Re: FTP batch script needs file name as parameter so different files can be transmitted each time

On 09 Mar 2013 08:41, Eric Lehti wrote:

Issue: Want FTP to run unattended in batch mode, and transmit a
different file name each time.
Do you have a suggestion?

The base code I am working from is :

http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh070703-story04.html

The published example shows the FTP script of subcommands stored in
a source member in a source physical file, which I edited with SEU.
Example:
REIN
USER [username] [password]
locsite namefmt 1
CD INBOUND
LCD /QSYS.LIB/C130308A.LIB
ASCII
PUT BATCHSCRIP.FILE
QUIT
/END

The file name BATCHSCRIP.FILE is hard-coded in the source member.
Users want the FTP to run every hour and transmit a different file
name each time.
File name would need to be supplied as a parameter.

Appears to me that I would need to recreate the source member every
hour, changing the put statement with the new file name.
Seems very cumbersome to do it this way.
Is there a better technique for transmitting files whose names
change all the time?

I am not recommending as resolution to do so, but FWiW, with probably the most minimal of changes if the above example describes the current implementation, consider the following which allows the FTP script to remain static:

Since that example is using /QSYS.LIB database file members for its data, then changing to use NAMEFMT 0 instead of NAMEFMT 1 [and thus dropping the ".FILE" on the PUT], what is described can be easily accomplished with just another override [beyond the overrides to INPUT and OUTPUT]. The CLP would change to accept the file name as a parameter, e.g. DCL &FILENAME *CHAR 10, and the CLP would issue the OVRDBF FILE(BATCHSCRIP) TOFILE(C130308A/&FILENAME) sometime before the FTP request just like the others. The script does not need to be updated [nor especially be "recreated"] each time, only the override changes on each invocation, via the input "supplied as a parameter" by the requester.

FWiW I would explicitly code the OVRSCOPE on each OVRDBF and code the corresponding LVL on the DLTOVR in the example CLP so the code is unaffected if someone changes the commmand default. And if using OVRSCOPE(*CALLLVL) or the CLP is OPM, then as long as the override scope is not *JOB, then the DLTOVR can be removed entirely because the overrides will disappear implicitly.

As tested on V5R3 the FTP is one of the features that fail to process overrides [properly] for its object name validation. So unfortunately the file name represented by the FILE(BATCHSCRIP) has to exist in the local Current Directory [the .LIB named in the LCD] so the PUT request can process without giving an error TCP10AB "File BATCHSCRI in library C130308A not found." Note: that is to suggest that the /validation/ includes, beyond the existence of the *FILE, a test for the existence of a member *FIRST [per lack of a member specification on the PUT subcommand] and that includes a test of the authority to the user both to open and to read that file.mbr [even though the override will cause the open and read to occur with the overridden-to file.mbr instead].