Normally we use some third-party utility to create, open and extract Zip files. At times we may want to deal with Zip files pro-grammatically. Dot NET framework 4.5 introduces some new classes in System.IO.Compression namespace that allows us to do.Using these classes we can create new Zip files, open and modify existing Zip files and extract the contents of Zip files via code.
Introduction
This article explains how to create zip files and extract them using a windows application
In .NET framework 4.5 System.IO.Compression, namespaces get some new classes that allow us to work with Zip files programmatically. In order to use these classes we must refer the following two assemblies:
- System.IO.Compression.dll
- System.IO.Compression.FileSystem.dll
we also need to import System.IO.Compression namespace in code behind which contains class like
ZipFile
ZipArchive
ZipArchiveEntry
The ZipFile class provides static methods for creating, opening and extracting zip files. The ZipArchive class represents a bundle of files that are compressed using Zip file format. The ZipArchiveEntry class represents a single entry from a ZipArchive. A ZipArchive typically consists of one or more ZipArchiveEntry instances.
lets create a Windows Application as shown below
Creating a Zip file
private bool isFolder = false;
private void Add_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DialogResult result = openFileDialog1.ShowDialog();
if (result == DialogResult.OK)
{
string[] files = openFileDialog1.FileNames;
txtfile.Text = string.Join(",", files);
isFolder = false;
}
}
private void AddFolder_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DialogResult result = folderBrowserDialog1.ShowDialog();
if (result == DialogResult.OK)
{
txtfile.Text = folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath;
isFolder = true;
}
}
private void Zip_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DialogResult result = saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog();
if (result == DialogResult.OK)
{
if (isFolder)
{
ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory(txtfile.Text, saveFileDialog1.FileName);
}
else
{
string[] files = txtfile.Text.Split(',');
ZipArchive zip = ZipFile.Open(saveFileDialog1.FileName, ZipArchiveMode.Create);
foreach (string file in files)
{
zip.CreateEntryFromFile(file, Path.GetFileName(file), CompressionLevel.Optimal);
}
zip.Dispose();
}
MessageBox.Show("ZIP file has been created successfully!");
}
}
Open a Zip file and Reading Entries
As shown in the below code, this time the OpenRead() method of the ZipFile class is used to open an existing Zip archive for reading purposes. A foreach loop then iterates through all the entries from the Entries collection. Each entry from the Entries collection is of type ZipArchiveEntry. The FullName property of the ZipArchiveEntry class returns the full name of the entry. The full name is then added to the ListBox.
private void Open_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DialogResult result = openFileDialog1.ShowDialog();
if (result == DialogResult.OK)
{
ZipArchive zip = ZipFile.OpenRead(openFileDialog1.FileName);
foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in zip.Entries)
{
listfiles.Items.Add(entry.FullName);
}
}
}Extracting a Zip File
In order to extract the contents of an existing Zip file we use ExtractToDirectory() method of the ZipFile class. The ExtractToDirectory() method accepts two parameters - path of the source Zip file and path of the destination folder where it has to be unzipped. The following code shows how this can be done:
private void Unzip_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DialogResult result = openFileDialog1.ShowDialog();
if (result == DialogResult.OK)
{
txtExtract.Text = openFileDialog1.FileName;
DialogResult result2 = folderBrowserDialog1.ShowDialog();
if (result2 == DialogResult.OK)
{
ZipFile.ExtractToDirectory(openFileDialog1.FileName, folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath);
MessageBox.Show("ZIP file has been extracted successfully!");
}
}
}Conclusion
so far we have learn how to Zip and Unzip the Files programmatically using c#..
Reference
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.compression.ziparchive.aspx