ZIP code module without DLL dependencies???

[The Frog]

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to find a solution for handling zipped data without the
need to ship / install any DLL files with the database. Does anybody
know of code to handle ZIP files that does not require any external
references? If I can ship it 'built-in' as either a class module or
standard module then that would be perfect.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

The Frog

[Stuart McCall]

"Chuck Grimsby" <c.*******@worl dnet.att.net.in validwrote in message
news:8a******** *************** *********@4ax.c om...

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:01:25 -0000, "Stuart McCall"
<sm*****@myunre albox.comwrote:

>>Although I've yet to find a way to copy individual files into the zip,
other
than creating a folder, copying the files into it, then specifying this as
the source folder for the copy (which could be done transparently, but
it's
a bit kludgy).

To copy a individual file into the zip file via VBS, you just do:

<SNIP>

Thanks for that. I found this site:

http://www.rondebruin.nl/windowsxpzip.htm#Code

has examples of all that. The one thing they don't demonstrate, which is
eluding me also (so far), is how to extract one file from a zip. The items
collection, although having a Count property, cannot be addressed either
with a numeric or text index:

oApp.NameSpace( ZipFileName).it ems(1)
oApp.NameSpace( ZipFileName).it ems("test.txt")

However, this works:

For Each item In oApp.NameSpace( ZipFileName).it ems
Debug.Print item
Next

Any idea how to address an individual item of the items collection?

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Chuck Grimsby <c.*******@worl dnet.att.net.in validwrote:

>There's also the (Free and Open Source) 7-Zip: http://www.7-zip.org/

which has a built-in command line interface.

I much prefer a dll solution so I'll know if it's executed properly. Command line
doesn't thrill me.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

[David W. Fenton]

"Tony Toews [MVP]" <tt****@teluspl anet.netwrote in
news:57******** *************** *********@4ax.c om:

I much prefer a dll solution so I'll know if it's executed
properly. Command line doesn't thrill me.

But can't you redirect commandline output to a file and use that to
figure out what happened? Or use a batch file and DOS ErrorLevel?

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

"David W. Fenton" <XX*******@dfen ton.com.invalid wrote:

>I much prefer a dll solution so I'll know if it's executed
properly. Command line doesn't thrill me.

But can't you redirect commandline output to a file and use that to
figure out what happened? Or use a batch file and DOS ErrorLevel?

Sure, but again that's more work and more things to go wrong compared to a dll
solution which returns an error code.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

[Stuart McCall]

"Stuart McCall" <sm*****@myunre albox.comwrote in message
news:fi******** ***********@new s.demon.co.uk.. .

"Chuck Grimsby" <c.*******@worl dnet.att.net.in validwrote in message
news:8a******** *************** *********@4ax.c om...

>On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:01:25 -0000, "Stuart McCall"
<sm*****@myunr ealbox.comwrote :

>>>Although I've yet to find a way to copy individual files into the zip,
other
than creating a folder, copying the files into it, then specifying this
as
the source folder for the copy (which could be done transparently, but
it's
a bit kludgy).

To copy a individual file into the zip file via VBS, you just do:

<SNIP>

Thanks for that. I found this site:

http://www.rondebruin.nl/windowsxpzip.htm#Code

has examples of all that. The one thing they don't demonstrate, which is
eluding me also (so far), is how to extract one file from a zip. The items
collection, although having a Count property, cannot be addressed either
with a numeric or text index:

oApp.NameSpace( ZipFileName).it ems(1)
oApp.NameSpace( ZipFileName).it ems("test.txt")

However, this works:

For Each item In oApp.NameSpace( ZipFileName).it ems
Debug.Print item
Next

Any idea how to address an individual item of the items collection?

Please ignore this question. I figured it out:

oApp.NameSpace( ZipFileName).it ems.Item(1)

or

oApp.NameSpace( ZipFileName).it ems.Item("test. txt")

[David W. Fenton]

"Tony Toews [MVP]" <tt****@teluspl anet.netwrote in
news:hq******** *************** *********@4ax.c om:

"David W. Fenton" <XX*******@dfen ton.com.invalid wrote:

>>I much prefer a dll solution so I'll know if it's executed
properly. Command line doesn't thrill me.

But can't you redirect commandline output to a file and use that
to figure out what happened? Or use a batch file and DOS
ErrorLevel?

Sure, but again that's more work and more things to go wrong
compared to a dll solution which returns an error code.

But you have to have the DLL properly registered, which may not work
well for certain locked-down scenarios.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

"David W. Fenton" <XX*******@dfen ton.com.invalid wrote:

>But you have to have the DLL properly registered, which may not work
well for certain locked-down scenarios.

Not to my knowledge. So long as the DLL works in the same folder as the FE MDE you
should be just fine.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

[The Frog]

It is interesting looking at the scripting options for this. Does
anyone know if there is a way to make use of a library from scripting
without having to register the dll? As David mentioned, it can be a
problem to register such things in heavily controlled environments,
and this is the case with where I work. There is also a problem with
different platforms so the WinXP scripting solution will only work on
a few machines.

As a secondary point, I would like to ask for some advice on the
possible creation of a 'zip' module / class module. The implementation
of such a thing could be quite useful, especially if you could
compress data sufficiently (eg with BLOB's) before stroing directly in
the database, not to mention the standard file handling stuff. If one
were to attempt such a thing, what would your considered opinions be
on the most useful implementation of such a thing? I was leaning
towards a class module with the necessary properties and methods to
handle things, but I considered that there might be an issue with
particularly large hunks of data, whereby it may be more efficient /
effective to simply use a function to return the results of the
desired compress / uncompress operation. Your thoughts would be
appreciated :-)

Cheers

The Frog

[The Frog]

<REPOST - Dont know why it didnt show up properly....>

It is interesting looking at the scripting options for this. Does
anyone know if there is a way to make use of a library from scripting
without having to register the dll? As David mentioned, it can be a
problem to register such things in heavily controlled environments,
and this is the case with where I work. There is also a problem with
different platforms so the WinXP scripting solution will only work on
a few machines.

As a secondary point, I would like to ask for some advice on the
possible creation of a 'zip' module / class module. The
implementation
of such a thing could be quite useful, especially if you could
compress data sufficiently (eg with BLOB's) before stroing directly
in
the database, not to mention the standard file handling stuff. If one
were to attempt such a thing, what would your considered opinions be
on the most useful implementation of such a thing? I was leaning
towards a class module with the necessary properties and methods to
handle things, but I considered that there might be an issue with
particularly large hunks of data, whereby it may be more efficient /
effective to simply use a function to return the results of the
desired compress / uncompress operation. Your thoughts would be
appreciated :-)
Cheers
The Frog

[Chuck Grimsby]

Personally, I don't think you will be able to find a way to do this
without installing a dll or using pre-existing installed dlls that
will work on all windows platforms. The Zip functions didn't exist as
a part of the operating system (for example) until XP.

There are a number of pre-existing modules and class modules around to
handle WinZip-ing files. Feel free to use which ever one you want,
but those will require installing at least some version of WinZip.

I can't in all good conscious recommend storing compressed data in a
Access database. That sort of information (encrypted or not) is not
well suited to a database of any sort, though most will allow you to
do so. It just isn't a "good practice". It would not be fast or
efficient to do so.

Why are you trying to accomplish doing this? Knowing that, we might
be able to help you find an acceptable solution.
On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:07:19 -0800 (PST), The Frog
<Mr************ @googlemail.com wrote:

><REPOST - Dont know why it didnt show up properly....>

It is interesting looking at the scripting options for this. Does
anyone know if there is a way to make use of a library from scripting
without having to register the dll? As David mentioned, it can be a
problem to register such things in heavily controlled environments,
and this is the case with where I work. There is also a problem with
different platforms so the WinXP scripting solution will only work on
a few machines.

As a secondary point, I would like to ask for some advice on the
possible creation of a 'zip' module / class module. The
implementati on
of such a thing could be quite useful, especially if you could
compress data sufficiently (eg with BLOB's) before stroing directly
in
the database, not to mention the standard file handling stuff. If one
were to attempt such a thing, what would your considered opinions be
on the most useful implementation of such a thing? I was leaning
towards a class module with the necessary properties and methods to
handle things, but I considered that there might be an issue with
particularly large hunks of data, whereby it may be more efficient /
effective to simply use a function to return the results of the
desired compress / uncompress operation. Your thoughts would be
appreciated :-)

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