FastZip

This page shows how to create and extract zip files using the FastZip class.

How to create a Zip File

 FastZip fastZip = new FastZip();

 bool recurse = true;  // Include all files by recursing through the directory structure
 string filter = null; // Dont filter any files at all
 fastZip.CreateZip("fileName.zip", @"C:\SourceDirectory", recurse, filter);

 Using the fileFilter parameter

If the file filter is not a null string, it is interpreted as a regular expression which is tested against each file name.

For example, a fileFilter value of 'txt' would match with 'Test.txt' but would also match with 'SometxtFile.doc'. To match with '.txt' you would need to add a a dot, but even then a filter of ".txt" would be interpreted as [any-character]txt. You need to add an escape character "" before the dot to specify it as a literal match. However, in my tests doing a single \ didn't seem to work, I needed to add a second .

Note that ".txt" would still match a file such as "file.txtold" or "file.txt.old", so you can append the $ specifier which matches with the end of the string: e.g ".txt$" to ensure you only match files with the last extension as .txt

 FastZip fastZip = new FastZip();

 bool recurse = true;  // Include all files by recursing through the directory structure
 string filter = @"\\.txt$"; // Only files ending in ".txt"
 fastZip.CreateZip("fileName.zip", @"C:\SourceDirectory", recurse, filter);

Create a zip with FastZip using progress events

You can set events which will fire on each file. This gives you the opportunity to display a progress notification, and to decide whether to include each file.

using System;
using System.IO;
using ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.Core;
using ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.Zip;

private int _uptoFileCount;
private int _totalFileCount;

public void TestFastZipCreate(string backupFolderPath) {

	_totalFileCount = FolderContentsCount(backupFolderPath);

	FastZipEvents events = new FastZipEvents();
	events.ProcessFile = ProcessFileMethod;
	FastZip fastZip = new FastZip(events);

	fastZip.CreateEmptyDirectories = true;

	string zipFileName = Directory.GetParent(backupFolderPath).FullName + "\\ZipTest.zip";

	fastZip.CreateZip(zipFileName, backupFolderPath, true, "");
}

private void ProcessFileMethod(object sender, ScanEventArgs args) {
	_uptoFileCount ++;
	int percentCompleted = _uptoFileCount * 100 / _totalFileCount;
	// do something here with a progress bar
	// file counts are easier as sizes take more work to calculate, and compression levels vary by file type

	string fileName = args.Name;
	// To skip this file, set args.ContinueRunning = false
	// Only include files ending in ".txt"
	if (!fileName.EndsWith(".txt", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
		args.ContinueRunning = false;
}

// Returns the number of files in this and all subdirectories
private int FolderContentsCount(string path) {
	int result = Directory.GetFiles(path).Length;
	string[ ] subFolders = Directory.GetDirectories(path);
	foreach (string subFolder in subFolders) {
		result += FolderContentsCount(subFolder);
	}
	return result;
}

How to extract a Zip File using FastZip

C#
using System;
using ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.Zip;

public void TestFastZipUnpack(string zipFileName, string targetDir) {

	FastZip fastZip = new FastZip();
	string fileFilter = null;

	// Will always overwrite if target filenames already exist
	fastZip.ExtractZip(zipFileName, targetDir, fileFilter);
}



VB
Imports ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.Zip

Public Sub TestFastZipUnpack(ByVal zipFileName As String, ByVal targetDir As String)

	Dim fastZip As FastZip = New FastZip()
	Dim fileFilter As String = Nothing

	fastZip.ExtractZip(zipFileName, targetDir, fileFilter)
End Sub

How to extract a Zip File using FastZip with Name Filter and Confirm Overwrite

C#
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.Core;
using ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.Zip;

private bool _stop;

public void TestFastZipUnpack(string zipFileName, string targetDir) {

	// Set the method that will be called on each file before extraction but after the OverwritePrompt (if applicable)
	FastZipEvents events = new FastZipEvents();
	events.ProcessFile = ProcessFileMethod;
	FastZip fastZip = new FastZip(events);

	// To conditionally extract files in FastZip, use the fileFilter and directoryFilter arguments.
	// The filter is a list of regex values separated with semi-colon. An entry starting with - is an exclusion.
	// See the NameFilter class for more details.
	// The following expression includes all name ending in '.dat' with the exception of 'dummy.dat'
	string fileFilter = @"+\.dat$;-^dummy\.dat$";
	string directoryFilter = null;
	bool restoreDateTime = true;

	// Will prompt to overwrite if target filenames already exist
	fastZip.ExtractZip(zipFileName, targetDir, FastZip.Overwrite.Prompt, OverwritePrompt,
				fileFilter, directoryFilter, restoreDateTime);
}

private bool OverwritePrompt(string fileName) {

	// In this method you can choose whether to overwrite a file.
	DialogResult dr = MessageBox.Show("Overwrite " + fileName, "Overwrite?", MessageBoxButtons.YesNoCancel);
	if (dr == DialogResult.Cancel) {
		_stop = true;
		// Must return true if we want to abort processing, so that the ProcessFileMethod will be called.
		// When the ProcessFileMethod sets ContinueRunning false, processing will immediately stop.
		return true;
	}
	return dr == DialogResult.Yes;
}

private void ProcessFileMethod(object sender, ScanEventArgs args) {

	string fileName = args.Name;
	// To stop all further processing, set args.ContinueRunning = false
	if (_stop) {
		args.ContinueRunning = false;
	}
}

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