(Visual Basic 6.0) Zip Append Files and Entry Type

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Demonstrates appending files to a zip object for writing a .zip. Also explains the "entry type".

Chilkat ActiveX Downloads ActiveX for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows

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

Dim success As Long

Dim zip As New ChilkatZip
Dim entry As ChilkatZipEntry

Dim zipPath As String
zipPath = "c:/temp/qa_output/out.zip"

' Initialize the zip object with the path of the .zip to be created.
success = zip.NewZip(zipPath)

' Recursively append to the zip object the paths of the files and directories in a directory tree.
' At this point we are not creating the .zip, nor are we reading the contents of the files.
' We are simply appending references to the files and directories in the local filesystem
' that will get processed when WriteZip is called.
Dim recurse As Long
recurse = 1
Dim saveExtraPath As Long
saveExtraPath = 0
Dim archiveOnly As Long
archiveOnly = 0
Dim includeHidden As Long
includeHidden = 1
Dim includeSystem As Long
includeSystem = 0
success = zip.AppendFilesEx("c:/temp/files_to_zip",recurse,saveExtraPath,archiveOnly,includeHidden,includeSystem)
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print zip.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

' Note: We can iterate over the references to the files that will be processed when zipping:
Dim count As Long
count = zip.NumEntries
Dim i As Long
i = 0
Do While i < count
    Set entry = zip.GetEntryByIndex(i)
    Debug.Print entry.FileName & " entryType = " & entry.EntryType

    i = i + 1
Loop
Debug.Print "----"

' Sample output for the above loop:
' The entry type = 1, because these are entries that are references to files in the local filesystem
' that are to be processed when the zip is written.

' hamlet.xml entryType = 1
' hello.pdf entryType = 1
' ...
' ...

' Possible entry type values:
' 0 - Mapped Entry: An entry in an existing Zip file.
' 1 - File Entry: A file not yet in memory, but referenced. These entries are added by calling AppendFiles, AppendFilesEx, AppendOneFileOrDir, etc.
' 2 - Data Entry: An entry containing uncompressed data from memory. These entries are added by calling AppendData, AppendString, etc.
' 3 - Null Entry: An entry that no longer exists in the .zip.
' 4 - New Directory Entry: A directory entry added by calling AppendNewDir. 

' The application can continue to add additional entries.
' For example:
Dim eTemp As ChilkatZipEntry
Set eTemp = zip.AppendString("helloWorld.txt","Hello World")

' Now let's have a look at what will get zipped when we write the zip:
count = zip.NumEntries
i = 0
Do While i < count
    Set entry = zip.GetEntryByIndex(i)
    Debug.Print entry.FileName & " entryType = " & entry.EntryType

    i = i + 1
Loop
Debug.Print "----"

' You can see that "helloWorld.txt" is added. 
' Its entryType = 2, which means it is in-memory data (it is not a reference to a file in the local filesystem).

' hamlet.xml entryType = 1
' hello.pdf entryType = 1
' ...
' ...
' helloWorld.txt entryType = 2

' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
' Now we'll write the zip to a .zip file.
zip.FileName = zipPath
success = zip.WriteZip()
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print zip.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

' Let's look again at the entries in the .zip
count = zip.NumEntries
i = 0
Do While i < count
    Set entry = zip.GetEntryByIndex(i)
    Debug.Print entry.FileName & " entryType = " & entry.EntryType

    i = i + 1
Loop
Debug.Print "----"

' After writing the .zip, the entry types change to 0.
' Entry type 0 indicates that it's a "mapped entry", which is an entry in an existing (and currently open) .zip file.

' hamlet.xml entryType = 0
' hello.pdf entryType = 0
' ...
' ...
' helloWorld.txt entryType = 0

' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
' If desired, we could continue adding additional entries of any kind (files or data) to the currently open .zip archive...

Set eTemp = zip.AppendString("helloWorld2.txt","Hello World 2")

' Write the .zip, including the new entries..
success = zip.WriteZip()
If (success = 0) Then
    Debug.Print zip.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

' Finally, let's look again at the entries in the .zip
count = zip.NumEntries
i = 0
Do While i < count
    Set entry = zip.GetEntryByIndex(i)
    Debug.Print entry.FileName & " entryType = " & entry.EntryType

    i = i + 1
Loop
Debug.Print "----"

' hamlet.xml entryType = 0
' hello.pdf entryType = 0
' ...
' ...
' helloWorld.txt entryType = 0
' helloWorld2.txt entryType = 0

zip.CloseZip 

Debug.Print "Success"