Is it possible to convert a folder into a file

Question

I'm developing an Android app. It creates a main folder and child folders/files for storing some data. I need to transfer that main folder and it's childs to a computer. But I don't want to just copy those folders. I want to create a file (with a unique extension) which stores all that folders/files. And I should be able to re-create those folders from a computer program, which I will develop.

Files are basically text files. I can read them and then write them to an another single file. But does it take too much time, comparing to just copy/paste?

Answer 1

There is a working compression utility class i found. but it's up to you to use it, convert it as a single file take it with you where ever you go. add this code as a separate class. use it to zip and unzip.

Please keep in mind. it's a compression task so it's gonna need alot juice!

import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
import java.util.zip.ZipOutputStream;

public class ZipUtility {

   public static final void zipDirectory( File directory, File zip ) throws IOException {
       ZipOutputStream zos = new ZipOutputStream( new FileOutputStream( zip ) );
       zip( directory, directory, zos );
       zos.close();
   }

   private static final void zip(File directory, File base,
     ZipOutputStream zos) throws IOException {
       File[] files = directory.listFiles();
       byte[] buffer = new byte[8192];
       int read = 0;
       for (int i = 0, n = files.length; i < n; i++) {
          if (files[i].isDirectory()) {
             zip(files[i], base, zos);
          } else {
             FileInputStream in = new FileInputStream(files[i]);
             ZipEntry entry = new ZipEntry(files[i].getPath().substring(
             base.getPath().length() + 1));
             zos.putNextEntry(entry);
             while (-1 != (read = in.read(buffer))) {
                zos.write(buffer, 0, read);
             }
           in.close();
         }
      }
   }

   public static final void unzip(File zip, File extractTo) throws IOException {
      ZipFile archive = new ZipFile(zip);
      Enumeration e = archive.entries();
      while (e.hasMoreElements()) {

         ZipEntry entry = (ZipEntry) e.nextElement();
         File file = new File(extractTo, entry.getName());

         if (entry.isDirectory() && !file.exists()) {
            file.mkdirs();
         } else {
            if (!file.getParentFile().exists()) {
               file.getParentFile().mkdirs();
            }

            InputStream in = archive.getInputStream(entry);
            BufferedOutputStream out = new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(file));

            byte[] buffer = new byte[8192];
            int read;

            while (-1 != (read = in.read(buffer))) {
               out.write(buffer, 0, read);
            }

            in.close();
            out.close();
         }
      }
   }
}