Getting images onto server from separate web host - php

Question

i have GoDaddy shared webspace with FTP access that contains a folder with images. These images are changing every day.
Im looking for advice on what i need to do to get these images onto my server in the workplace, maybe every hour or so. The server doesnt have IIS installed is there any other way to do this?
Am i able to do a PHP script that can put all the images onto the server using the ip or something?

Answer 1

I had the same issue as I had two images on a remote server which I needed to copy to my local server at a predefined time each day and this is the code I was able to come up with...
try {
if(#copy('url/to/source/image.ext', 'local/absolute/path/on/server/' . date("d-m-Y") . ".gif")) {
} else {
$errors = error_get_last();
throw new Exception($errors['type'] . " - " . $errors['message']);
};
} catch(Exception $e) {
//An Error Occurred Downloading The Requested Image
//Place exception handling code here
};
I then created a cron job which ran this file on a daily basis but you would be able to run is as frequently as you needed to based on how frequently the source image changes on the source server.
A few points to explain the code...
As the code is run in the background I use the # symbol to silence visual references to any errors which occur with the copy command as they won't be viewable anyway. Instead if copy results in an error it returns false and triggers throwing a new exception which takes the error type and error message and throws a new exception for it which can then be handled in the catch block and can be actioned however you need such as making a local log entry, sending an error email, whatever you need.
As the second paramater in the copy command you will see that the path results in the filename being named based on the current date. This name can be anything but needs to be unique in the destination for it to work. If you plan on overwritting the image each time the copy is done then you can statically code the name as the same name but if you want to maintain a history then you would need to come up with a file naming solution on your local server to ensure that the files don't get overwritten each time the cron runs.
The first parameter of the copy statement has been written on the assumption that the source image file is named the same each time, if the name changes the you will need to identify how the naming is achieved and code a variable to build that name and insert it as the source filename.
This code does not alter the format of the source image file so to ensure no corruption occurs and the image can still be shown after the copy you need to ensure that the source image file and the local copy of the image file have the same file extensions, so if the source image file is a .gif file then you need to make sure the file extension in the second copy parameter is also set to .gif

Answer 2

I'll try to answer here instead of continuing the comment-spam ;)
you got your webspace with FTP access. let's just call it webspace;
then you got your server at your workplace. let's just call it workplace;
after all you need one server (also can be webspace for example) where you are able to run PHP. let's call it php-server;
step 1
at the workplace setup a FTP server, for example FileZilla. you setup your FTP server so that you can connect to it. so make an account and set it up so you can access the folder(s) where you want to save your images. also make sure you got access from outside your workplace - firewall settings etc.
step 2
if you can run your PHP scripts on your webspace this would be the easiest way. you can directly access the image files, establish a connection to your FTP server at workplace and upload the files.
if the PHP server is somewhere else, you have to establish a connection from the php-server to your webspace; download your files to your php-server; upload your files to the FTP server at your workplace.
will be a bit of work as you can see, but should be possible to do.

Answer 3

Create a .bat file that uses the ftp command line functions to get the data you want from the server. Save that .bat file somewhere and create a Scheduled Task to run the script every hour.
You can even store the actual sequence of ftp commands in a separate file (e.g. ftpcmd.dat) and call them from the script
ftp -n -s:ftpcmd.dat SERVERNAME.COM
Example ftp command file:
user MyUserName
Password
bin
cd \your\path\images
mget * C:\Temp\
quit