How do I execute WinZip from Visual Studio without it's GUI opening?

Question

int sysReturn = system("\"C:\\Program Files\\WinZip\\winzip32\" -a C:\\LOG\\test.zip C:\\LOG\\LOG_7-20-2010_17_8_48_834.csv");  

Everything seems to work - as in it creates test.zip
However, it opens the WinZip GUI (that shows how much has been compressed, etc while my program is running.)

How can I skip that part where it doesn't open anything in windows that the user sees? I would like it to be "hidden" so after my program runs, all you see is the zipped file.

WinZip command line parameters reference:
http://www.memecode.com/docs/winzip.html

Answer 1

Your code is very wrong.

To create .zip files, you should use a native .zip library in C++.

Here are some free ones:

• http://www.zlib.net/
• http://www.codeproject.com/KB/files/zip_utils.aspx
• http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/minizip.html

Answer 2

How about stop using the winzip executable from your c++ code and use a library instead? For your code to ever have any hope of working on a different system, you can't rely on 3rd party executables being around.

Have a look at this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/262899/portable-zip-library-for-c-c-not-an-application

Answer 3

Can you use 7-zip? It is free (LGPL license) and can be run from the command line without creating a window.

Answer 4

I'd agree with the other's answers about using a different utility. However, to answer your question: the link that you posted also mentions another option -min to run WinZip minimized. Did you try that? Also, instead of using system, try using ShellExecute and ask for the window to be hidden:

ShellExecute(NULL, NULL, "C:\\Program Files\\WinZip\\winzip32", "-a C:\\LOG\\test.zip C:\\LOG\\LOG_7-20-2010_17_8_48_834.csv", NULL, SW_HIDE);

Answer 5

Try using execlp instead. The few times i've had to do it i had better luck with it over System.

execlp("explorer", "/n, /select,c:\\foo.txt", 0)

See this MSDN page for a detailed example: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/431x4c1w.aspx

Answer 6

You want this:

http://www.winzip.com/prodpagecl.htm