(C# UWP/WinRT) 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 Universal Windows Platform (UWP) / WinRT Downloads Chilkat for the Universal Windows Platform (UWP)

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

bool success;

string strHex = "54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A54686520717569636B2062726F776E20666F78206A756D706564206F76657220746865206C617A7920646F672E0D0A0D0A";

Chilkat.Compression compress = new Chilkat.Compression();
compress.Algorithm = "deflate";

Chilkat.BinData binDat = new Chilkat.BinData();
// 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.
await compress.CompressBdAsync(binDat);

// Get the compressed data in hex format:
string compressedHex = binDat.GetEncoded("hex");
Debug.WriteLine("compressed hex:");
Debug.WriteLine(compressedHex);

// The compressed hex is: 0BC94855282CCD4CCE56482ACA2FCF5348CBAF50C82ACD2D484D51C82F4B2D522801CAE72456552AA4E4A7EBF172850C61E5BC5C00

// Even better, get the compressed data in base64 format:
// (base64url and modbase64 are other valid choices...)
string compressedBase64 = binDat.GetEncoded("base64");
Debug.WriteLine("compressed base64:");
Debug.WriteLine(compressedBase64);

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

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

string decompressedHex = binDat.GetEncoded("hex");
Debug.WriteLine("decompressed hex:");
Debug.WriteLine(decompressedHex);

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