Using URL (HTTP, FTP, or FILE) data sources

Using URL data sources, you can obtain data from existing business processes, data storage systems, or data warehouses for use with Generator. For example, you can point Generator to an application that retrieves 100 records from a database, evaluate those records against a set of predefined criteria, and output the records that fulfill the criteria in the format of a Generator data source.

You can specify a data source using an HTTP://, FTP://, or FILE:/// address. The content returned from a request to the address must be a text file in the proper format. Using a URL data source lets you call a Perl script or other CGI application that processes and returns text. The URL can also point directly to a text file.

Both FTP and FGFTP URLs are supported by Generator. A normal FTP URL can be used if the FTP server does not require a user name and password for access to content on the server. If a user name and password are required (even if the user name is anonymous and the password is an e-mail address or any string value), use FGFTP:// and append the required information in Name/Value pairs to the end of the URL.

An FGFTP URL takes the following form:

fgftp://userName|password@FTP_HostName:portNumber/path/to/file.txt 

fgftp:// tells Generator that it should interpret the rest of the URL as an FTP request using authentication.

userName is the user account to use to perform the FTP.

password is the password for the user name account.

FTP_HostName is the host name and specifies the FTP host to contact to fill the request.

portNumber is the machine's port that is set up for FTP. The default value is 21.

path/to/file.txt is the path and file name for the file you want to FTP or gather data from.