PowerBuilder

Extract ZIP Files Without Preserving Directory Paths Using DiscardPaths

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This example demonstrates how to use the DiscardPaths property to extract files from a ZIP archive without recreating the stored directory structure.

When DiscardPaths is set to _TRUE_, all extracted files are written directly into the target extraction directory, and any stored ZIP path information is ignored.

This is useful when:

• Flattening ZIP contents into a single directory
• Ignoring stored subdirectory structures during extraction
• Extracting only the files themselves without recreating folders

Suppose the ZIP archive contains:

docs/readme.txt
docs/manual.pdf
images/logo.png

Normally, extracting the ZIP would create:

output/docs/readme.txt
output/docs/manual.pdf
output/images/logo.png

But when DiscardPaths is set to _TRUE_, the extracted files become:

output/readme.txt
output/manual.pdf
output/logo.png

The stored ZIP directory paths are discarded during extraction.

PowerBuilder

integer li_rc
integer li_Success
oleobject loo_Zip
integer li_NumFilesUnzipped

li_Success = 0

li_Success = 0

loo_Zip = create oleobject
li_rc = loo_Zip.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.Zip")
if li_rc < 0 then
    destroy loo_Zip
    MessageBox("Error","Connecting to COM object failed")
    return
end if

// Open an existing ZIP archive.
li_Success = loo_Zip.OpenZip("example.zip")
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Zip.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Zip
    return
end if

// Discard stored ZIP paths during extraction.
// 
// When DiscardPaths = 1, all files are extracted
// directly into the target directory without recreating
// the ZIP directory structure.
loo_Zip.DiscardPaths = 1

// Extract all files to the output directory.
// 
// Even if the ZIP contains:
// 
//     docs/readme.txt
//     docs/manual.pdf
//     images/logo.png
// 
// The extracted files become:
// 
//     c:/output/readme.txt
//     c:/output/manual.pdf
//     c:/output/logo.png
// 
li_NumFilesUnzipped = loo_Zip.Unzip("c:/output")

if li_NumFilesUnzipped < 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Zip.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_Zip
    return
end if

Write-Debug "Number of files extracted = " + string(li_NumFilesUnzipped)

loo_Zip.CloseZip()

Write-Debug "Files extracted successfully."


destroy loo_Zip