Copying items to a zip file (zipping)

This topic demonstrates how to copy files and folders to a zip file using a disk folder as the source where the files to process are located.

Basic steps

To copy items to a zip file, the following steps must be performed:

Retrieve a reference to a folder whose files will be added to the zip file, using either the DiskFolder, ZippedFolder, ZipArchive, MemoryFolder or IsolatedFolder classes. With Xceed's FileSystem-based products, a folder is a folder; it does not matter if it is located within a zip file, on disk or in memory.
Retrieve a reference to a new or existing zip file using the ZipArchive class.
Call the CopyFilesTo method to copy the entire contents of the folder to the zip file.

Demonstration

This example demonstrates how to copy files from a disk folder to a zip file.

C#
VB.NET

public static void CopyItemsToZip()

{

  // Select a file that will be our zip file

  AbstractFile zipFile = new DiskFile( "CopyItemsToZip1.zip" );



  /* The component doesn't have distinct add and update operations.

     If you want any existing zip file to be overwritten, you need to delete the

     zip file before starting to perform any operation. */



  // If the zip file already exists

  if( zipFile.Exists )

    // Delete it

    zipFile.Delete();



  // Create a logical zip archive around the zip file

  ZipArchive zip = new ZipArchive( zipFile );



  /* It may be tempting to Create() the zip file before starting to perform operations.

     But this is an unnecessary step that will hinder performance. Indeed, if the component

     sees that the zip file doesn't already exist, it can perform optimizations when adding

     files. */

  //zipFile.Create();



  /* When performing multiple operations on a zip archive, the best performance can

     be achieved by wrapping the operations in a 'batch update'. This will make the

     component wait until all relevant operations are completed before writing the 

     zip archive final structure and metadata, greatly improving performance with large

     archives. */



  // Wrap the operations that modify the zip archive in a batch update

  using( AutoBatchUpdate batch = new AutoBatchUpdate( zip ) )

  {

    // Select a source folder

    AbstractFolder sourceFolder = new DiskFolder( @"D:\Data" );



    // Zip the files in the source folder into the zip archive

    sourceFolder.CopyFilesTo( zip, true, true );



    // Select an individual file

    AbstractFile sourceFile = new DiskFile( @"SomeFile.dat" );



    // Select a specific target name and path for the file in the archive

    AbstractFile targetFile = zip.GetFile( @"MyFolder1\MyFolder2\MyNamedFile.mydata" );



    // Zip it to the archive

    sourceFile.CopyTo( targetFile, true );

  }

}

    Public Shared Sub CopyItemsToZip()

      ' Select a file that will be our zip file

      Dim zipFile As AbstractFile = New DiskFile("CopyItemsToZip1.zip")



'       The component doesn't have distinct add and update operations.

'         If you want any existing zip file to be overwritten, you need to delete the

'         zip file before starting to perform any operation. 



      ' If the zip file already exists

      If zipFile.Exists Then

        ' Delete it

        zipFile.Delete()

      End If



      ' Create a logical zip archive around the zip file

      Dim zip As New ZipArchive(zipFile)



'       It may be tempting to Create() the zip file before starting to perform operations.

'         But this is an unnecessary step that will hinder performance. Indeed, if the component

'         sees that the zip file doesn't already exist, it can perform optimizations when adding

'         files. 

      'zipFile.Create();



'       When performing multiple operations on a zip archive, the best performance can

'         be achieved by wrapping the operations in a 'batch update'. This will make the

'         component wait until all relevant operations are completed before writing the 

'         zip archive final structure and metadata, greatly improving performance with large

'         archives. 



      ' Wrap the operations that modify the zip archive in a batch update

      Using batch As New AutoBatchUpdate(zip)

        ' Select a source folder

        Dim sourceFolder As AbstractFolder = New DiskFolder("D:\Data")



        ' Zip the files in the source folder into the zip archive

        sourceFolder.CopyFilesTo(zip, True, True)



        ' Select an individual file

        Dim sourceFile As AbstractFile = New DiskFile("SomeFile.dat")



        ' Select a specific target name and path for the file in the archive

        Dim targetFile As AbstractFile = zip.GetFile("MyFolder1\MyFolder2\MyNamedFile.mydata")



        ' Zip it to the archive

        sourceFile.CopyTo(targetFile, True)

      End Using

    End Sub

Things you should consider

The main questions you should ask yourself when copying items to a zip file are:

Do you want to copy a file rather than a folder or its contents? Create a DiskFile class rather than a DiskFolder class.
Do you want to filter (specify specific files and folders) the items that are to be added to the zip file? Use filters.
Do you want to display the status of the operation? See the Events topic.
Do you want to add items into a specific folder within the zip file? Create an instance of a ZippedFolder object rather than a ZipArchive object.
Do you only want to copy a specific file or folder? Use the CopyTo method.
Do you want to move items rather than copy them? Use the MoveTo and MoveFilesTo methods.
Do you want to change the location of the temporary folder. Set the ZipArchive's TempFolder or DefaultTempFolder property.
Do you only want to do basic zip file operations? Use the QuickZip class.
Do you want to modify the default extra headers that are stored to a zip file? Set the ZipArchive's DefaultExtraHeaders property.

All zip files will automatically be created in the Zip64 zip file format if the limitations of the regular Zip format are reached.