PowerShell : Compress files with Windows an improved version

English

When I am looking for a way to compress file(s) into Zip, I find a blog from David Aiken here (Compress Files with Windows PowerShell then package a Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget) . I will just focus on Add-Zip function and nothing more.

Here is the original code:

function Add-Zip 
{ 
    param(\[string\]$zipfilename) 
    
    if(-not (test-path($zipfilename)))
    { 
           set-content $zipfilename ("PK" + \[char\]5 + \[char\]6 + ("$(\[char\]0)" \* 18)) 
           (dir $zipfilename).IsReadOnly = $false 
     } 
     
     $shellApplication = new-object -com shell.application 
     $zipPackage = $shellApplication.NameSpace($zipfilename) 
     
     foreach($file in $input)
     { 
            $zipPackage.CopyHere($file.FullName) 
            Start-sleep -milliseconds 500
     } 
}

usage: dir c:\\demo\\files\\\*.\* -Recurse | add-Zip c:\\demo\\myzip.zip

I am raising two problems with the code:

1. Looking at the usage example, it is clear that the function accept only fully path filename. The reason, on line-12 , the $shellApplication.NameSpace parameter is $zipfilename; and this is not possible without giving fully path filename.
2. On line-16, the operation expect that $input array will contains object with FullName properties, that why the usage example uses DIR. What about if you just want to specify a filename?

With the 2 problem above, I am ready to improve that function. In the new improved version, Get-ChildItem will help us to convert any string representation of a file to a fully path filename. It won’t break DIR piping functionality, since actually Get-ChildItem is dir (and extra) functionality.

Here is the improved version:

function Add-Zip
{
	param(\[string\]$zipfilename)

    $currFile = $zipfilename | get-childitem
	if(-not (test-path($zipfilename)))
	{
		set-content $currFile.FullName ("PK" + \[char\]5 + \[char\]6 + ("$(\[char\]0)" \* 18))
		(dir $currFile.FullName).IsReadOnly = $false	
	}

	$shellApplication = new-object -com shell.application
	$zipPackage = $shellApplication.NameSpace($currFile.Fullname)

	$input | % {
            $file = $\_ | get-childitem	
            $zipPackage.CopyHere($file.FullName)
            Start-sleep -milliseconds 500
	}
}

usage: "FileInThisFolder.txt" -Recurse | add-Zip "ZipInThisFolder.zip"
        dir c:\\demo\\files\\\*.\* -Recurse | add-Zip c:\\demo\\myzip.zip

So, I hope you enjoy the improved version.