Zipping / Unzipping IFS Objects in IBM i
Those of you who know me probably know that I’m a lapsed programmer. These days I spend most of my time working at or below the IBM i Operating System layer but every now and then there is an exception that makes me dust off my coding skills and the recent need to Zip / UnZip files held in the IFS proved to be one such exception.
It started out with a simple request from a client saying that they would really like to be able to send and receive ASCII files stored in the IFS that were compressed and interchangeable with a standard Zip program on a Windows Server.
Initially I thought of cheating and just writing a script to do this from a Windows device that had the IFS folder in question mapped as a network drive. In the same moment I remember the countless times I had stood up in front of clients and user groups and told them just how flexible, open and downright fabulous IBM i is and I so realised there must be a better way. And of course there is!
QZIPUTL Service Program
Back in 2012 IBM added a service program called QZIPUTIL to v7.1 along with a couple of APIs QzipZip and QzipUnzip to IBM i, if you are running IBM i v7.2 or v7.1 with Cumulative level 2279 or higher then you will already have this.
Back in 2012 IBM added a service program called QZIPUTIL to v7.1 along with a couple of APIs QzipZip and QzipUnzip to IBM i, if you are running IBM i v7.2 or v7.1 with Cumulative level 2279 or higher then you will already have this.
Now, if want to ZIP / UNZIP files but you are about to abandon me as you are not an RPG developer or run on older versions of IBM i, stick around, I promise there are a couple of golden nuggets lurking just a few paragraphs further down.
Back to QZIPUTIL, to give the syntax of these APIs, the following charts are taken from the IBM Knowledge Centre. The links below them take you to those pages where you can get detailed information abouttheir usage, syntax and errors.
APIs are great but a command would be more useful.
APIs are of course great but for CL monkeys like myself an IBM i command would be much more useful. Ideally what we would want here are a couple of simple commands like ZIP and UNZIP.
In fact this is so startlingly fundamental, I truly don’t know why IBM did not add them. If you can think of a reason please feel free to enlighten me via the comments option at the bottom of this article. In fact the very lack of these commands was the very reason that I personally did not notice IBM had added this function to IBM i to v7.1 until just a few months ago!
Fortunately, thanks to a very generous and gifted gentleman called Carsten Flensburg, this is now possible in a matter of minutes. Carsten has created both ZIPF and UNZIPF command that you can freely download from the IBM Support website and upload to your server in minutes. Below is a link to the page on the IBM support website:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1010418
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1010418
Sample ZIPF command
Once created you can simply use the ZIPF command to compress a single file or a whole series of directories, subdirectories and objects. Below is a sample screen shot from this command:
Once created you can simply use the ZIPF command to compress a single file or a whole series of directories, subdirectories and objects. Below is a sample screen shot from this command:
Sample UNZIPF command
The UNZIP command is just as intuitive and like the ZIPF command to decompress a single file or a whole series of directories, subdirectories and objects. Below is a sample screen shot from this command:
The UNZIP command is just as intuitive and like the ZIPF command to decompress a single file or a whole series of directories, subdirectories and objects. Below is a sample screen shot from this command:
Compatible with Windows ZIP files
I’ve only done limited tests so far but both the APIs and the commands above work flawlessly with their Windows counterparts. Please feel free to share your experiences with this via the post a comment option at the bottom of the article.
I’ve only done limited tests so far but both the APIs and the commands above work flawlessly with their Windows counterparts. Please feel free to share your experiences with this via the post a comment option at the bottom of the article.
PCI Compliance
If you are worried that you cannot use these commands as they are not directly from IBM, the good news is that Carsten included the source to all his programs and it is this source that is compiled as part of the install so you have complete visibility over the code.
If you are worried that you cannot use these commands as they are not directly from IBM, the good news is that Carsten included the source to all his programs and it is this source that is compiled as part of the install so you have complete visibility over the code.
Pro Tip: If want a masterclass in how to write an IBM i installer without access to a complier, just check out the script he includes for uploading these commands, it is genius!
I’m sorry to bang on about Carsten, I’ve never met him and have no working relationship with him but this is the perfect example of how to write, deliver and add function to our community. If any of you know Carsten please give him a huge IBM i hug from me!
Zipping files in older versions of IBM i
If you are not yet running v7.x of IBM i, then firstly let me remind you that you’re running on an unsupported version of the operating system but you are not totally out of luck.
If you are not yet running v7.x of IBM i, then firstly let me remind you that you’re running on an unsupported version of the operating system but you are not totally out of luck.
If you like QSHELL then you can always use the Java Archive (JAR) command but if you like your command line environment to be a little more normal then just google IBM i Zip commands and it won’t take you long to find functions like the ZIP/UNZIP commands created by Giovanni B. Perotti which run on systems with v5.2 onwards.
Nice to see you
It was great to see so many of you at the i-UG event at the Norton Grange, in Rochdale. We will repeat that event with the same agenda in Central London at Arrow ECS’s offices in the Royal Exchange on Thursday 3rd March. Hope to see you there, more details and registration available at www.i-ug.co.uk
It was great to see so many of you at the i-UG event at the Norton Grange, in Rochdale. We will repeat that event with the same agenda in Central London at Arrow ECS’s offices in the Royal Exchange on Thursday 3rd March. Hope to see you there, more details and registration available at www.i-ug.co.uk
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