UnixCompress ActiveX Reference Documentation

UnixCompress

Current Version: 9.5.0.97

UNIX (.Z) compression component.

Object Creation

(ASP)
set obj = Server.CreateObject("Chilkat_9_5_0.UnixCompress")

(AutoIt)
$obj = ObjCreate("Chilkat_9_5_0.UnixCompress")

(Visual Basic 6.0)
Dim obj As New UnixCompress

(VBScript)
set obj = CreateObject("Chilkat_9_5_0.UnixCompress")

(Delphi)
obj := TUnixCompress.Create(Self);

(FoxPro)
loObject = CreateObject('Chilkat_9_5_0.UnixCompress')

(PowerBuilder)
lole_object = create oleobject
li_rc = lole_object.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat_9_5_0.UnixCompress")

(SQL Server)
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat_9_5_0.UnixCompress', @obj OUT

(Javascript)
var obj = new ActiveXObject("Chilkat_9_5_0.UnixCompress");

Properties

AbortCurrent
AbortCurrent As Long
Introduced in version 9.5.0.58

When set to 1, causes the currently running method to abort. Methods that always finish quickly (i.e.have no length file operations or network communications) are not affected. If no method is running, then this property is automatically reset to 0 when the next method is called. When the abort occurs, this property is reset to 0. Both synchronous and asynchronous method calls can be aborted. (A synchronous method call could be aborted by setting this property from a separate thread.)

top
DebugLogFilePath
DebugLogFilePath As String

If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.

This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:

  1. a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
  2. the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
  3. there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.

top
HeartbeatMs
HeartbeatMs As Long

The number of milliseconds between each AbortCheck event callback. The AbortCheck callback allows an application to abort any method call prior to completion. If HeartbeatMs is 0 (the default), no AbortCheck event callbacks will fire.

top
LastBinaryResult
LastBinaryResult As Variant (read-only)

The binary data returned by the last (binary data returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepBinaryResult is set to 1. This provides a means for obtaining large varbinary results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting large amounts of data returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for binary properties).

top
LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String (read-only)

Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastErrorText
LastErrorText As String (read-only)

Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastErrorXml
LastErrorXml As String (read-only)

Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastMethodSuccess
LastMethodSuccess As Long

Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of 1 indicates success, a value of 0 indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:

  • Any method that returns a string.
  • Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
  • Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = 1 and failure = 0.
  • Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.

Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to 1. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.

top
LastStringResult
LastStringResult As String (read-only)

The string return value of the last (string returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepStringResult is set to 1. This provides a means for obtaining large string results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting long strings returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for string properties).

top
LastStringResultLen
LastStringResultLen As Long (read-only)

The length, in characters, of the string contained in the LastStringResult property.

top
VerboseLogging
VerboseLogging As Long

If set to 1, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is 0. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

top
Version
Version As String (read-only)

Version of the component/library, such as "9.5.0.94"

top

Methods

CompressFile
CompressFile(inFilename As String, destPath As String) As Long

Compresses a file to create a UNIX compressed file (.Z). This compression uses the LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression algorithm.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
CompressFileAsync (1) (2) (AutoIt) (Classic ASP) (PowerBuilder) (SQL Server) (VBScript) (Visual Basic 6.0) (Visual FoxPro)
CompressFileAsync(inFilename As String, destPath As String) As ChilkatTask

Creates an asynchronous task to call the CompressFile method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

top
CompressFileToMem
CompressFileToMem(inFilename As String) As Variant

Unix compresses a file to an in-memory image of a .Z file. (This compression uses the LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression algorithm.)

Returns a zero-length byte array (as a Variant) on failure.
An empty array will have a UBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.

top
CompressFileToMemAsync (1) (2) (AutoIt) (Classic ASP) (PowerBuilder) (SQL Server) (VBScript) (Visual Basic 6.0) (Visual FoxPro)
CompressFileToMemAsync(inFilename As String) As ChilkatTask

Creates an asynchronous task to call the CompressFileToMem method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

top
CompressMemory
CompressMemory(inData As Variant) As Variant

Compresses in-memory data to an in-memory image of a .Z file. (This compression uses the LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression algorithm.)

Returns a zero-length byte array (as a Variant) on failure.
An empty array will have a UBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.

top
CompressMemToFile
CompressMemToFile(inData As Variant, destPath As String) As Long

Unix compresses and creates a .Z file from in-memory data. (This compression uses the LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression algorithm.)

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
CompressString
CompressString(inStr As String, charset As String) As Variant

Compresses a string to an in-memory image of a .Z file. Prior to compression, the string is converted to the character encoding specified by charset. The charset can be any one of a large number of character encodings, such as "utf-8", "iso-8859-1", "Windows-1252", "ucs-2", etc.

Returns a zero-length byte array (as a Variant) on failure.
An empty array will have a UBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.

More Information and Examples
top
CompressStringToFile
CompressStringToFile(inStr As String, charset As String, destPath As String) As Long

Unix compresses and creates a .Z file from string data. The charset specifies the character encoding used for the byte representation of the characters when compressed. The charset can be any one of a large number of character encodings, such as "utf-8", "iso-8859-1", "Windows-1252", "ucs-2", etc.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
LoadTaskCaller
LoadTaskCaller(task As ChilkatTask) As Long
Introduced in version 9.5.0.80

Loads the caller of the task's async method.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
ReadFile
ReadFile(filename As String) As Variant

Convenience method to read an entire file and return as a byte array.

Returns a zero-length byte array (as a Variant) on failure.
An empty array will have a UBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.

top
UncompressFile
UncompressFile(inFilename As String, destPath As String) As Long

Uncompresses a .Z file. (This compression uses the LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression algorithm.)

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
UncompressFileAsync (1) (2) (AutoIt) (Classic ASP) (PowerBuilder) (SQL Server) (VBScript) (Visual Basic 6.0) (Visual FoxPro)
UncompressFileAsync(inFilename As String, destPath As String) As ChilkatTask

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UncompressFile method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

top
UncompressFileToMem
UncompressFileToMem(inFilename As String) As Variant

Uncompresses a .Z file directly to memory. (This compression uses the LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression algorithm.)

Returns a zero-length byte array (as a Variant) on failure.
An empty array will have a UBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.

top
UncompressFileToMemAsync (1) (2) (AutoIt) (Classic ASP) (PowerBuilder) (SQL Server) (VBScript) (Visual Basic 6.0) (Visual FoxPro)
UncompressFileToMemAsync(inFilename As String) As ChilkatTask

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UncompressFileToMem method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

top
UncompressFileToString
UncompressFileToString(zFilename As String, charset As String) As String

Uncompresses a .Z file that contains a text file. The contents of the text file are returned as a string. The character encoding of the text file is specified by charset. Typical charsets are "iso-8859-1", "utf-8", "windows-1252", "shift_JIS", "big5", etc.

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
top
UncompressFileToStringAsync (1) (2) (AutoIt) (Classic ASP) (PowerBuilder) (SQL Server) (VBScript) (Visual Basic 6.0) (Visual FoxPro)
UncompressFileToStringAsync(zFilename As String, charset As String) As ChilkatTask

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UncompressFileToString method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

top
UncompressMemory
UncompressMemory(inData As Variant) As Variant

Uncompresses from an in-memory image of a .Z file directly into memory. (This compression uses the LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression algorithm.)

Returns a zero-length byte array (as a Variant) on failure.
An empty array will have a UBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.

top
UncompressMemToFile
UncompressMemToFile(inData As Variant, destPath As String) As Long

Uncompresses from an in-memory image of a .Z file to a file. (This compression uses the LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression algorithm.)

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
UncompressString
UncompressString(inCompressedData As Variant, charset As String) As String

Uncompresses from an in-memory image of a .Z file directly to a string. The charset specifies the character encoding used to interpret the bytes resulting from the decompression. The charset can be any one of a large number of character encodings, such as "utf-8", "iso-8859-1", "Windows-1252", "ucs-2", etc.

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
top
UnTarZ
UnTarZ(zFilename As String, destDir As String, ByVal bNoAbsolute As Long) As Long

Unpacks a .tar.Z file. The decompress and untar occur in streaming mode. There are no temporary files and the memory footprint is constant (and small) while untarring.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
UnTarZAsync (1) (2) (AutoIt) (Classic ASP) (PowerBuilder) (SQL Server) (VBScript) (Visual Basic 6.0) (Visual FoxPro)
UnTarZAsync(zFilename As String, destDir As String, ByVal bNoAbsolute As Long) As ChilkatTask

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UnTarZ method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

top
WriteFile
WriteFile(filename As String, binaryData As Variant) As Long

Convenience method for writing the contents of a byte array to a file.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top

Events

AbortCheck
AbortCheck(abort As Long)

Provides the opportunity for a method call to be aborted. The AbortCheck event is fired periodically based on the value of the HeartbeatMs property. If HeartbeatMs is 0, then no AbortCheck events will fire. As an example, to fire 5 AbortCheck events per second, set the HeartbeatMs property equal to 200.

VB6 Event callback implementation:

Important: Event callbacks from asynchronous method calls are generally not possible from the ActiveX. See VB6 Async Callbacks

Dim WithEvents myUnixcompress As UnixCompress

Private Sub myUnixcompress_AbortCheck(abort As Long)

	'Insert application code here.

End Sub
top
PercentDone
PercentDone(ByVal pctDone As Long, abort As Long)

Provides the percentage completed for any method that involves network communications or time-consuming processing (assuming it is a method where a percentage completion can be measured). This event is only fired when it is possible to know a percentage completion, and when it makes sense to express the operation as a percentage completed. The pctDone argument will have a value from 1 to 100. For operations (Chilkat method calls) that complete very quickly, the number of PercentDone callbacks will vary, but the final callback should have a value of 100. For long running operations, no more than one callback per percentage point will occur (for example: 1, 2, 3, ... 98, 99, 100).

The PercentDone callback counts as an AbortCheck event. For method calls that complete quickly such that PercentDone events fire, it may be that AbortCheck events don't fire because the opportunity to abort is already provided in the PercentDone callback. For time consuming operations, where the amount of time between PercentDone callbacks are long, AbortCheck callbacks may be used to allow for the operation to be aborted in a more responsive manner.

The abort output argument provides a means for aborting the operation. Setting it to 1 will cause the method to abort and return a failed status (or whatever return value indicates failure).

VB6 Event callback implementation:

Important: Event callbacks from asynchronous method calls are generally not possible from the ActiveX. See VB6 Async Callbacks

Dim WithEvents myUnixcompress As UnixCompress

Private Sub myUnixcompress_PercentDone(ByVal pctDone As Long, abort As Long)

	'Insert application code here.

End Sub
top
ProgressInfo
ProgressInfo(ByVal name As String, ByVal value As String)

A general name/value event that provides information about what is happening during a method call. To find out what information is available, write code to handle this event and log the name/value pairs. Most are self-explanatory.

VB6 Event callback implementation:

Important: Event callbacks from asynchronous method calls are generally not possible from the ActiveX. See VB6 Async Callbacks

Dim WithEvents myUnixcompress As UnixCompress

Private Sub myUnixcompress_ProgressInfo(ByVal name As String, ByVal value As String)

	'Insert application code here.

End Sub
top