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Delphi ActiveX

Unzip a Text File Entry into a StringBuilder Using ZipEntry.UnzipToSb

See more Zip Examples

This example demonstrates how to use the ZipEntry.UnzipToSb method to inflate a text file entry directly into a StringBuilder object.

The ZIP entry is uncompressed entirely in memory and appended to the StringBuilder without creating a temporary file on disk.

This is useful when:

  • Processing text files directly in memory
  • Avoiding temporary filesystem files
  • Reading configuration files, JSON, XML, CSV, or source code from ZIP archives
  • Automatically converting line endings while inflating the text

The srcCharset argument specifies how the uncompressed bytes should be interpreted, such as:

  • utf-8
  • utf-16
  • windows-1252

The lineEndingBehavior argument controls line-ending conversion:

  • 0 — Leave line endings unchanged
  • 1 — Convert all line endings to bare LF
  • 2 — Convert all line endings to CRLF

Suppose the ZIP archive contains:

config/settings.json

The example inflates the JSON file directly into a StringBuilder.

Chilkat Delphi ActiveX Downloads

Delphi ActiveX
uses
    Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics,
    Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, Vcl.StdCtrls, Chilkat_TLB;

...

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
success: Integer;
zip: TChilkatZip;
entry: TChilkatZipEntry;
sb: TChilkatStringBuilder;
lineEndingBehavior: Integer;
srcCharset: WideString;

begin
success := 0;

zip := TChilkatZip.Create(Self);

// Open an existing ZIP archive.
success := zip.OpenZip('qa_data/zips/configFiles.zip');
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(zip.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

// Locate the JSON file entry within the ZIP archive.
entry := TChilkatZipEntry.Create(Self);

success := zip.EntryOf('config/settings.json',entry.ControlInterface);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add('ZIP entry not found.');
    zip.CloseZip();
    Exit;
  end;

// ------------------------------------------------------------
// Inflate the ZIP entry directly into a StringBuilder.
// 
// The uncompressed text is appended to the StringBuilder.
// 
sb := TChilkatStringBuilder.Create(Self);

// Leave line endings unchanged.
lineEndingBehavior := 0;

// Interpret the uncompressed bytes as UTF-8 text.
srcCharset := 'utf-8';

success := entry.UnzipToSb(lineEndingBehavior,srcCharset,sb.ControlInterface);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(entry.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

Memo1.Lines.Add('Uncompressed text:');
Memo1.Lines.Add('');
Memo1.Lines.Add(sb.GetAsString());

zip.CloseZip();

Memo1.Lines.Add('Done.');
end;