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Get the Report →Query FTP Data in ColdFusion
Write standard ColdFusion data access code to connect to FTP data.
The CData JDBC Driver for FTP seamlessly integrates connectivity to FTP data with the rapid development tools in ColdFusion. This article shows how to connect to FTP data in ColdFusion and query FTP tables.
Create a JDBC Data Source for FTP in ColdFusion
The JDBC data source enables you to execute SQL from standard ColdFusion tags like cfquery and CFScript like executeQuery.
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Copy the driver JAR and .lic file from the installation directory onto the ColdFusion classpath. For example, copy the files into C:\MyColdFusionDirectory\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib. Or, open the Java and JVM page in the ColdFusion Administrator and enter the path to the files in the ColdFusion Class Path box.
The JAR and license for the driver are located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
Restart the server after this step.
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Add the driver as a data source:
From the ColdFusion administrator interface, expand the Data & Services node and click Data Sources. In the Add New Data Source section, enter a name for the data source and select Other in the Driver menu.
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Populate the driver properties:
JDBC URL: Enter connection properties in the JDBC URL. The JDBC URL begins with jdbc:ftp: and is followed by the connection properties in a semicolon-separated list of name=value pairs.
To connect to FTP or SFTP servers, specify at least RemoteHost and FileProtocol. Specify the port with RemotePort.
Set User and Password to perform Basic authentication. Set SSHAuthMode to use SSH authentication. See the Getting Started section of the data provider help documentation for more information on authenticating via SSH.
Set SSLMode and SSLServerCert to secure connections with SSL.
The data provider lists the tables based on the available folders in your FTP server. Set the following connection properties to control the relational view of the file system:
- RemotePath: Set this to the current working directory.
- TableDepth: Set this to control the depth of folders to list as views.
- FileRetrievalDepth: Set this to retrieve and list files recursively from the root table.
Stored Procedures are available to download files, upload files, and send protocol commands. See the Data Model chapter of the FTP data provider documentation for more information.
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the FTP JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.ftp.jar
Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.
A typical JDBC URL is below:
jdbc:ftp:RemoteHost=MyFTPServer;
- Driver Class: Enter the driver class. The driver class is cdata.jdbc.ftp.FTPDriver.
- Driver Name: Enter a user-defined name for the driver.
- Username: Enter the username used to authenticate.
- Password: Enter the password used to authenticate.
You can now test the connection by enabling the CData FTP data source in the Actions column. After reporting a status of OK, the FTP data source is ready for use.
Execute Queries
The cfquery tag can pass SQL statements to FTP, including INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.. Use the cfqueryparam tag to create parameterized queries and prevent SQL injection through the query string.
Note: To use the cfquery and cfscript, create a .cfm file. Inside the .cfm file, write the code to execute the query (see below). Place the file directly in the root directory of your web server (e.g., wwwroot in Adobe ColdFusion). Restart the service after placing the file for the changes to take effect.
<cfquery name="FTPQuery" dataSource="CDataFTP">
SELECT * FROM MyDirectory WHERE FilePath = <cfqueryparam value="#FilePath#" cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar">
</cfquery>
<cfdump var="#FTPQuery#">
Below is the equivalent in CFScript:
<cfscript> result = queryExecute( "SELECT * FROM MyDirectory WHERE FilePath = ?", [ { value="/documents/doc.txt", cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar" } ], { datasource="CDataFTP" } ); writeDump( var= result ); </cfscript>
You can then make requests to your .cfm like the following:
http://MyServer:8500/query.cfm?FilePath=/documents/doc.txt