Directory.CreateDirectory() does not create folder within ZipFile

Question

I am trying to zip together all folders and their contents into a zip file. From what I have researched (through StackOverflow and Microsoft), Directory.CreateDirectory(Path) should create the given directory. However, my ZipFile is showing up empty.

For example, I have a folder (C:\Users\smelmo\Desktop\test) with the subfolders (0001, 0002) in it. Within 0001 and 0002 are other documents. I am wanting to zip 0001 and 0002 together within the test folder. This is what I have so far:

// Open the directory of the target folder
using (ZipArchive archive = ZipFile.Open(strZipPath, ZipArchiveMode.Create))
{
    // Grab each directory within the target folder
    foreach (var directoryName in Directory.GetDirectories(strStartPath))
    {
         // Add each directory to the ZipFile
         Directory.CreateDirectory(directoryName);
    }
}

This does not produce anything. HOWEVER, I also have code that will grab ALL files within the subfolders and place them in the ZipFile.

// Open the directory of the target folder
using (ZipArchive archive = ZipFile.Open(strZipPath, ZipArchiveMode.Create))
{
    // Grab each directory within the target folder
    foreach (var directoryName in Directory.GetDirectories(strStartPath))
    {
        //Grab all files in each directory
        foreach (var filePath in Directory.GetFiles(directoryName))
        {
            var fileName = Path.GetFileName(@filePath);

            // Place each directory and its repsective files in the zip file
            var entry = archive.CreateEntryFromFile(filePath, fileName);         
         }
    }
}

But this does not place subfolders 0001 and 0002 in it, just the CONTENTS of 0001 and 0002. I am wanting 0001 and 0002 and their respective contents.

`Directory.CreateDirectory` _only works on the file system_ so you are recreating directories that already exist! See [Creating Directories in a ZipArchive](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15133626/creating-directories-in-a-ziparchive-c-sharp-net-4-5) — stuartd, Jun 20 '17 at 15:57

Ehz · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-20T19:13:12.220

Edited:

If you are looking for more control, you can just create a function that adds files to a zip archive. You can then use recursion to add any subfolders and files.

First you can define a function that accepts a zip archive to add files to:

public void AddFolderToZip(ZipArchive archive, string rootPath, string path, bool recursive) 
{
    foreach (var filePath in Directory.GetFiles(path))
    {               
        //Remove root path portion from file path, so entry is relative to root
        string entryName = filePath.Replace(rootPath, "");
        entryName = entryName.StartsWith("\\") ? entryName.Substring(1) : entryName;

        var entry = archive.CreateEntryFromFile(filePath, entryName);
    }

    if (recursive)
    {
        foreach (var subPath in Directory.GetDirectories(path))
        {
            AddFolderToZip(archive, rootPath, subPath, recursive);
        }
    }
}

Then you can call it using the following code:

string strStartPath = @"C:\Test\zip";
string strZipPath = @"C:\Test\output.zip";
ZipArchive archive = ZipFile.Open(strZipPath, ZipArchiveMode.Create);
bool recursive = true;

foreach (var directoryPath in Directory.GetDirectories(strStartPath))
{
    AddFolderToZip(archive, strStartPath, directoryPath, recursive);
}

archive.Dispose();

This code adds each directory it finds in a top level directory. And for each directory it finds, it will use recursion to add any subdirectories or files found within those.

This is currently taking all files from the strStartPath, which is a directory that contains both files and sub directories. I cannot seem to figure out how to just grab the sub directories and the files within the sub directories. — smelmo, Jun 20 '17 at 18:28
This is great. So basically there is no function that will directly zip subfolders and its contents, making recursion the only way to accomplish this? — smelmo, Jun 20 '17 at 19:30
Yeah, as far as I know (for this library) it is either add everything using ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory or add entries individually — Ehz, Jun 20 '17 at 20:11

Directory.CreateDirectory() does not create folder within ZipFile

1 Answers1