WinSCP .NET Assembly and COM Library

The library is primarily intended for advanced automation tasks on Microsoft Windows that require conditional processing, loops or other control structures for which the basic scripting interface is too limited.

You can also use the assembly to write scripts that extend functionality of WinSCP GUI.

The library is not a general purpose file transfer library. It particularly has a limited support for an interactive processing, and as such it is not well suited for use in GUI applications.

Because the assembly uses winscp.exe internally, it is also difficult (but not impossible) to use the assembly within a restricted environment like a web server (e.g. with ASP.NET), that limits or even restricts execution of external processes.

First you need to download and install the assembly.

1. Create an instance of the WinSCP.SessionOptions class and fill in all necessary information to allow an automatic connection and authentication of your session.
2. Create an instance of the WinSCP.Session class. Optionally you can hook handlers of some events of the class.
3. Open the session using Session.Open method, passing instance of your WinSCP.SessionOptions.

Once the session is opened, you can use any of the WinSCP.Session methods to manipulate remote files, e.g.,

• Session.GetFiles to download files,
• Session.PutFiles to upload files or
• Session.SynchronizeDirectories to synchronize directories.

Namespace: WinSCP

You can have WinSCP generate a code template for you.

See list of all examples.

There are also other C# examples.

using System;
using WinSCP;
 
class Example
{
    public static int Main()
    {
        try
        {
            // Setup session options
            SessionOptions sessionOptions = new SessionOptions
            {
                Protocol = Protocol.Sftp,
                HostName = "example.com",
                UserName = "user",
                Password = "mypassword",
                SshHostKeyFingerprint = "ssh-rsa 2048 xxxxxxxxxxx..."
            };
 
            using (Session session = new Session())
            {
                // Connect
                session.Open(sessionOptions);
 
                // Upload files
                TransferOptions transferOptions = new TransferOptions();
                transferOptions.TransferMode = TransferMode.Binary;
 
                TransferOperationResult transferResult;
                transferResult =
                    session.PutFiles(@"d:\toupload\*", "/home/user/", false, transferOptions);
 
                // Throw on any error
                transferResult.Check();
 
                // Print results
                foreach (TransferEventArgs transfer in transferResult.Transfers)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Upload of {0} succeeded", transfer.FileName);
                }
            }
 
            return 0;
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error: {0}", e);
            return 1;
        }
    }
}

There are also other VB.NET examples.

Imports WinSCP
 
Friend Class Example
 
    Public Shared Function Main() As Integer
 
        Try
            ' Setup session options
            Dim sessionOptions As New SessionOptions
            With sessionOptions
                .Protocol = Protocol.Sftp
                .HostName = "example.com"
                .UserName = "user"
                .Password = "mypassword"
                .SshHostKeyFingerprint = "ssh-rsa 2048 xxxxxxxxxxx..."
            End With
 
            Using session As New Session
                ' Connect
                session.Open(sessionOptions)
 
                ' Upload files
                Dim transferOptions As New TransferOptions
                transferOptions.TransferMode = TransferMode.Binary
 
                Dim transferResult As TransferOperationResult
                transferResult =
                    session.PutFiles("d:\toupload\*", "/home/user/", False, transferOptions)
 
                ' Throw on any error
                transferResult.Check()
 
                ' Print results
                For Each transfer In transferResult.Transfers
                    Console.WriteLine("Upload of {0} succeeded", transfer.FileName)
                Next
            End Using
 
            Return 0
        Catch e As Exception
            Console.WriteLine("Error: {0}", e)
            Return 1
        End Try
 
    End Function
 
End Class

See overall PowerShell example or any other PowerShell example.

See overall JScript example or any other JScript example.

See overall VBScript example or any other VBScript example.

See overall VBA example.

See overall Perl example.

See overall SSIS example.

When you find yourself limited by scripting capabilities, you may consider converting your script to code that uses WinSCP .NET assembly.

The WinSCP .NET Assembly is a free library: you can use it, redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Mozilla Public License Version 2.0.

Because WinSCP uses the GPL license it’s important to keep the GPL license file around.1 Your software doesn’t have to be licensed under GPL as the WinSCP .NET Assembly is using WinSCP as an executable, via its public scripting interface, and not as a library.