aedificum has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I am really, really new to Perl. I have been writing a script the processes a batch of web orders (sequential files) and reformats them to be transfered (FTP) to another system. My problem is, I can't seem to write decent code to do the job. I researched and found that NET::FTP is a good way to get it done but it is not installed on the server my script is running on nor can I ever get it installed. So, I have this snippet of code that supposedly would work with NET::FTP. It is supposed to read through a directory and transfer all of the files located there ( the only files will be the ones that I previously processed ) to a specific server; then deleting the processed files. Are there any Perl geniuses out there that can re-write my psuedo Perl using NET::FTP into code that just uses standard Perl components? Also, If anybody could catch any errors in my code snippet I would be very appreciative ( I obviously can't test it ).

Now, the majority of my script works and the reformatted files are placed into a directory ( lets call it /output ). This code snippet is the last, untested, part that uses NET:FTP to transfer the files out of that directory. 

# read through the directory containing all of the formatted
# .ord files processed above and ftp them to SAP. delete the
# files when after they have been transfered.

use NET::FTP;
my $hostname='secret.server.mycompany.com;
my $user='anonymous';
my $password='anonymous';
my $ftp=Net::FTP -> new($hostname);
ftp->login($username,$password);
$ftp->ascii;

chdir( "output/$dir" );
opendir( DIR, "output/$dir" );
@files = readdir( DIR );

# transfer all of the output files
# in the output directory to SAP.

foreach( @files ) { 
   $filehandle = $_;          
   $ftp->put("output/$filehandle");   
   unlink( "$filehandle" );

} # end foreach

$ftp->quit;

[download]

Please remember that I am only a student and am still trying to learn. I know there are probably a gazillion better ways to do everything I have written and I would be glad to learn them all. Thanks for the help :)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Alternative to NET::FTP
by swiftone (Curate) on Jun 20, 2000 at 00:15 UTC
[reply]
      O.K., I did that and I think that it is almost working but my script is not actually finding the module..

      I get an error: Can't call "new" in empty package "Net:FTP"

      I have tried playing around with the directory listing in the use lib statement but nothing seems to work.

      Here is a refined version of my original code with some of the bugs removed:

      
use lib "script/libnet/Net/FTP.pm";

$ftp = Net::FTP->new("ftp.mycompany.com");
$ftp->login("anonymous","anonymous");
$ftp->ascii;

chdir( "$dir/$output" );
opendir( DIR, "$dir/output" );
@files = readdir( DIR );

# transfer all of the output files
# in the output directory to SAP.

foreach( @files ) { 
   $filehandle = $_;          
   $ftp->put("output/$filehandle");   
   unlink( "$filehandle" );

} # end foreach

$ftp->quit;

      [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
        Using a module that's not installed in the normal places Perl looks always takes an extra step: 
        use lib '/your/module/directory';

        [download]
        After you do that, Perl will look in that directory for any subsequent modules you load. You still have to load Net::FTP: 
        use Net::FTP;   # after the earlier use statement

        [download]
        So you need both those steps (point Perl at the right place, then load the module). You can't compress it into one, as you're trying to do.

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
        Ahh, merlyn is being a little coy. You want: use lib <path to library>; Don't specify the particular module. You import that with: use <module name>; In the case of Net::FTP, you can translate the double colons into a directory separator. And your 'use lib' statement ought to point to the directory in which Perl should start looking for Net::FTP (on Unix systems, Perl looks in each of the library locations for Net/FTP.pm).

        Get the picture? You're giving it too much information, and it's looking for script/libnet/Net/FTP.pm/Net/FTP.pm.

        You could use require, but try trimming your path and you'll have better luck. (Oh, and you also might want to use Net::FTP somewhere before you call Net::FTP::new(), too.)

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
[reply]
[d/l]
      O.K., I did that and I think that it is almost working but my script is not actually finding the module..

      I get an error: Can't call "new" in empty package "Net:FTP"

      I have tried playing around with the directory listing in the use lib statement but nothing seems to work.

      Here is a refined version of my original code with some of the bugs removed:

      
use lib "script/libnet/Net/FTP.pm";

$ftp = Net::FTP->new("ftp.mycompany.com");
$ftp->login("anonymous","anonymous");
$ftp->ascii;

chdir( "$dir/$output" );
opendir( DIR, "$dir/output" );
@files = readdir( DIR );

# transfer all of the output files
# in the output directory to SAP.

foreach( @files ) { 
   $filehandle = $_;          
   $ftp->put("output/$filehandle");   
   unlink( "$filehandle" );

} # end foreach

$ftp->quit;

      [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Alternative to NET::FTP
by c-era (Curate) on Jun 20, 2000 at 00:28 UTC
    Are you interested in learning the FTP proto, or do you want something that someone else wrote?
[reply]

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