(MFC) Compress and Decompress Hex String

Imagine we have data represented as a hex string. This example demonstrates how to decode, compress, and re-encode to a smaller hex string representing the compressed data. An even better choice is to re-encode to a more compact encoding such as base64.

Note: This example requires Chilkat v9.5.0.66 or greater.

Chilkat C/C++ Library Downloads MS Visual C/C++ Libs

See Also: Using MFC CString in Chilkat

#include <CkCompression.h>
#include <CkBinData.h>

void ChilkatSample(void)
    {
    CkString strOut;

    // This example assumes the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
    // See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

    bool success;

    const char *strHex = "54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A0D0A";

    CkCompression compress;
    compress.put_Algorithm("deflate");

    CkBinData binDat;
    // Load the hex string into a BinData object.
    // This decodes the hexidecimal. The decoded bytes will be contained in the BinData.
    binDat.AppendEncoded(strHex,"hex");

    // Compress the BinData.
    compress.CompressBd(binDat);

    // Get the compressed data in hex format:
    const char *compressedHex = binDat.getEncoded("hex");
    strOut.append("compressed hex:");
    strOut.append("\r\n");
    strOut.append(compressedHex);
    strOut.append("\r\n");

    // The compressed hex is: 0BC94855282CCD4CCE56482ACA2FCF5348CBAF50C82ACD2D484D51C82F4B2D522801CAE72456552AA4E4A7EBF172850C61E5BC5C00

    // Even better, get the compressed data in base64 format:
    // (base64url and modbase64 are other valid choices...)
    const char *compressedBase64 = binDat.getEncoded("base64");
    strOut.append("compressed base64:");
    strOut.append("\r\n");
    strOut.append(compressedBase64);
    strOut.append("\r\n");

    // The compressed base64 is: C8lIVSgszUzOVkgqyi/PU0jLr1DIKs0tSE1RyC9LLVIoAcrnJFZVKqTkp+vxcoUMYeW8XAA=

    // Now decompress:
    binDat.Clear();
    binDat.AppendEncoded(compressedHex,"hex");
    compress.DecompressBd(binDat);

    const char *decompressedHex = binDat.getEncoded("hex");
    strOut.append("decompressed hex:");
    strOut.append("\r\n");
    strOut.append(decompressedHex);
    strOut.append("\r\n");

    // The output is the original hex string:
    // 54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A0D0A


    SetDlgItemText(IDC_EDIT1,strOut.getUnicode());

    }