Python scripts to zip and unzip data
Release 9.2 Last modified November 9, 2007	Print all topics in : "Sharing tools on an ArcGIS Server"

The topic Considerations for authoring and publishing models discusses the use of File data types for input and output parameters in tools published to ArcGIS Server. A technique you can use for folder-based workspaces (file geodatabase, coverages, and shapefiles) is to use the Zip compression utility to make a .zip file out of a workspace, then use the result .zip file as input to the model. Within the model, you can use the unzip script (see below) to unzip the file into a workspace, and proceed from there. The same is true for outputs—you can create a .zip file of a workspace and use that for output.
Below are links to two Python scripts, zip.py and unzip.py.

• zip.py takes an input workspace (file geodatabase, a folder containing coverages, or a folder containing shapefiles—everything but a personal or enterprise geodatabase), an output filename, and creates a compressed zip file. You should add the .zip suffix to the output filename—the script doesn't automatically add the suffix. The parameter properties are as follows:
  



Label	Data Type	Type	Direction
Input workspace	Workspace	Required	Input
Output file	File	Required	Output



• unzip.py takes a .zip file, an output location (an existing folder), an output name (which becomes a new folder), and writes the contents to the new folder. If the .zip file contains a file geodatabase, append .gdb to the output name.
  

Label	Data Type	Type	Direction
Input ZIP file	File	Required	Input
Output Location	Workspace	Required	Input
Output Name	String	Required	Input
Output Path	Workspace	Derived	Output

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