWebRequest object and specify the FTP server's address.

string ftpServer = "ftp://your_ftp_server_address.com/";
string ftpUsername = "your_username";
string ftpPassword = "your_password";

FtpWebRequest ftpRequest = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(ftpServer);
ftpRequest.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(ftpUsername, ftpPassword);
ftpRequest.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectory;

Replace "ftp://your_ftp_server_address.com/", "your_username", and "your_password" with your FTP server's address, username, and password respectively.

Step 4: List Files on FTP Server

Now, let's execute the FTP request and list the files on the server.

FtpWebResponse ftpResponse = (FtpWebResponse)ftpRequest.GetResponse();
Stream responseStream = ftpResponse.GetResponseStream();
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(responseStream);

Console.WriteLine("Files on FTP Server:");
Console.WriteLine("---------------------");

while (!reader.EndOfStream)
{
    string filename = reader.ReadLine();
    Console.WriteLine(filename);
}

reader.Close();
responseStream.Close();
ftpResponse.Close();

This code sends the request to the FTP server, retrieves the response, and then reads and displays the list of files available on the server.

Step 5: Run the Application

Now, you can run your application and see the list of files on the FTP server printed in the console.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully connected to an FTP server and listed files using C# in Visual Studio. This basic example can be extended to perform various FTP operations like uploading, downloading, or deleting files. Feel free to explore further and integrate more functionalities into your application!