Exporting and Zipping Files with Access VBA

[Toxalot]

Here's the scenario.

Client has an Access database used locally on WinXp Access 2003. A
copy of the database is searchable via their web site. The web site is
on a Unix server and uses PHP/MySQL. Until now, the client has been
sending me the data file, I export into csv files, upload it to the
web site, and then import it into MySQL

I will be creating a GUI in the Access to allow the client to export
the data themselves. I will have another form on the web that will
allow them to import the data themselves.

My concern is the transfer of the files. The export creates multiple
files and I would like to combine them all into one archive so the
client can upload just the one file without having to manually zip the
files themselves. I think one file will be easier for the client to
deal with and I am also concerned about line endings if the files are
not zipped up. The Access data is on WinXp, but that computer is not
connected to the Internet. The client will be transferring the files
to a Mac computer to upload.

My questions are:

Do you think that zipping all the csv files into one archive is the
way to go?
Are there different zip formats? In other words, I need to be able to
unzip the archive from within PHP on the Unix server.
How do I zip multiple files from VBA?
Can I do this without having to ensure that client has a particular
program installed?

I've been unable to work for a while and now I have myself in a bit of
a time crunch on this project. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tom van Stiphout]

On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:38:13 -0700 (PDT), Toxalot <[email protected]>
wrote:

Check this out:
http://www.rondebruin.nl/windowsxpzip.htm

Whether it works on a Unix server you'll have to test yourself.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Toxalot]

So how do I use this in Access? What would I use instead of
Application.Wait?

Jennifer

 

[Toxalot]

I think I've the wait thing figured out, but I'm not sure since it
seems to work even without a wait function. The largest file I'm
zipping is 3Mb so maybe it just happens so fast anyway that it does
matter.

Jennifer

 

[Toxalot]

I have another issue now. Occasionally I get a message box that says
the that the zip file is missing or empty or that it couldn't create
output. I'm guessing that this error message is coming from the
Windows zip application. The problem is that my application hangs
after this. It seems to happen at random times. I haven't detetected
any pattern.

Is there a way to capture this error and deal with it from within my
application so that it doesn't hang?

Jennifer