Get FTP directory content issue if it's empty

Question

I have code what gets a content of some FTP directory. At some servers I've tested it works fine.

But at one server this method throws an exception when we try to get response.

public static List<string> ListDirectory(string dirPath, string ftpUser, string ftpPassword)
    {
        List<string> res = new List<string>();

        FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(dirPath);
        request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectory;
        request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(ftpUser, ftpPassword);
        request.KeepAlive = false;

        FtpWebResponse response = (FtpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

        Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream();
        StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(responseStream);
        while (!reader.EndOfStream)
        {
            res.Add(reader.ReadLine());
        }
        reader.Close();
        response.Close();

        return res;
    }

At catch section I have something like this

catch (WebException e)
{
   FtpWebResponse response = (FtpWebResponse)e.Response;
   /*in my case response.Status = ActionNotTakenFileUnavailableOrBusy*/
   ....
}

It works before but now it fails when folder is empty. If there is something there it works. And I can see this directory with TotalCommander.

Any ideas why?

Are you allowed to use an external library instead of built in classes? — Steve, Apr 30 '13 at 14:48
OK I will add an example using the free System.Net.FtpClient available from CodePlex. Tell me if you could use it or not — Steve, Apr 30 '13 at 15:20

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 30 '13 at 15:23

This is an example on how to get a listing of a remote directory using the free library System.Net.FtpClient available from CodePlex.
I have used it in many occasions and, in my opinion, is more easy to work with

public void GetListing() 
{
    using (FtpClient conn = new FtpClient()) 
    {
        conn.Host = "your_ftp_site_url";
        conn.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("your_user_account", "your_user_password");
        foreach (FtpListItem item in conn.GetListing(conn.GetWorkingDirectory(),  FtpListOption.Modify | FtpListOption.Size)) 
        {
              switch (item.Type) 
              {
                    case FtpFileSystemObjectType.Directory:
                        Console.WriteLine("Folder:" + item.Name);
                        break;
                    case FtpFileSystemObjectType.File:
                        Console.WriteLine("File:" + item.Name);
                        break;
            }
        }
    }
}

You can find the download from this pages

Unfortunately I have exception that "path is correct but no answer". It seems that the same issue as before — Vitalii, Apr 30 '13 at 15:52

Get FTP directory content issue if it's empty

1 Answers1