Overview

Making a zip file from multiple source file and make it to be able to download from your browser.

Flow

1. Load Archive::Zip
2. Make a zip file
3. Register each source file as members of the zip file
4. Write out the zip file into the disk
5. Check status and process error
6. Output the zip file onto the browser

A sample code

 use Archive::Zip;
 
 my @filelist = qw(a.jpg b.txt c.zip d.jpg);
 
 my $zip = Archive::Zip->new();
 
 foreach ($_){
   $zip->addFile("$_");
 }
 
 my $zipfile = "file.zip";
 my $status = $zip->writeToFileNamed("$zipfile");
 
 if ($status != 'AZ_OK') {
     unlink("$zipfile") if (-e "$zipfile");
     print "Content-Type:text/html\n\n";
     print "Cannot make $zipfile";
     exit;
 }
 
 print "Location: $zipfile\n\n";

Description of the code

 use Archive::Zip;

Load Archive::Zip

 my @filelist = qw(a.jpg b.txt c.zip d.jpg);

Make a file list to be zipped. Assuming the files in @filelist are already there.

 my $zip = Archive::Zip->new();

Make a zip file in the memory. And make an object of the zip file.

 foreach ($_){
   $zip->addFile("$_");
 }

Add each files into the zip file. According to the Archive::Zip document, it takes an array as follows;

 $zip->addFile(@filelist);

it did not work actually. So use addFile one by one.

 my $zipfile = "file.zip";
 my $status = $zip->writeToFileNamed("$zipfile");

Write out the zip file onto the disk. In this example, the file name is file.zip. If it is succeeded, put the status into $status.

 if ($status != 'AZ_OK') {
     unlink("$zipfile") if (-e "$zipfile");
     print "Content-Type:text/html\n\n";
     print "Cannot make $zipfile";
     exit;
 }

If succeeded, $status contains AZ_OK. Otherwise, it is treated as an error. When failed, the file might be created on the disk. If exist, delete it. The status codes are shown as follows;

 AZ_OK (0)           : All Succeeded
 AZ_STREAM_END (1)   : Stream read succeeded
 AZ_ERROR (2)        : An error
 AZ_FORMAT_ERROR (3) : Format error while reading a zip file
 AZ_IO_ERROR (4)     : IO error

 print "Location: $zipfile\n\n";

This allows to download the zip file from the browser.