How can I upload data using ftp, http, or a socket from a spreadsheet with VBA for Microsoft Office?

Question

I have an Excel spreadsheet, and I want to put a button on it, so users will be able to upload their data to an http/ftp server, or send the data to the server using a socket directly. I have noticed that some people creates an ftp script to do. First of all, I'm not sure that everybody has ftp on their Windows machine, and secondly, I would prefer to use a method that allows me to better monitor the progress of the upload. For example, I want to know if the user id/password failed, if the transmission completed successfully, of if there were any other kind of errors with the receiving server. Thank you.

Answer 1

If you can use VBA then check this out

http://www.motobit.com/tips/detpg_uploadvbaie/

Answer 2

Not sure if you'd want to deal with the Microsoft Internet Transfer Control (msinet.ocx) but it's an option that would provide you the control you wanted. Here is a link to a good resource to get you started: http://officeone.mvps.org/vba/ftp_upload_file.html

Answer 3

I've written a FTP class for use in VBA, which uses the Windows API functions to transfer a file:

Option Explicit

' die wichtigsten Funktionen und Typen aus dem WinInet-API

Private Const MAX_PATH = 260
Private Const INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_PRECONFIG = 0
Private Const INTERNET_FLAG_ASYNC = &H10000000
Private Const INTERNET_DEFAULT_FTP_PORT = 21
Private Const INTERNET_SERVICE_FTP = 1
Private Const FTP_TRANSFER_TYPE_BINARY As Long = 2

Private Type WIN32_FIND_DATA
  dwFileAttributes As Long
  ftCreationTime As Currency
  ftLastAccessTime As Currency
  ftLastWriteTime As Currency
  nFileSizeHigh As Long
  nFileSizeLow As Long
  dwReserved0 As Long
  dwReserved1 As Long
  cFileName As String * MAX_PATH
  cAlternate As String * 14
End Type

Private Declare Function InternetOpen Lib "wininet.dll" Alias "InternetOpenA" (ByVal lpszAgent As String, ByVal dwAccessType As Long, ByVal lpszProxyName As String, ByVal lpszProxyBypass As String, ByVal dwFlags As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function InternetConnect Lib "wininet.dll" Alias "InternetConnectA" (ByVal hInternetSession As Long, ByVal sServerName As String, ByVal nServerPort As Long, ByVal sUsername As String, ByVal sPassword As String, ByVal lService As Long, ByVal lFlags As Long, ByVal lContext As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function InternetCloseHandle Lib "wininet.dll" (ByVal hInet As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function InternetGetLastResponseInfo Lib "wininet.dll" Alias "InternetGetLastResponseInfoA" (ByRef lpdwError As Long, ByVal lpszBuffer As String, ByRef lpdwBufferLength As Long) As Boolean
Private Declare Function FtpPutFile Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpPutFileA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, ByVal lpszLocalFile As String, ByVal lpszNewRemoteFile As String, ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwContext As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function FtpGetFile Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpGetFileA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, ByVal lpszRemoteFile As String, ByVal lpszNewFile As String, ByVal fFailIfExists As Long, ByVal dwFlagsAndAttributes As Long, ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwContext As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function FtpDeleteFile Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpDeleteFileA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, ByVal lpszKillFile As String) As Long
Private Declare Function FtpCreateDirectory Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpCreateDirectoryA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, ByVal lpszNewDir As String) As Long
Private Declare Function FtpGetCurrentDirectory Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpGetCurrentDirectoryA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, lpszDirectory As String, ByVal BuffLength As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function FtpSetCurrentDirectory Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpSetCurrentDirectoryA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, ByVal lpszDirectory As String) As Long
Private Declare Function FtpRemoveDirectory Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpRemoveDirectoryA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, ByVal lpszKillDir As String) As Long
Private Declare Function FtpFindFirstFile Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpFindFirstFileA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, ByVal lpszSearchFile As String, lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA, ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwContext As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function FtpRenameFile Lib "WinInet" Alias "FtpRenameFileA" (ByVal hFtp As Long, ByVal lpszCurFile As String, ByVal lpszNewFile As String) As Long
Private Declare Function GetLastError Lib "kernel" () As Integer

' Member der Klasse
Private m_hConnect As Long
Private m_hFtp As Long

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
    m_hConnect = 0
    m_hFtp = 0
End Sub

Private Sub Class_Terminate()
    Disconnect
End Sub

Public Sub Connect(server As String, user As String, pwd As String)
    m_hConnect = InternetOpen("Microsoft Excel", INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_PRECONFIG, vbNullString, vbNullString, 0) 'INTERNET_FLAG_ASYNC)

    If m_hConnect = 0 Then
        Err.Raise vbObjectError + 1, , "Verbindung konnte nicht hergestellt werden! Fehler " + CStr(GetLastError)
        Exit Sub
    End If

    m_hFtp = InternetConnect(m_hConnect, server, INTERNET_DEFAULT_FTP_PORT, user, pwd, INTERNET_SERVICE_FTP, 0, 0)

    If m_hFtp = 0 Then
        Err.Raise vbObjectError + 1, , "Verbindung konnte nicht hergestellt werden! Fehler " + CStr(GetLastError)
        Exit Sub
    End If
End Sub

Public Sub Disconnect()
    If m_hConnect <> 0 Then
        InternetCloseHandle m_hConnect
        m_hFtp = 0
        m_hConnect = 0
    End If
End Sub

Public Sub ChangeDir(RemoteDirectory As String)
    Dim ret As Long
    ret = FtpSetCurrentDirectory(m_hFtp, RemoteDirectory)
    If ret = 0 Then
        MsgBox CStr(Err.LastDllError)
        Err.Raise vbObjectError + 1, , LastError()

    End If
End Sub

Public Function CurrentDir() As String
    Dim ret As String
    ret = Space(1024)
    FtpGetCurrentDirectory m_hFtp, ret, 1023
    CurrentDir = ret
End Function

Public Sub PutFile(LocalFilename As String, RemoteFilename As String)
    If FtpPutFile(m_hFtp, LocalFilename, RemoteFilename, FTP_TRANSFER_TYPE_BINARY, 0) = 0 Then
        Err.Raise vbObjectError + 1, , LastError
    End If
End Sub

Private Function LastError() As String
    Dim ret As String
    Dim nErr As Long

    ret = Space(1024)
    InternetGetLastResponseInfo nErr, ret, 1024

    LastError = ret
End Function

Use it like this:

Dim ftp As New CFtp
ftp.Connect GetVar("SERVER"), GetVar("USER"), GetVar("PASS")
ftp.PutFile FILENAME, "/httpdocs/ang.html"
ftp.Disconnect