SolZip 1.2

A commandline, One using Guidance Automation (GAX) and one using ManagedMenuExtensions.

Update: The original name for this tool was SolutionZipper but it has now been changed to SolZip since I stumbled upon another tool called SolutionZipper on the internet.

The concept of SolZip is simple - to enable Zip Compression of Visual Studio Solutions and Projects. This is not a unique idea, others have done it too. The uniqueness comes from the tools used to accomplish this, and the userinterfaces offered.

The simple and smart thing is that SolZip doesn't compress folders but actually reads the sln file and csproj files to infer which items are to be zipped. This also means that it doesn't need special logic to keep out things like the bin and obj folder or .svn folders from subversion.

So it is really not the compression part which makes SolZip extremely valuable. The ability to get all relevant files of the solution, excluding generated assemblies, PDB files, XML files, and other random debris, is something that every developer needs time and time again when they want to share their code with others. The ability to right click on a solution in Visual Studio, and make a Zip file of all relevant files makes this extremely easy.

Currently SolZip offers zipping of C# Solutions and Projects in Visual Studio 2008 format. Other formats might work, but it would be pure luck, and not tested.

SolZip contains not one, but three(!) UI's to Zip Projects, each one offers its own advantages. All three uses the same basic functionality contained in SolZipBasis.dll. The actual compression is done with the excellent framework SharpZipLib.