How to avoid SSIS FTP task from failing when there are no files to download?

Question

I\'m using SQL Server 2005, and creating ftp tasks within SSIS.

Sometimes there will be files to ftp over, sometimes not. If there are no files, I don\'t want the

Answer 1

Check this link that describes about gracefully handling task error in SSIS Package.

I had almost the same problem but, with retrieving files. I wanted the package NOT to fail when no files were found on FTP server. The above link stops the error bubbling up and causing the package to fail; something you would have thought FailPackageOnError=false should have done? :-S

Hope this solves it for you too!

Answer 2

You can use the free SSIS FTP Task++ from eaSkills. It doesn't throw an error if the file or files don't exist, it support wild cards and gives you the option to download and delete if you need to do so.

Here's the link to the feature page: http://www.easkills.com/ssis/ftptask

Answer 3

Aha, OK - Thanks for clarification. As the FTP task cannot return a folder listing it will not be possible to use the ForEach as I initially said - That only works if you're uploading X amount of files to a remote source.

To download X amount of files, you can go two ways, either you can do it entirely in .Net in a script task, or you can populate an ArrayList with the file names from within a .Net script task, then ForEach over the ArrayList, passing the file name to a variable and downloading that variable name in a standard FTP task.

Code example to suit: http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2472491&SiteID=1

So, in the above, you'd get the FileNames() and populate the ArrayList from that, then assign the ArrayList to an Object type variable in Dts.Variables, then ForEach over that Object (ArrayList) variable using code something like: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SSIS/64014/

Answer 4

This is another solution that is working for me, using built-in stuff and so without manually re-writing the FTP logic:

1) Create a variable in your package called FTP_Error

2) Click your FTP Task, then click "Event Handlers" tab

3) Click within the page to create an event handler for "FTP Task/OnError" - this will fire whenever there is trouble with the FTP

4) From the toolbox, drag in a Script Task item, and double-click to open that up

5) In the first pop-up, ReadOnlyVariables - add System::ErrorCode, System::ErrorDescription

6) In the first pop-up, ReadWriteVariables - add your User::FTP_Error variable

7) Edit Script

8) In the script set your FTP_Error variable to hold the ReadOnlyVariables we had above:

Dts.Variables["FTP_Error"].Value = "ErrorCode:" + Dts.Variables["ErrorCode"].Value.ToString() + ", ErrorDescription=" + Dts.Variables["ErrorDescription"].Value.ToString();

9) Save and close script

10) Hit "OK" to script task

11) Go back to "Control Flow" tab

12) From the FTP task, OnError go to a new Script task, and edit that

13) ReadOnlyVariables: User::FTP_Error from before

14) Now, when there are no files found on the FTP, the error code is -1073573501 (you can find the error code reference list here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345164.aspx)

15) In your script, put in the logic to do what you want - if you find a "no files found" code, then maybe you say task successful. If not, then task failed. And your normal flow can handle this as you wish:

if (Dts.Variables["FTP_Error"].Value.ToString().Contains("-1073573501"))
{
  // file not found - not a problem
  Dts.TaskResult = (int)ScriptResults.Success;
}
else
{
  // some other error - raise alarm!
  Dts.TaskResult = (int)ScriptResults.Failure;
}

And from there your Succeeded/Failed flow will do what you want to do with it.

Answer 5

(I can't accept my own answer, but this was the solution that worked for me.)

It may not be the best solution, but this works.

I use a script task, and have a bunch of variables for the ftp connection information, and source and destination directories. (Because, we'll be changing the server this is run on, and it will be easier to change in a config package.)

I create a text file on the fly, and write the ftp commands to it:

    Dim ftpStream As StreamWriter = ftpFile.CreateText()
    ftpStream.WriteLine(ftpUser)
    ftpStream.WriteLine(ftpPassword)
    ftpStream.WriteLine("prompt off")
    ftpStream.WriteLine("binary")
    ftpStream.WriteLine("cd " & ftpDestDir)
    ftpStream.WriteLine("mput " & ftpSourceDir)
    ftpStream.WriteLine("quit 130")
    ftpStream.Close()

Then, after giving it enough time to really close, I start a process to do the ftp command:

    ftpParameters = "-s:" & ftpParameterLoc & ftpParameterFile & " " & ftpServer
    proc = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("ftp", ftpParameters)

Then, after giving it some more time for the ftp process to run, I delete the temporary ftp file (that has connection information in it!).

If files don't exist in the source directory (the variable has the \\drive\dir\*.* mapping), then there is no error. If some other error happens, the task still fails, as it should.

I'm new to SSIS, and this may be a kludge. But it works for now. I guess I asked for the best way, and I'll certainly not claim that this is it.

As I pointed out, I have no way of knowing what the files are named, or even if there are any files there at all. If they are there, I want to get them.

Answer 6

You can redirect on failure, to another task that does nothing, ie a script that just returns true.

To do this, add the new script task, highlight your FTP task, a second green connector will appear, drag this to the script task, and then double click it. Select Failure on the Value drop down. Obviously, you'll then need to handle real failures in this script task to still display right in the Job history.