This class implements an alternate means of configuring the FTPClient object and also subordinate objects which it uses. Any class implementing the Configurable interface can be configured by this object.

In particular this class was designed primarily to support configuration of FTP servers which express file timestamps in formats and languages other than those for the US locale, which although it is the most common is not universal. Unfortunately, nothing in the FTP spec allows this to be determined in an automated way, so manual configuration such as this is necessary.

This functionality was designed to allow existing clients to work exactly as before without requiring use of this component. This component should only need to be explicitly invoked by the user of this package for problem cases that previous implementations could not solve.

Examples of use of FTPClientConfig

Use cases: You are trying to access a server that

• lists files with timestamps that use month names in languages other than English
• lists files with timestamps that use date formats other than the American English "standard" MM dd yyyy
• is in different timezone and you need accurate timestamps for dependency checking as in Ant

Unpaged (whole list) access on a UNIX server that uses French month names but uses the "standard" MMM d yyyy date formatting

    FTPClient f=FTPClient();
    FTPClientConfig conf = new FTPClientConfig(FTPClientConfig.SYST_UNIX);
    conf.setServerLanguageCode("fr");
    f.configure(conf);
    f.connect(server);
    f.login(username, password);
    FTPFile[] files = listFiles(directory);
 

Paged access on a UNIX server that uses Danish month names and "European" date formatting in Denmark's time zone, when you are in some other time zone.

    FTPClient f=FTPClient();
    FTPClientConfig conf = new FTPClientConfig(FTPClientConfig.SYST_UNIX);
    conf.setServerLanguageCode("da");
    conf.setDefaultDateFormat("d MMM yyyy");
    conf.setRecentDateFormat("d MMM HH:mm");
    conf.setTimeZoneId("Europe/Copenhagen");
    f.configure(conf);
    f.connect(server);
    f.login(username, password);
    FTPListParseEngine engine =
       f.initiateListParsing("com.whatever.YourOwnParser", directory);

    while (engine.hasNext()) {
       FTPFile[] files = engine.getNext(25);  // "page size" you want
       //do whatever you want with these files, display them, etc.
       //expensive FTPFile objects not created until needed.
    }
 

Unpaged (whole list) access on a VMS server that uses month names in a language not supported by the system. but uses the "standard" MMM d yyyy date formatting

    FTPClient f=FTPClient();
    FTPClientConfig conf = new FTPClientConfig(FTPClientConfig.SYST_VMS);
    conf.setShortMonthNames(
        "jan|feb|mar|apr|maí|jún|júl|ágú|sep|okt|nóv|des");
    f.configure(conf);
    f.connect(server);
    f.login(username, password);
    FTPFile[] files = listFiles(directory);
 

Unpaged (whole list) access on a Windows-NT server in a different time zone. (Note, since the NT Format uses numeric date formatting, language issues are irrelevant here).

    FTPClient f=FTPClient();
    FTPClientConfig conf = new FTPClientConfig(FTPClientConfig.SYST_NT);
    conf.setTimeZoneId("America/Denver");
    f.configure(conf);
    f.connect(server);
    f.login(username, password);
    FTPFile[] files = listFiles(directory);
 

Unpaged (whole list) access on a Windows-NT server in a different time zone but which has been configured to use a unix-style listing format.

    FTPClient f=FTPClient();
    FTPClientConfig conf = new FTPClientConfig(FTPClientConfig.SYST_UNIX);
    conf.setTimeZoneId("America/Denver");
    f.configure(conf);
    f.connect(server);
    f.login(username, password);
    FTPFile[] files = listFiles(directory);