Is the ZIP compression that is built into Windows XP/Vista/2003/2008 able to be scripted at all? What executable would I have to call from a BAT/CMD file? or is it possible to do it with VBScript?
I realize that this is possible using WinZip, 7-Zip and other external applications, but I'm looking for something that requires no external applications to be installed.
There are VBA methods to zip and unzip using the windows built in compression as well, which should give some insight as to how the system operates. You may be able to build these methods into a scripting language of your choice.
The basic principle is that within windows you can treat a zip file as a directory, and copy into and out of it. So to create a new zip file, you simply make a file with the extension .zip
that has the right header for an empty zip file. Then you close it, and tell windows you want to copy files into it as though it were another directory.
Unzipping is easier - just treat it as a directory.
In case the web pages are lost again, here are a few of the relevant code snippets:
Sub NewZip(sPath)
'Create empty Zip File
'Changed by keepITcool Dec-12-2005
If Len(Dir(sPath)) > 0 Then Kill sPath
Open sPath For Output As #1
Print #1, Chr$(80) & Chr$(75) & Chr$(5) & Chr$(6) & String(18, 0)
Close #1
End Sub
Function bIsBookOpen(ByRef szBookName As String) As Boolean
' Rob Bovey
On Error Resume Next
bIsBookOpen = Not (Application.Workbooks(szBookName) Is Nothing)
End Function
Function Split97(sStr As Variant, sdelim As String) As Variant
'Tom Ogilvy
Split97 = Evaluate("{""" & _
Application.Substitute(sStr, sdelim, """,""") & """}")
End Function
Sub Zip_File_Or_Files()
Dim strDate As String, DefPath As String, sFName As String
Dim oApp As Object, iCtr As Long, I As Integer
Dim FName, vArr, FileNameZip
DefPath = Application.DefaultFilePath
If Right(DefPath, 1) <> "\" Then
DefPath = DefPath & "\"
End If
strDate = Format(Now, " dd-mmm-yy h-mm-ss")
FileNameZip = DefPath & "MyFilesZip " & strDate & ".zip"
'Browse to the file(s), use the Ctrl key to select more files
FName = Application.GetOpenFilename(filefilter:="Excel Files (*.xl*), *.xl*", _
MultiSelect:=True, Title:="Select the files you want to zip")
If IsArray(FName) = False Then
'do nothing
Else
'Create empty Zip File
NewZip (FileNameZip)
Set oApp = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
I = 0
For iCtr = LBound(FName) To UBound(FName)
vArr = Split97(FName(iCtr), "\")
sFName = vArr(UBound(vArr))
If bIsBookOpen(sFName) Then
MsgBox "You can't zip a file that is open!" & vbLf & _
"Please close it and try again: " & FName(iCtr)
Else
'Copy the file to the compressed folder
I = I + 1
oApp.Namespace(FileNameZip).CopyHere FName(iCtr)
'Keep script waiting until Compressing is done
On Error Resume Next
Do Until oApp.Namespace(FileNameZip).items.Count = I
Application.Wait (Now + TimeValue("0:00:01"))
Loop
On Error GoTo 0
End If
Next iCtr
MsgBox "You find the zipfile here: " & FileNameZip
End If
End Sub
Sub Unzip1()
Dim FSO As Object
Dim oApp As Object
Dim Fname As Variant
Dim FileNameFolder As Variant
Dim DefPath As String
Dim strDate As String
Fname = Application.GetOpenFilename(filefilter:="Zip Files (*.zip), *.zip", _
MultiSelect:=False)
If Fname = False Then
'Do nothing
Else
'Root folder for the new folder.
'You can also use DefPath = "C:\Users\Ron\test\"
DefPath = Application.DefaultFilePath
If Right(DefPath, 1) <> "\" Then
DefPath = DefPath & "\"
End If
'Create the folder name
strDate = Format(Now, " dd-mm-yy h-mm-ss")
FileNameFolder = DefPath & "MyUnzipFolder " & strDate & "\"
'Make the normal folder in DefPath
MkDir FileNameFolder
'Extract the files into the newly created folder
Set oApp = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
oApp.Namespace(FileNameFolder).CopyHere oApp.Namespace(Fname).items
'If you want to extract only one file you can use this:
'oApp.Namespace(FileNameFolder).CopyHere _
'oApp.Namespace(Fname).items.Item("test.txt")
MsgBox "You find the files here: " & FileNameFolder
On Error Resume Next
Set FSO = CreateObject("scripting.filesystemobject")
FSO.deletefolder Environ("Temp") & "\Temporary Directory*", True
End If
End Sub