FTP Server for Android
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a standard network protocol used for transferring files between a client and a server on a computer network. It provides a simple and efficient way to transfer files over a network.
Android devices can act as both an FTP client and an FTP server. While there are several FTP client apps available on the Google Play Store, in this article, we will focus on creating an FTP server on an Android device.
Setting Up the Project
To create an FTP server on Android, we will use the Apache FtpServer
library. Add the following dependency to your build.gradle
file:
dependencies {
implementation 'org.apache.ftpserver:ftpserver-core:1.1.1'
}
Creating the FTP Server
To create an FTP server, we need to define a class that extends the DefaultFtpServerContext
class and overrides the createServer
method. Here's an example:
import org.apache.ftpserver.FtpServer;
import org.apache.ftpserver.FtpServerFactory;
import org.apache.ftpserver.listener.ListenerFactory;
import org.apache.ftpserver.usermanager.PropertiesUserManagerFactory;
public class MyFtpServer {
public static void startFtpServer() {
FtpServerFactory serverFactory = new FtpServerFactory();
ListenerFactory listenerFactory = new ListenerFactory();
listenerFactory.setPort(21); // Set the port number for the FTP server
serverFactory.addListener("default", listenerFactory.createListener());
PropertiesUserManagerFactory userManagerFactory = new PropertiesUserManagerFactory();
userManagerFactory.setFile(new File("/path/to/users.properties")); // Specify the path to the user properties file
serverFactory.setUserManager(userManagerFactory.createUserManager());
FtpServer ftpServer = serverFactory.createServer();
try {
ftpServer.start();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
In the above code, we have defined a method startFtpServer()
which creates an instance of FtpServerFactory
and sets up the FTP server. We set the port number for the FTP server using listenerFactory.setPort()
and specify the path to the user properties file using userManagerFactory.setFile()
.
User Properties File
The user properties file contains the information about the FTP users, such as username, password, and home directory. Here's an example of a user properties file:
# Define FTP users
user1.userpassword=password1
user1.homedirectory=/path/to/user1/directory
user1.writepermission=true
user1.idletime=3600
user2.userpassword=password2
user2.homedirectory=/path/to/user2/directory
user2.writepermission=false
user2.idletime=1800
In the above example, we have defined two FTP users: user1
and user2
. The user password, home directory, write permission, and idle time are specified for each user.
Starting the FTP Server
To start the FTP server, we can call the startFtpServer()
method from our Android application. For example, we can start the FTP server when a button is clicked:
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
private Button startButton;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
startButton = findViewById(R.id.start_button);
startButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
MyFtpServer.startFtpServer();
startButton.setEnabled(false);
}
});
}
}
In the above code, we have defined a button in the layout file (activity_main.xml
) and added a click listener to start the FTP server when the button is clicked. We also disable the button after starting the server to prevent multiple server instances.
Conclusion
In this article, we have explored how to create an FTP server on an Android device using the Apache FtpServer
library. We learned how to set up the FTP server, define user properties, and start the server from an Android application. By implementing an FTP server on Android, you can easily transfer files between your Android device and other devices on the network.