These are the highest level classes in the C1Zip library. They allow you to create and manage zip files. Using zip files to store application data provides the following benefits:

• You can consolidate many files into one, making application deployment easier.
• You can compress the data, saving disk space and network bandwidth.
• The zip format is an open standard, supported by many popular applications.

C1ZipFile Class

The C1ZipFile class encapsulates a zip file. After you create a C1ZipFile object, you can attach it to an existing zip file or tell it to create a new empty zip file for you.

The code below creates a zip file called sources.zip and adds all files with a "cs" extension to the zip file:

// get path for zip file and files to compress
string path = Application.ExecutablePath;
int pos = path.IndexOf(@"\bin");
path = path.Substring(0, pos + 1);
// create a zip file
C1ZipFile zip = new C1ZipFile();
zip.Create(path + "source.zip");
// add all files with extension cs to the zip file
foreach (string fileName in Directory.GetFiles(path, "*.cs"))
    zip.Entries.Add(fileName);
// show result
foreach (C1ZipEntry ze in zip.Entries)
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0} {1:#,##0} {2:#,##0}",
        ze.FileName, ze.SizeUncompressed, ze.SizeCompressed);
}

C1ZipEntryCollection Class

After you have created or opened a zip file, use the C1ZipFile.Entries collection to inspect the contents of the zip file, or to add, expand, and delete entries. For example:

myZip.Entries.Add(stream1, "MyData.txt")
myZip.Entries.Add(stream2, "MyData.xml")
Dim zipEntry As C1ZipEntry
For Each zipEntry In myZip.Entries
    Console.WriteLine(zipEntry.FileName)
Next zipEntry

myZip.Entries.Add(stream1, "MyData.txt");
myZip.Entries.Add(stream2, "MyData.doc");
foreach (C1ZipEntry zipEntry in myZip.Entries)
    Debug.WriteLine(zipEntry.FileName);

C1ZipEntry Class

The C1ZipEntry class exposes properties and methods that describe each entry, including its original file name, size, compressed size, and so on. It also has a C1ZipEntry.OpenReader method that returns a stream object, so you can read the entry contents without expanding it first.