Useful Scripts

You may want to have a script that synchronizes any local directory with a same-named subdirectory of fixed remote path, e.g.:

• c:\www\gallery with /home/user/www/gallery;
• c:\users\username\www\forum with /home/user/www/forum.

Such a script is particularly useful for integrating with Windows Explorer’s ‘Send To’ menu.

First create wrapper batch file to store the paths you want to synchronize into environment variables (change /home/user/www/ to remote path root you want to synchronize against):

winscp.com /script=example.txt /parameter %1 "/home/user/www/%~n1%~x1"

The script example.txt may look like:

# Being intended for interactive session, we are not enabling batch mode
# Connect
open mysession
# Synchronize paths provided via environment variables
synchronize remote "%1%" "%2%"

Then you can make a shortcut to the batch file:

• When placed on desktop, you can drop any local directory to it to start synchronization;
• When placed to C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo, you can use Send To > Your Shortcut from context menu of any local directory.

Following script compresses selected files into tar/gzip archive and downloads it:

option batch abort
option confirm off
open mysession
cd %1%
call tar -czf /tmp/archive.tar.gz %2%
lpwd
get -delete /tmp/archive.tar.gz
exit

Launch the above script from batch file like the one below, which automatically decompresses the archive:

winscp.com /script=example.txt /parameter %*
if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto error

echo Retrieving files succeeded
gzip -d archive.tar.gz
tar -xf archive.tar
del archive.tar
exit

:error
echo Retrieving files failed

Example of running the batch file to download all files under /home/user/www:

example.bat /home/user/www *.*

The batch file needs Windows ports of gzip and tar tools. You can get them from UnxUtils project.

WinSCP .NET assembly mostly deprecates techniques demostrated in this article. Using the assembly is now preferred approach for advanced automation tasks with WinSCP.

Following is more robust alternative to simple example contained in guide to SFTP file transfers in .NET.

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Xml.XPath
Imports System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager
 
Public Class SFTP
    ' SFTP support, built on WinSCP
    Public Shared Function PutSFTP(ByRef filename As String, ByRef remotehost As String, ByRef username As String, ByRef password As String, _
                           Optional ByVal outfilename As String = Nothing, Optional ByVal output As String = Nothing,
                           Optional ByRef errmsg As String = Nothing) As Boolean
 
        ' Run hidden WinSCP process
        Dim winscp As Process = New Process()
        Dim logname As String = Path.ChangeExtension(Path.GetTempFileName, "xml")
        With winscp.StartInfo
            ' SFTPExecutable needs to be defined in app.config to point to winscp.com
            Try
                .FileName = AppSettings("SFTPExecutable")
                If .FileName Is Nothing OrElse .FileName.Length = 0 Then Throw (New Exception("from PutSFTP: SFTPExecutable not set in config file."))
            Catch ex As Exception
                errmsg = ex.Message
                Return False
            End Try
            .Arguments = "/xmllog=" + logname
            .UseShellExecute = False
            .RedirectStandardInput = True
            .RedirectStandardOutput = True
            .CreateNoWindow = True
        End With
        Try
            winscp.Start()
        Catch ex As Exception
            errmsg = "from PutSFTP:  Could not run the WinSCP executable " & winscp.StartInfo.FileName & Environment.NewLine & ex.Message
            Return False
        End Try
 
        ' Feed in the scripting commands
        With winscp.StandardInput
            .WriteLine("option batch abort")
            .WriteLine("option confirm off")
            .WriteLine("open sftp://" & username & ":" & password & "@" & remotehost & "/")
            If outfilename Is Nothing Then .WriteLine("put " & filename) Else .WriteLine("put " & filename & " """ & outfilename & """")
            .Close()
        End With
        If output IsNot Nothing Then output = winscp.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
 
        ' Wait until WinSCP finishes
        winscp.WaitForExit()
 
        ' Parse and interpret the XML log
        ' (Note that in case of fatal failure the log file may not exist at all)
        If Not File.Exists(logname) Then
            errmsg = "from PutSFTP:  The WinSCP executable appears to have crashed."
            Return False
        End If
 
        Dim log As XPathDocument = New XPathDocument(logname)
        Dim ns As XmlNamespaceManager = New XmlNamespaceManager(New NameTable())
        ns.AddNamespace("w", "http://winscp.net/schema/session/1.0")
        Dim nav As XPathNavigator = log.CreateNavigator()
 
        ' Success (0) or error?
        Dim status As Boolean = (winscp.ExitCode = 0)
        If Not status Then
            errmsg = "from PutSFTP:  There was an error transferring " & filename & "."
            ' See if there are any messages associated with the error
            For Each message As XPathNavigator In nav.Select("//w:message", ns)
                errmsg &= Environment.NewLine & message.Value
            Next message
        End If
 
        Try
            My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteFile(logname)
        Catch ex As Exception
            ' at least we tried to clean up
        End Try
 
        Return status
    End Function
End Class

• Guide to scripting/automation;
• Guide to advanced scripting;
• See WinSCP .NET assembly examples for advanced tasks.

• Shortcut to synchronize any local directory with remote directory

Following script compresses selected files into tar/gzip archive and downloads it:

option batch abort
option confirm off
open mysession
cd %1%
call tar -czf /tmp/archive.tar.gz %2%
lpwd
get -delete /tmp/archive.tar.gz
exit

Launch the above script from batch file like the one below, which automatically decompresses the archive:

winscp.com /script=example.txt /parameter %*
if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto error

echo Retrieving files succeeded
gzip -d archive.tar.gz
tar -xf archive.tar
del archive.tar
exit

:error
echo Retrieving files failed

Example of running the batch file to download all files under /home/user/www:

example.bat /home/user/www *.*

The batch file needs Windows ports of gzip and tar tools. You can get them from UnxUtils project.

• Running WinSCP from VB.NET
• Further Reading

• Guide to scripting/automation;
• Guide to advanced scripting;
• See WinSCP .NET assembly examples for advanced tasks.

You may want to have a script that synchronizes any local directory with a same-named subdirectory of fixed remote path, e.g.:

• c:\www\gallery with /home/user/www/gallery;
• c:\users\username\www\forum with /home/user/www/forum.

Such a script is particularly useful for integrating with Windows Explorer’s ‘Send To’ menu.

First create wrapper batch file to store the paths you want to synchronize into environment variables (change /home/user/www/ to remote path root you want to synchronize against):

winscp.com /script=example.txt /parameter %1 "/home/user/www/%~n1%~x1"

The script example.txt may look like:

# Being intended for interactive session, we are not enabling batch mode
# Connect
open mysession
# Synchronize paths provided via environment variables
synchronize remote "%1%" "%2%"

Then you can make a shortcut to the batch file:

• When placed on desktop, you can drop any local directory to it to start synchronization;
• When placed to C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo, you can use Send To > Your Shortcut from context menu of any local directory.

Following script compresses selected files into tar/gzip archive and downloads it:

option batch abort
option confirm off
open mysession
cd %1%
call tar -czf /tmp/archive.tar.gz %2%
lpwd
get -delete /tmp/archive.tar.gz
exit

Launch the above script from batch file like the one below, which automatically decompresses the archive:

winscp.com /script=example.txt /parameter %*
if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto error

echo Retrieving files succeeded
gzip -d archive.tar.gz
tar -xf archive.tar
del archive.tar
exit

:error
echo Retrieving files failed

Example of running the batch file to download all files under /home/user/www:

example.bat /home/user/www *.*

The batch file needs Windows ports of gzip and tar tools. You can get them from UnxUtils project.

WinSCP .NET assembly mostly deprecates techniques demostrated in this article. Using the assembly is now preferred approach for advanced automation tasks with WinSCP.

Following is more robust alternative to simple example contained in guide to SFTP file transfers in .NET.

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Xml.XPath
Imports System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager
 
Public Class SFTP
    ' SFTP support, built on WinSCP
    Public Shared Function PutSFTP(ByRef filename As String, ByRef remotehost As String, ByRef username As String, ByRef password As String, _
                           Optional ByVal outfilename As String = Nothing, Optional ByVal output As String = Nothing,
                           Optional ByRef errmsg As String = Nothing) As Boolean
 
        ' Run hidden WinSCP process
        Dim winscp As Process = New Process()
        Dim logname As String = Path.ChangeExtension(Path.GetTempFileName, "xml")
        With winscp.StartInfo
            ' SFTPExecutable needs to be defined in app.config to point to winscp.com
            Try
                .FileName = AppSettings("SFTPExecutable")
                If .FileName Is Nothing OrElse .FileName.Length = 0 Then Throw (New Exception("from PutSFTP: SFTPExecutable not set in config file."))
            Catch ex As Exception
                errmsg = ex.Message
                Return False
            End Try
            .Arguments = "/xmllog=" + logname
            .UseShellExecute = False
            .RedirectStandardInput = True
            .RedirectStandardOutput = True
            .CreateNoWindow = True
        End With
        Try
            winscp.Start()
        Catch ex As Exception
            errmsg = "from PutSFTP:  Could not run the WinSCP executable " & winscp.StartInfo.FileName & Environment.NewLine & ex.Message
            Return False
        End Try
 
        ' Feed in the scripting commands
        With winscp.StandardInput
            .WriteLine("option batch abort")
            .WriteLine("option confirm off")
            .WriteLine("open sftp://" & username & ":" & password & "@" & remotehost & "/")
            If outfilename Is Nothing Then .WriteLine("put " & filename) Else .WriteLine("put " & filename & " """ & outfilename & """")
            .Close()
        End With
        If output IsNot Nothing Then output = winscp.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
 
        ' Wait until WinSCP finishes
        winscp.WaitForExit()
 
        ' Parse and interpret the XML log
        ' (Note that in case of fatal failure the log file may not exist at all)
        If Not File.Exists(logname) Then
            errmsg = "from PutSFTP:  The WinSCP executable appears to have crashed."
            Return False
        End If
 
        Dim log As XPathDocument = New XPathDocument(logname)
        Dim ns As XmlNamespaceManager = New XmlNamespaceManager(New NameTable())
        ns.AddNamespace("w", "http://winscp.net/schema/session/1.0")
        Dim nav As XPathNavigator = log.CreateNavigator()
 
        ' Success (0) or error?
        Dim status As Boolean = (winscp.ExitCode = 0)
        If Not status Then
            errmsg = "from PutSFTP:  There was an error transferring " & filename & "."
            ' See if there are any messages associated with the error
            For Each message As XPathNavigator In nav.Select("//w:message", ns)
                errmsg &= Environment.NewLine & message.Value
            Next message
        End If
 
        Try
            My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteFile(logname)
        Catch ex As Exception
            ' at least we tried to clean up
        End Try
 
        Return status
    End Function
End Class

• Guide to scripting/automation;
• Guide to advanced scripting;
• See WinSCP .NET assembly examples for advanced tasks.

• Shortcut to synchronize any local directory with remote directory
• Automatically compress files before download
• Running WinSCP from VB.NET
• Further Reading

• Guide to scripting/automation;
• Guide to advanced scripting;
• See WinSCP .NET assembly examples for advanced tasks.