Building a TreeView/ListView similar to Windows Explorer for FTP application

[jmsrickland]

I'm currently working on an FTP client which I have it working with all the trimmings.

What I would like to add to it is to show the directories of the site in a tree view control and the contents of a directory in the list view control. I want it to work just like Windows Explorer works.

OK, not knowing how I would go about doing this using APIs I manually built a text file that has every directory and sub directories. I load this text file from the hdd and build the tree view listing from it. Works!

I already know how to get the contents of any directory and display them in the list view.

What I don't know is how can I build the tree view directory listings without using this text file but instead using APIs if there are any. This would have to build the complete tree view before any directory is clicked on

[fafalone]

Do you mean just for the remote site or you want to display local contents on one side and FTP on the other?

APIs for what, reading FTP directories or making a TreeView/ListView?

[jmsrickland]

Well, I already have an explorer VB project that works and the download vbexplorer.zip is a nice project as well for explorer on your local disk drive but really serves no purpose to me.

You see I already have an explorer window for my FTP project which works exactly the way I like it very much like Window's Explorer. What I don't have the the means to get the directories/subdirectories off the web site unless I use my pre-built text file which lists all of them but I want to get out of using that and dynamically generate a list of all folders

[fafalone]

So the real question is how do you list directories and files on an FTP site. You've got to be sending FTP commands and receiving responses already, is there a problem with the normal LS command?

[jmsrickland]

No, the question is not how do you list directories and files on an FTP site, that I know.

The question is how do I start with the very 1st directory and from there parse through it looking for all the subdirectories and continueing on with this until I have gone through every directory and every subdirectory of every directory and put this all together creating a tree view of the directory structures. I though I explained this in my 1st post.

Seems like you totally changed your post #2. Why

[westconn1]

i seem to remember a similar thread started by you in 2011
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...emote-computer

most of your questions should already be answered in that or the codebank thread that i posted after
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...light=ftp+tree

i posted examples using both a shell object and APIs

[jmsrickland]

2011 Good grief, westconn, I can't even remember last month

OK, I'll check out the links you posted. Thanks

[fafalone]

No, the question is not how do you list directories and files on an FTP site, that I know.

The question is how do I start with the very 1st directory and from there parse through it looking for all the subdirectories and continueing on with this until I have gone through every directory and every subdirectory of every directory and put this all together creating a tree view of the directory structures. I though I explained this in my 1st post.

Seems like you totally changed your post #2. Why

I changed it because I realized you were talking about listing the remote directories, not local ones, and could already add them to the TV/LV once you had them. My original comment only applied to listing local files.

If your question isn't how to get a list of files and directories on an FTP site then no I don't understand the question. You list the top level after login, the recursively go through each directory returned (although every FTP client I've had doesn't pre-load like you seem to want to do). Top directory would be the original node on the TV, and each level would be the child of the last.

[jmsrickland]

I changed it because I realized you were talking about listing the remote directories, not local ones, and could already add them to the TV/LV once you had them. My original comment only applied to listing local files.

If your question isn't how to get a list of files and directories on an FTP site then no I don't understand the question. You list the top level after login, the recursively go through each directory returned (although every FTP client I've had doesn't pre-load like you seem to want to do). Top directory would be the original node on the TV, and each level would be the child of the last.

OK, so now you seem to be getting what I am asking. So my question is how, not what do I do but how do I do it. How do I recursively go through each directory? That's what I don't know how to do.

What do you mean doesn't pre-load like you seem to want to do

I know when you open up your initial directory that's all you get. I know that within that directory there are other sub directories and within those sub directories even more sub directories, etc, etc.

[jmsrickland]

@westconn

Two problems with your last addition

You have the following code

Private Sub tv_NodeClick(ByVal Node As MSComctlLib.Node)
 If Node.Children > 0 Then Node.Expanded = True: Exit Sub
          
 If Right(Node.Key, 1) = pathsep Then
   listdirs sh.NameSpace(Node.Key), Node
 Else
   MsgBox "this is a file " & Node.Key
 End If
          
 Node.Expanded = True
End Sub

1)
Here you check if directory name (which was clicked on in the treeview) has a "/" on the end of the line:

If Right(Node.Key, 1) = pathsep

However, shouldn't everything be a directory name since the treeview only contains directory names and the name was clicked on as a treeview node. So why the check? Also, the names do not end with a "/" so control goes to the Else clause which is incorrect.

2)
In the 1st If clause you have this:

listdirs sh.NameSpace(Node.Key), Node

but sh.NameSpace() causes error 91 object variable or With block not set. I see no where in the code where it is set.
Am I supposed to set this to something?

And yes, I added a reference to Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation

EDIT: OK, I added this line in Form_Load():

Set sh = CreateObject("shell.application")

This appears to take care of the 2nd issue stated above. But now it creates another issue. When it calls:

listdirs sh.NameSpace(Node.Key), Node but in sub listdirs:

Sub listdirs(f As Object, nod As Object)

f is always Nothing

[westconn1]

Here you check if directory name (which was clicked on in the treeview) has a "/" on the end of the line:

If Right(Node.Key, 1) = pathsep

However, shouldn't everything be a directory name since the treeview only contains directory names and the name was clicked on as a treeview node. So why the check? Also, the names do not end with a "/" so control goes to the Else clause which is incorrect.

i had made some changes (on request), that can optionally be used to list all files as well as folders
one part of change included ending the node keys for directories with pathsep
this is in post #4 listdirs (and now below), same as the code posted directly above, it should make no difference whether or not you want to list the files
i just modified the code to list all directories first then files, the files could then be listed in some other control

    Sub listdirs(f As Object, nod As Object)
              Dim nod2 As Object, fitem As Object, i As Integer
              If f Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
              ' list all folders first
              For Each fitem In f.items
                  If fitem.isfolder Then Set nod2 = tv.Nodes.Add(nod, tvwChild, nod.Key & fitem.Name & pathsep, fitem.Name)
                  ' note the above adds pathsep to node key for folders
              Next
              For Each fitem In f.items

                    If Not fitem.isfolder Then tv.Nodes.Add nod, tvwChild, nod.Key & fitem.Name, fitem.Name
                    ' the above line can be replaced, to put the files into any other controls
              Next
              End Sub