COM/OLE Operational Overview

Under normal operation, Robo-FTP reads a script command from a designated file, performs the command, sets a result code that the script may interrogate, and then Robo-FTP reads the next command from the file. The script can make decisions based on the value of the result code and therefore control the course of a file transfer session.

This works great. But as robust as the Robo-FTP script language may be, it still falls short of what can be done using a true programming language like C++ and Visual Basic.

With Robo-FTP in a COM/OLE environment, there is no script file per say. The application program launches Robo-FTP, establishes a named session, and then sends script commands by way of the COM/OLE interface. Robo-FTP performs a command and returns the result code to the application. (The application may block and get the result code when Robo-FTP completes the command, or it may issue the command and continue, and receive the result via an event call. There is never more than a single command pending at one time).

Upon return, the application program interrogates the result code and determines what to do next. As necessary, more commands are directed to Robo-FTP until the file transfer session is complete -- the session is complete according to the application program's criteria, not Robo-FTP's. At that point, the application closes the session and Robo-FTP terminates.

One of the options when creating a session with Robo-FTP is to keep it completely hidden from view so end users see the user-written application, not Robo-FTP. Each session is uniquely named, so it is possible to invoke multiple, independent Robo-FTP sessions.

See also: COM Programming Reference