Access Windows ZIP functionality (VB / Windows XP)

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If possible, I want to access native Windows XP Zip functions from within Visual Basic. To be more specific, if the compression/decompression/extraction functions are performed by discrete programs, then I’m looking to “SHELL” them as appropriate. Baring that, I’m looking for whatever APIs are available. Or, whatever else I might try.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

John Littell

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Using Windows XP “Compressed Folder” shell extension to work with .zip files contains vb.net code – perhaps you can adapt it for vb/vba.

There are several other zip/unzip libraries available.

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HansV, thanks for responding.

I went to the page your recommended and it said simply ” There’s no API in Windows to work with .zip files but the compressed folder file extension can be used from VB to compress and decompress files in .zip files.” Is this telling me that my only option to Zip and Unzip from within VB/VBA code is to access third party applications?

I have no problems with buying products. My thoughts were that Windows functions might stay around a while. (What ever happened to ZipMagic? Their web site doesn’t mention it anymore.)

John Littell

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If – as the site states, as well as some newgroup posts I found – that zipping is not exposed through a Windows API, you’ll have to use third-party solutions, I’m sure there are free ones out there.

If you have a registered copy of WinZip 9, you can download the free WinZip

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My work computer doesn’t seem to implement Windows XP’s “native” zip functionality, perhaps because WinZip has taken over all the hooks. On my personal laptop, if I recall correctly, there is a right-click operation to create a new zip file. You then compress files into the zip by copying them there. Can you implement that two-step process in VB code?

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If you work with .Net at all, you can use the javascript dll, which does have zip and unzip funtionality. Of course, it is entirely obscure and not what most newsgroups recommend, but is is built into Visual Studio.Net, which none of the other solutions seem to be.

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Along the lines of what Hans suggests, you might try a command line tool, like:
! Freebyte Zip
PowerArchiver Command Line 4.01

There is a fairly comprehensive listing on Free compression and uncompression tools.

Alan

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I’ve played with many zip tools, but all the ones I know of have one serious limitation:
they can’t zip files that are open in an application, e.g. a document that’s in use
in Word.
The ONLY tool that manages to bypass this file lock is the WinZip commandline
add-on, as mentioned in HansV’s comment above.

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