SoftArtisans Archive

You received SoftArtisans Archive free with your purchase of XFile. SoftArtisans Archive is a sophisticated component for the creation and extraction of Zip and Cab archives.

With SoftArtisans Archive you can,

Create a Zip or Cab archive
Add files to an archive
Delete files from an archive
Enumerate the contents of an archive
Extract files from an archive
Sign the archive using Microsoft Authenticode (for .cab and .exe files only)

Using Archive in conjunction with XFile, you can compress several files and upload or download the archive file. You can then use Archive to extract the uploaded files on the server, or the downloaded files on the client.

Exercise 15: Using SoftArtisans Archive on the Client

Create an HTML script, containing the following lines.

<script language="vbs">
      Sub CreateArchive_OnClick()
      // Set the archive format
      // 1 - Zip format
      // 2 - Cab format
      arch.ArchiveType = 1

      // Create the Zip file
      arch.CreateArchive "c:\temp\ZipArch.zip"

      // Add files to the Zip file
      arch.AddFile "c:\report.doc"
      arch.AddFile "c:\image.jpg"
      arch.CloseArchive
      End Sub
      </script>

      <Input Type=Button Name="CreateArchive" Value="Create Archive">

      <Object Classid="clsid:D3400FEE-041F-11D3-B1C5-00A0C9B4587A" Codebase="localhost/SAXFileSamples/saxfile.cab"
      ID="arch">
      </Object>

Understanding the Script

CreateArchive_OnClick() executes when the user clicks the "Create Archive" button.
- The ArchiveType property specifies whether the archive format will be Zip or Cab. Set ArchiveType to 1 to create a Zip file, or 2 to create a Cab file.
- The CreateArchive method creates a new archive file. CreateArchive takes one parameter, the archive name. The archive name should include both the file path and file name.
- The AddFile method adds a file or folder to the archive. Use AddFile afterCreateArchiveor OpenArchive (see Programmer's Reference). AddFile takes two parameters, the file or folder path and name, and the optional parameter bRecursive. When bRecursive is set to True, Archive will add any sub-directories to the archive, maintaining the original directory structure. The default value of bRecursive is False.
- The CloseArchive method closes the archive. Use CloseArchive to save any file additions or deletions. If you do not close the archive, all changes will be lost.
The <Input> tag creates a "Create Archive" button. When the user clicks this button, the CreateArchive_OnClick() procedure will execute.
The <Object> tag creates an instance of SoftArtisans Archive. Classid specifies Archive's unique class id, clsid:D3400FEE-041F-11D3-B1C5-00A0C9B4587A. Codebase specifies the location of saxfile.cab, which contains SAArch.dll (Archive's dll). ID assigns a name to the created instance of SoftArtisans Archive.

Using SoftArtisans Archive on the Server

Exercise 15 demonstrated creating an instance of SoftArtisans Archive on the client, using the <object>tag. You can also use Archive on the server, within an ASP script.

To create an instance of Archive within an ASP script, use Server.CreateObject, as follows.

Set objArchive = Server.CreateObject("Softartisans.Archive")