How do I generate and send a .zip file to a user in C# ASP.NET?

Question

I need to construct and send a zip to a user.

I\'ve seen examples doing one or the other, but not both, and am curious if there are any \'best practices\' or anythin

Answer 1

DotNetZip lets you do this easily, without ever writing to a disk file on the server. You can write a zip archive directly out to the Response stream, which will cause the download dialog to pop on the browser.

Example ASP.NET code for DotNetZip

More example ASP.NET code for DotNetZip

snip:

    Response.Clear();
    Response.BufferOutput = false; // false = stream immediately
    System.Web.HttpContext c= System.Web.HttpContext.Current;
    String ReadmeText= String.Format("README.TXT\n\nHello!\n\n" + 
                                     "This is text for a readme.");
    string archiveName= String.Format("archive-{0}.zip", 
                                      DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MMM-dd-HHmmss")); 
    Response.ContentType = "application/zip";
    Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "filename=" + archiveName);

    using (ZipFile zip = new ZipFile())
    {
        zip.AddFiles(f, "files");            
        zip.AddFileFromString("Readme.txt", "", ReadmeText);
        zip.Save(Response.OutputStream);
    }
    Response.Close();

or in VB.NET:

    Response.Clear
    Response.BufferOutput= false
    Dim ReadmeText As String= "README.TXT\n\nHello!\n\n" & _
                              "This is a zip file that was generated in ASP.NET"
    Dim archiveName as String= String.Format("archive-{0}.zip", _
               DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MMM-dd-HHmmss"))
    Response.ContentType = "application/zip"
    Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "filename=" + archiveName)

    Using zip as new ZipFile()
        zip.AddEntry("Readme.txt", "", ReadmeText, Encoding.Default)
        '' filesToInclude is a string[] or List
        zip.AddFiles(filesToInclude, "files")            
        zip.Save(Response.OutputStream)
    End Using
    Response.Close