Create Self-Extracting EXE

Download Chilkat Zip ActiveX (includes objects for .zip, .gz, .bz2, and .Z)

Delphi example code showing how to create a self-extracting executable.

// Creates a self-extracting EXE
procedure TForm1.Button13Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  recurse: Integer;
  success: Integer;

begin
  // UnlockComponent should be called once at the beginning of a program.
  ChilkatZip21.UnlockComponent('anything for 30-day trial');

  // Initialize the zip object.
  ChilkatZip21.NewZip('xyz.zip');

  // Add a directory tree to the zip object.  The AppendFiles
  // method recursively descends a directory and adds references to
  // files and directories to the zip object.  When the
  // zip is written (by calling WriteExe) all referenced files
  // and directories are added.
  recurse := 1;
  ChilkatZip21.AppendFiles('c:/temp/xyz/*', recurse);

  {
    The directory tree on disk looks like this:

C:\temp\xyz\dudeA.gif
C:\temp\xyz\setup.exe
C:\temp\xyz\b\
C:\temp\xyz\b\dudeAbc.gif
C:\temp\xyz\b\dudeXyz.gif
C:\temp\xyz\b\setup1.exe
C:\temp\xyz\b\123\
C:\temp\xyz\b\123\dude123.gif
C:\temp\xyz\b\123\test.txt

    The directory tree in the zip object looks like this:

dudeA.gif
setup.exe
b\
b\dudeAbc.gif
b\dudeXyz.gif
b\setup1.exe
b\123\
b\123\dude123.gif
b\123\test.txt

  }

  // Write the .exe
  success := ChilkatZip21.WriteExe('xyz.exe');
  if (success = 0) then begin
      ChilkatZip21.SaveLastError('zipErrorLog.txt');
      ShowMessage(ChilkatZip21.LastErrorText);
  end;

  ShowMessage('Done!');

end;