Creating managed file transfer software in java

Question

I have been asked to do some POC on how we can provide a software solution which will be able to manage files. Manage files means it will be able to move files from source to destination servers. The client gave us 4 page document detailing what sort of software they are looking for. They don't want to use existing commercial softwares. They want to build their own customizable software. Has anybody worked on this type of project? Please provide your inputs on how should I approach this project. The software should be platform independent and should be built in Java.

Answer 1

HTTP File upload - and then manage the files from a web app.

If you need a fancy UI and you know swing then look into GWT

Answer 2

Use FTP as file transfer protocol (uhm yes, that's where FTP stands for :) ). There are a lot of free Java libraries out, such as Apache Commons Net FTPClient. FXP (FTP2FTP) capabilities would be nice. As far as I see and know there is no free/opensource one which can do FXP, but if you can afford it, I would take a look at JSCAPE iNet library.

How to do the UI part depends on the purpose of the application. If it's supposed to be a client application, use Swing or SWT. If it's supposed to be a web application, use plain vanilla JSP/Servlet or a MVC framework on top of that like JSF2.