Batch File > Javascript > WinSCP > Check if file exists

Question

I have a batch file that will launch a .js file which, via WinSCP, checks if a file exists and returns to the batch file if it does or not.

The problem IS: It always returns not found, and I cannot figure out why. I am unsure how to use a wildcard in this scenario.

The batch file looks like this:

cscript /nologo file.js
if errorlevel 1 goto notfound
exit
:notfound
(another script to copy a file over)

Only one file can exist on the server at once. So every ten min, this batch file will run, check if there is a file, if not, copy one over.

The file.js:

// Configuration

// Remote file search for
var FILEPATH = "../filepath/TSS*";

// Session to connect to
var SESSION = "mysession@someplace.come";

// Path to winscp.com
var WINSCP = "c:\\program files (x86)\\winscp\\winscp.com";

var filesys = WScript.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
var shell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");

var logfilepath = filesys.GetSpecialFolder(2) + "\\" + filesys.GetTempName() + ".xml";

var p = FILEPATH.lastIndexOf('/');
var path = FILEPATH.substring(0, p);
var filename = FILEPATH.substring(p + 1);

var exec;

// run winscp to check for file existence
exec = shell.Exec("\"" + WINSCP + "\" /log=\"" + logfilepath + "\"");
exec.StdIn.Write(
"option batch abort\n" +
"open \"" + SESSION + "\"\n" +
"ls \"" + path + "\"\n" +
"exit\n");

// wait until the script finishes
while (exec.Status == 0)
{
WScript.Sleep(100);
WScript.Echo(exec.StdOut.ReadAll());
}

if (exec.ExitCode != 0)
{
WScript.Echo("Error checking for file existence");
WScript.Quit(1);
}

// look for log file
var logfile = filesys.GetFile(logfilepath);

if (logfile == null)
{
WScript.Echo("Cannot find log file");
WScript.Quit(1);
}

// parse XML log file
var doc = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument");
doc.async = false;
doc.load(logfilepath);

doc.setProperty("SelectionNamespaces", 
"xmlns:w='http://winscp.net/schema/session/1.0'");

var nodes = doc.selectNodes("//w:file/w:filename[@value='" + filename + "']");

if (nodes.length > 0)
{
WScript.Echo("File found");
// signalize file existence to calling process;
// you can also continue with processing (e.g. downloading the file)
// directly from the script here
WScript.Quit(0);
}
else
{
WScript.Echo("File not found");
WScript.Quit(1);
}

On line 4 it says:

var FILEPATH = "../filepath/TSS*";

That star is what is giving me issues, i think. I need to look for a file which STARTS WITH TSS, but will have a time stamp tacked on the end. So i need to just use a wildcard after TSS.

So what i need help with is: Making this process return true if any file exists with TSS*

Any help would be much appreciated.

EDIT:

var nodes = doc.selectNodes("//w:file/w:filename[starts-with(@value, 'TSS')]");

This code seems to not work. If this code worked, it seems like it would solve all my problems.

Answer 1

You need to correct xpath expression in var nodes... line. Try something like this:

doc.setProperty("SelectionLanguage", "XPath"); //added in edit
var nodes = doc.selectNodes("//w:file/w:filename[starts-with(@value, '" + filename + "')]");

and delete asterisk from FILEPATH.

Note: first line is required in order to use XPath as the query language, not default (and old) XSLPattern which doesn't support methods such as starts-with or contains.

SelectionLanguage Property (MDSN).

Answer 2

You can use the stat command. You can even inline the WinSCP script into the batch file:

@echo off

set REMOTE_PATH=/home/user/test.txt
winscp.com /command ^
    "option batch abort" ^
    "open mysession" ^ 
    "stat %REMOTE_PATH%" ^ 
    "exit"

if errorlevel 1 goto error

echo File %REMOTE_PATH% exists
rem Do something
exit 0

:error
echo Error or file %REMOTE_PATH% not exists
exit 1

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An alternative is using the Session.FileExists from WinSCP .NET assembly.

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For further details, see the WinSCP article Checking file existence.