ScriptFTP 4.3

This is mainly a bug fixing release but it comes with the notable addition of a new separate command to set the SSH key file path:

– Added the command SETKEYFILE for SSH connections
– License key dialog now accepts line breaks. It is easier to enter a license key that is not a straight line (easier copy/pasting)
– The autorun window now has links to the ScriptFTP scheduler and the windows task scheduler.
– The output options window now shows a preview of the commands that will be added to the script with links to the web site.
– Fixed a bug in SYNC UPLOAD that happened when an existing remote file name is lowercased or uppercased.
– Fixed the link in the scheduled script dialog that pointed to the windows task scheduler.
– Fixed some performance issues when uploading and downloading files on very fast network connections.
– Fixed an issue that happened when subtracting dates. Resulted value was incorrectly formatted.
– “0 bytes/sec” is no longer shown in the status bar when the transfer is finished but ScriptFTP is jumping to another file.
– Fixed a bug in GETFILE2 and PUTFILE2 where file paths were not working properly.
– SYNC now deletes the local temporary files it creates to know the clock time difference.

ScriptFTP 4.2

A new release is here. The changes are mostly bug fixes and setup enhancements:

– Setup now runs ngen.exe for faster program startup. What is ngen?
– Setup now opens ScriptFTP and the Lesson 1 of the FTP scripting guide after finishing the install.
– Setup shows the End User License Agreement (EULA) before installing. Nothing changed in the EULA but it seems that in some countries this is required before installing any software.
– Fixed a bug in RENAMEFILE command when using more than one dot when changing file extensions. For example: RENAMEFILE (“*.xml”,”*.xml.collect”)
– Fixed some weird quoting bugs in the EXEC command.
– When plain FTP is used a warning message is shown when OPENHOST is called.
– Fixed $ in passwords. String expansion which was a hidden feature has been removed.
– If SETPORT is used SETPROTOCOL will not set the port automatically and will keep the port set beforehand.
– Fixed an error where SYNC was not checking if a directory to be uploaded was in the exclusion list

How to set a FTP script to be run every X minutes

From time to time a question like this is received in the tech support inbox:

I wanted to ask if you can set the sheduler every minute, thank you so much

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Running ScriptFTP on windows startup, logon etc

More common questions:

Is that possible to run ScriptFTP automatically as a service everytime when Windows starts? If its possible to automate startup on logon?

Yes, this is possible. Instead of running it as a service you need to create a scheduled task from ScriptFTP and then go to the Windows task scheduler and edit its settings. Some screenshots below:

Scheduling ScriptFTP this way you can set it to be run not only at a given time but also at startup, at logon, on idle, when the user connects or disconnectes and also when the screen is locked or unlocked.

A dump of random common questions

I would like to obtain the encryption tool.

It is needed to buy a license in order to get the script enryption tool. You can find more information here.
Once you hace purchased the license please ask for a link to the tool at support@scriptftp.com

How can i start a scheduled task every hour at XX:55 and at startup of scriptFTP

You need to create a scheduled task within ScriptFTP and then open the windows task scheduler (usually under the control panel). Once you have located that task in the windows scheduler, open it and go to the “Triggers” tab. There you have to schedule the task to be run daily at, for instance, 00:55 and to be repeated every hour for one day.
To run a script file at the ScriptFTP startup you need to create a shortcut in windows that calls ScriptFTP wiith these parameters:

C:\Program Files(x86)\ScriptFTP\ScriptFTP.exe "C:\the_path\to_my_script\the_script_file.ftp"

How to download a file from the web in ScriptFTP

# Set the current local directory
LOCALCHDIR("C:\Users\Carlos\Desktop\curl_downloaded_files")
 
# Call curl
EXEC("C:\path_to\curl\curl.exe -O https://www.mydomain.com/thefile.zip")

# Download a file using HTTP authentication
EXEC("C:\path_to\curl\curl.exe --user johndoe:thepswd -O https://www.mydomain.com/thefile.zip")

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Handling file dates and time spans

The ScriptFTP scripting language does not have data types (as most scripting languages) and dealing with anything which is not plain text requires some kind of tricks. This happens with file lists as we have seen before, dates and time spans suffer the same limitation. This post covers how these data types are handled in ScriptFTP.

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Lists in ScriptFTP

ScriptFTP, as many script languages, does not have data types. This makes the script language and its syntax a lot easier to learn but not as powerful as others. Think of it as being “not so descriptive” and “less complex”. The drawback, in practice, is that you cannot handle things like “lists”,”sets” etc. Everything is a plain text string and you need to deal with this limitation to get the things done.

Regarding to the lists. How can the FTP script handle a list? There is a shortcut:

$my_list = "my_item_number_1|my_item_number_2|my_item_number_3"
 
FOREACH $item_name IN $my_list
     PRINT($item_name)
END FOREACH

Running the script you get:

my_item_number_1
my_item_number_2
my_item_number_3

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How to run a scheduled FTP script in the background

The ScriptFTP integrated scheduler is used to set a script to be run at given times. Once a script is scheduled the Windows Task programming service will automatically launch ScriptFTP.exe with the appropiate parameters and a window will pop-up in the user desktop and do the file transfer. Some users find this annoying and want the FTP script to be run in the background. This post covers this issue.

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ScriptFTP 4.1

This new release comes with the following changes

• Brand new user interface that works fine under high DPI displays (mostly newer laptops and high end screens). If you see the ScriptFTP window very small or with a normal size but blurry this release will solve the issues
• New ScriptFTP scheduler that works under the newest version of the Windows Task Programming service (Windows 8/10)
• Faster script execution and separate process for script running
• The status bar shows buttons to quickly access to script autorun and script output settings.
• Updated security SSH and SSL protocols with the latest revisions.
• Other minor bug fixes.