Question

Coldfusion Way to download files dynamically?

Asked by: cmistre

I have 2 different servers one has a very large quantity of photos stored on it, and the other server contains the members and the main site.

Is there a way I can dynamically download photo files?  For instance, if they want to use a photo stored on a different server, can I send a request to the storage server to download those particular files to the requesting server instead of having to have a to use a http:// url link to the photos?

I can not store the site and the photos on the same server so I am trying to find a way to have the photos downloaded to the server when requested to avoid having to link to another site / server to show the image.

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Asked On
2009-06-20 at 11:54:38ID24508568
Tags

Coldfusion

Topics

Cold Fusion Markup Language

,

ColdFusion Studio

,

ColdFusion Application Server

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
13

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Answers

 

by: btrevarthenPosted on 2009-06-20 at 19:20:08ID: 24676020

So long as you have adequate permissions between servers (i.e. ColdFusion Application Server running under an account that exists on both servers with permission to the share\folder) then you can use a UNC share to access the files from within ColdFusion.  Let me know if you need more detail.

 

by: cmistrePosted on 2009-06-20 at 21:24:33ID: 24676171

Yes I have permissions as they are both dedicated servers and I have root access to both.

I was experimenting with cfftp but running into some snags.   Maybe just a pointer if this is the best way or not, or what is the best way to run a loop that will download all photos associated with a particular ID.

The structure of the database is as such.  One record ID is ex. 10000.

Record ID 10000 has 5 photos named as follows

10000-1.jpg
10000-2.jpg
10000-3.jpg

The amount of records varies per record.

Mainly a little help with either the proper syntax for cfftp to do this or perhaps if there is a better method.  The 2 servers are not located together or able to be networked so it has to happen via internet ftp.

 

by: btrevarthenPosted on 2009-06-20 at 21:58:59ID: 24676213

If both servers are on the same network and you have access to the image server from the CF server (same user account) then you should use a direct file connection to the images, on windows this would be a UNC share \\server-name\share-name\folder-name\image-file.jpg for example.

Are you wanting to show the images on the page or download them to the user?

1. Show on page: the best way will be to setup a virtual directory on the CF server pointing to the root of the images folder, then you can reference the images as web-site-address.com\images\ if "images" is your virtual directory.

2. Download them to the user via the browser session: use CFDIRECTORY to list the files for the ID, then use CFFILE to get the file from the other server, then CFCONTENT to deliver it back to the browser.

I can't see any good reason to use CFFTP if your servers are on the same network.

 

by: cmistrePosted on 2009-06-20 at 22:10:41ID: 24676232

The servers are not on the same network, as I stated in the last paragraph of the last comment.

The files need to be downloaded from a remote server to the account of the user.  Currently they are being displayed via a link to the storage server, but I would like to download the files into the users account and rename them somehow during the process too if possible.

 

by: btrevarthenPosted on 2009-06-20 at 22:22:18ID: 24676254

Apologies I missed that bit.

If FTP is the best option available to you (network seperation constraints) then that's fine but you will need somewhere local on the CF server to store, rename and deliver the files during processing, then a clean up task so you don't end up with all of the images stored locally over time.


<!--- Open FTP connection --->
<cfftp action="open" result="conResult" server="ftp-server-name-or-ip" port="21" stoponerror="yes" username="username-value" password="password-value" retrycount="2" timeout="30" connection="conFTP" secure="no">
	   
<!--- Get list of images - assuming folder-name is the ID you obtain for the current user --->
<cfftp action="listdir" name="qImages" directory="folder-name" result="listResult" connection="conFTP">
 
<!--- Loop over images and download them --->
<cfloop query="qImages">
	<!--- Only images --->
	<cfif IsDirectory eq 0 and right(name,4) eq ".jpg">
		<!--- Download it --->
		<cftry>
			<cfftp action="getfile" connection="conFTP" localfile="local-file-name-for-this-file" remotefile="#name#" transfermode="auto" result="listResult">
			<cfcatch type="any"><cfdump var="#cfcatch#"></cfcatch>
		</cftry>
	</cfif>
</cfloop>
 
<!--- Close the connection --->
<cfftp action="close" result="closeResult" stoponerror="yes" connection="conFTP" timeout="30">
 
<!--- For Debug --->
<cfdump var="#conResult#">
<cfdump var="#listdir#">
<cfdump var="#closeResult#">

                                              
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by: cmistrePosted on 2009-06-20 at 22:24:47ID: 24676262

I am gonna try to put that in action now, will let ya know how it goes... thanks so much for providing that.

 

by: cmistrePosted on 2009-06-20 at 22:45:37ID: 24676299

Ok, I have another question... :)

ALL images on the photo storage server are in ONE directory.  So I wont be able to pull out files based on the directory they are stored in, but rather I need to wildcard search by the prefix of the file name, or maybe rig a loop to create the names to download based on the #ID-photonumber#  ...is this possible?

IE record 10000 holds records 10000-1.jpg, 10000-2.jpg, 10000-3.jpg, etc.
So I either need to create a loop that will hardcode the ID in front with the loop number as the ending, or do some type of wildcard search like get all files like "10000-*"

I think the code above is geared toward getting a folders contents, which wont work.

 

by: btrevarthenPosted on 2009-06-20 at 23:21:36ID: 24676377

Can just remove the listdir step and modify the loop to be based on your ID. I'll just revise that sample for you now...

 

by: azadisaryevPosted on 2009-06-21 at 02:11:33ID: 24676719

<cfhttp> may also work for you, and may be a better option than cfftp if you want to avoid having to store the images locally...

Azadi

 

by: cmistrePosted on 2009-06-21 at 11:29:52ID: 24678089

I do need to retrieve and store the images locally.  I have begun trying to implement the code but I don't see where to set up what local folder I want the downloaded file stored to?   Am i missing something?

 

by: cmistrePosted on 2009-06-21 at 12:22:38ID: 24678277

I'm at the point where the code seems correct, but I am having permission issues.  It looks like I can log into the remote server fine, but permission is denied to write the file into the local directory that I specified.  Is there some place I need to specify different settings for the local ftp user, or setup something in the administrator?  What do I need to change to allow the file to be written to my local folder?

 

by: cmistrePosted on 2009-06-21 at 12:55:48ID: 31594718

WIth a few simple modifications I figured out how to get this done.  Thanks for your help.  The permission error had to do with my ftp account settings.

 

by: btrevarthenPosted on 2009-06-21 at 13:12:27ID: 24678482

The local FTP use will be the account CF is running as.  make sure it has write permissions to the local folder you are writing to.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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