Extract7z

In-memory decompression of *.7z archives with a single function call. I am too stupid to use it the COM way. Windows only.

Prerequisites

At runtime, Extract7z needs the DLL file 7z.dll which comes along with your 7-Zip installation (typically in the folder C:\Program Files\7-Zip\).

Build Instructions

Before building the project you have to install/download:

• Visual Studio 2017 (or later)
• The latest package of "7-Zip Source Code" or "LZMA SDK" from this page.

And then set up external dependency on 7-Zip and build solution as following:

1. Extract either "7-zip Source code" or "LZMA SDK" into the folder external/7zip/ so that the following path can be accessed: external/7zip/CPP/.
2. Build solution file extract7z.sln. The output binary extract7z.lib will be located inside the proper subfolder under bin/.

Using the Library

1. Add path of folder include/ to the include paths of your code.
2. Add path of file bin/$(Platform)/$(Configuration)/extract7z.lib to the library list of your code.
3. #include <Extractor7Z.h> and make a call to the function Extractor7Z::ExtractFrom(). That's all.

Please note that the target machine, i.e., either x64 or x86, must be identical to the one of the 7-Zip DLL file you chose. Also, Extract7z by default links dynamically to the C runtime.

Important API

Most classes and functions should be self-explanatory enough so I don't want to waste your time. Classes/functions listed below are those I expect to be crucial.

Class Extractor7Z

• static bool CheckLibrary()
  As 7z.dll may be missing during runtime, this function checks if the required DLL exists and functions properly.

• static std::shared_ptr<FileArchive> ExtractFrom(const std::wstring& path, ExtractOptions& options)
  If an error occurred during decompression/decryption, the returned shared pointer will be empty, i.e., casting it to type bool yields false.

• struct ExtractOptions

  • Password* passwd - Set to nullptr if you don't want decryption.
  • bool isSecrecy - Setting this flag hints the library to request the operating system not to swap out the decompressed data. Nevertheless the operating system may decide not to care.

Class Password

This is an instantiation of the class template LazyInit. It accepts a PasswordCallback-compatible callback function as the parameter in its constructor. The callback will only be invoked should the extractor need a key, or password, to decrypt an encrypted archive. For archives with no encryption applied, the callback will never be invoked.

Class PasswordCallback

An alias of std::function<bool(std::wstring&)>. The callback function accepts a reference to a std::wstring object as both its input and output. The callback can bring up some user interface to ask for the password and then writes back to the string. If the same output string is supposed to be used for all subsequent decryption, return true; otherwise, returning false hints the extractor to invoke the callback again next time a password is needed.

Sample Code

Password password( [](std::wstring& outPasswd) -> bool {
    wchar_t buf[32];
    fgetws(buf, sizeof(buf) / sizeof(buf[0]), stdin);
    outPasswd = buf;  // including '\n' in the end
    return true;  // never ask again
} );
auto archive = Extractor7Z::ExtractFrom(L"sample.7z", password);
if (!archive) {
    puts("Failed to decompress the archive.");
    return;
}
// do something with archive

Copyright

Copyright (C) 2018 Mifan Bang https://debug.tw.

This library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

Extract7z includes a part of source code from 7-Zip written by Igor Pavlov which is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 or later. For further copyright information of 7Zip, please read https://www.7-zip.org/license.txt.