Tar VB.NET Reference Documentation

Tar

Current Version: 10.1.0

API for creating and extracting TAR archives. Also supports creating and extracting .tar.gz (.tgz), .tar.bz2, and .tar.Z (compressed TAR archives, also known as compressed tarball archives). Can read/write the following TAR formats: (1) GNU tar 1.13.x format, (2) PAX -- POSIX 1003.1-2001 format, (3) USTAR -- POSIX 1003.1-1988 format.

Object Creation

Dim obj As New Chilkat.Tar()

Properties

CaptureXmlListing
CaptureXmlListing As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.46

If True, then untar methods, such as Untar, UntarGz, UntarBz2, and UntarZ, will also capture an XML listing of the contents in the XmlListing property. The format of the XML contained in XmlListing is identical to what is returned by the ListXml method. The default value is False.

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Charset
Charset As String

Character encoding to be used when interpreting filenames within .tar archives for untar operations. The default is "utf-8", and this is typically not changed. (The WriteTar methods always uses utf-8 to store filenames within the TAR archive.)

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DebugLogFilePath
DebugLogFilePath As String

If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.

This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:

  1. a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
  2. the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
  3. there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.

More Information and Examples
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DirMode
DirMode As Integer

The directory permissions to used in WriteTar* methods. The default is octal 0755. This is the value to be stored in the "mode" field of each TAR header for a directory entries.

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DirPrefix
DirPrefix As String

A prefix to be added to each file's path within the TAR archive as it is being created. For example, if this property is set to the string "subdir1", then "subdir1/" will be prepended to each file's path within the TAR.

Note: This property does not apply to files added using the AddFile2 method, which directly specifies the path-in-tar.

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FileMode
FileMode As Integer

The file permissions to used in WriteTar* methods. The default is octal 0644. This is the value to be stored in the "mode" field of each TAR header for a file entries.

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GroupId
GroupId As Integer

The default numerical GID to be stored in each TAR header when writing TAR archives. The default value is 1000.

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GroupName
GroupName As String

The default group name to be stored in each TAR header when writing TAR archives. The default value is the logged-on username of the application's process.

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HeartbeatMs
HeartbeatMs As Integer

This is the number of milliseconds between each AbortCheck event callback. The AbortCheck callback allows an application to abort any TAR operation prior to completion. If HeartbeatMs is 0, no AbortCheck event callbacks will occur.

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LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String (ReadOnly)

Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastErrorText
LastErrorText As String (ReadOnly)

Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastErrorXml
LastErrorXml As String (ReadOnly)

Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastMethodSuccess
LastMethodSuccess As Boolean

Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of True indicates success, a value of False indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:

  • Any method that returns a string.
  • Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
  • Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = True and failure = False.
  • Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.

Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to True. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.

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MatchCaseSensitive
MatchCaseSensitive As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.46

Determines whether pattern matching for the MustMatch and MustNotMatch properties is case-sensitive or not. The default value is False.

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MustMatch
MustMatch As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.46

If set, then file paths must match this pattern when creating TAR archives, or when extracting from TAR archives. If a file does not match, it will not be included when creating a TAR, or it will not be extracted when extracting from a TAR. This property also applies to methods that create or extract from compressed TAR archives.

The must-match pattern may include 0 or more asterisk characters, each of which represents 0 or more of any character. For example, the pattern "*.txt" causes only .txt files to be included or extracted. The default value is an empty string, indicating that all files are implicitly matched.

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MustNotMatch
MustNotMatch As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.46

If set, then file paths must NOT match this pattern when creating TAR archives, or when extracting from TAR archives. If a file path matches, it will not be included when creating a TAR, or it will not be extracted when extracting from a TAR. This property also applies to methods that create or extract from compressed TAR archives.

The must-not-match pattern may include 0 or more asterisk characters, each of which represents 0 or more of any character. For example, the pattern "*.obj" causes all .obj files to be skipped. The default value is an empty string, indicating that no files are skipped.

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NoAbsolutePaths
NoAbsolutePaths As Boolean

If True, then absolute paths are converted to relative paths by removing the leading "/" or "\" character when untarring. This protects your system from unknowingly untarring files into important system directories, such as C:\Windows\system32. The default value is True.

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NumDirRoots
NumDirRoots As Integer (ReadOnly)

The total number of directory roots set by calling AddDirRoot (i.e. the number of times AddDirRoot was called by the application). A TAR archive is created by calling AddDirRoot for one or more directory tree roots, followed by a single call to WriteTar (or WriteTarBz2, WriteTarGz, WriteTarZ). This allows for TAR archives containing multiple directory trees to be created.

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PercentDoneScale
PercentDoneScale As Integer
Introduced in version 9.5.0.49

This property is only valid in programming environment and languages that allow for event callbacks.

Sets the value to be defined as 100% complete for the purpose of PercentDone event callbacks. The defaut value of 100 means that at most 100 event PercentDone callbacks will occur in a method that (1) is event enabled and (2) is such that it is possible to measure progress as a percentage completed. This property may be set to larger numbers to get more fine-grained PercentDone callbacks. For example, setting this property equal to 1000 will provide callbacks with .1 percent granularity. For example, a value of 453 would indicate 45.3% competed. This property is clamped to a minimum value of 10, and a maximum value of 100000.

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ScriptFileMode
ScriptFileMode As Integer

The file permissions to used in WriteTar* methods for shell script files (.sh, .csh, .bash, .bsh). The default is octal 0755. This is the value to be stored in the "mode" field of each TAR header for a file entries.

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SuppressOutput
SuppressOutput As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.46

If True, then untar methods, such as Untar, UntarGz, UntarBz2, and UntarZ, do not produce any output. Setting this value equal to True is useful when the CaptureXmlListing is also set to True, which enables an application to get the contents of a TAR archive without extracting. The default value is False.

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UntarCaseSensitive
UntarCaseSensitive As Boolean

This property is deprecated. Applications should instead use the MatchCaseSensitive property. Until this property is officially removed, it will behave the same as the MatchCaseSensitive property.

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UntarDebugLog
UntarDebugLog As Boolean

Similar to the VerboseLogging property. If set to True, then information about each file/directory extracted in an untar method call is logged to LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml / LastErrorHtml). The default value is False.

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UntarDiscardPaths
UntarDiscardPaths As Boolean

If True, then discard all path information when untarring. This causes all files to be untarred into a single directory. The default value is False.

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UntarFromDir
UntarFromDir As String

The directory path where files are extracted when untarring. The default value is ".", meaning that the current working directory of the calling process is used. If UntarDiscardPaths is set, then all files are untarred into this directory. Otherwise, the untar operation will re-create a directory tree rooted in this directory.

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UntarMaxCount
UntarMaxCount As Integer

Limits the number of files extracted during an untar to this count. The default value is 0 to indicate no maximum. To untar a single file, one might set the UntarMatchPattern such that it will match only the file to be extracted, and also set UntarMaxCount equal to 1. This causes an untar to scan the TAR archive until it finds the matching file, extract it, and then return.

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UserId
UserId As Integer

The default numerical UID to be stored in each TAR header when writing TAR archives. The default value is 1000.

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UserName
UserName As String

The default user name to be stored in each TAR header when writing TAR archives. The default value is the logged-on username of the application's process.

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VerboseLogging
VerboseLogging As Boolean

If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

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Version
Version As String (ReadOnly)

Version of the component/library, such as "9.5.0.94"

More Information and Examples
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WriteFormat
WriteFormat As String

The TAR format to use when writing a TAR archive. Valid values are "gnu", "pax", and "ustar". The default value is "gnu".

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XmlListing
XmlListing As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.46

Contains the XML listing of the contents of the TAR archive for the last untar method call (such as Untar, UntarGz, etc.) where the CaptureXmlListing property was set to True.

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Methods

AddDirRoot
Function AddDirRoot(ByVal dirPath As String) As Boolean

Adds a directory tree to be included in the next call to one of the WriteTar* methods. To include multiple directory trees in a .tar, call AddDirRoot multiple times followed by a single call to WriteTar.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddDirRoot2
Function AddDirRoot2(ByVal rootPrefix As String, ByVal rootPath As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.56

Adds a directory tree to be included in the next call to one of the WriteTar* methods. To include multiple directory trees in a .tar, call AddDirRoot2 (and/or AddDirRoot) multiple times followed by a single call to WriteTar.

The rootPrefix adds a prefix to the path in the TAR for all files added under this root. The rootPrefix should not end with a forward-slash char. For example: This is good: "abc/123", but this is not good: "abc/123/". If the DirPrefix property is also set, its prefix will added first.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddFile
Function AddFile(ByVal path As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.46

Adds a local file to be included in the next call to one of the WriteTar* methods. To include multiple files or directory trees in a .tar, call AddFile/AddDirRoot multiple times followed by a single call to WriteTar (or WriteTarGz, or WriteTarBz2).

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddFile2
Function AddFile2(ByVal filePath As String, ByVal pathWithinTar As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.69

Adds a local file to be included in the next call to one of the WriteTar* methods. Allows for the path within the TAR to be specified. To include multiple files or directory trees in a .tar, call AddFile/AddFile2/AddDirRoot multiple times followed by a single call to WriteTar (or WriteTarGz, or WriteTarBz2).

Note: The DirPrefix property does not apply to files added via this method because this method explicilty specifies the path-in-tar.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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ClearDirRootsAndFiles
Function ClearDirRootsAndFiles() As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.84

Clears all directory roots and files previously added by calls to AddDirRoot, AddDirRoot2, AddFile, and AddFile2.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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CreateDeb
Function CreateDeb(ByVal controlPath As String, ByVal dataPath As String, ByVal debPath As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.66

Creates a .deb Debian binary package archive from a control.tar.gz and data.tar.gz. The controlPath is the path to the control.tar.gz file (or equivalent), and the dataPath is the path to the data.tar.gz file. The output file path (.deb) is specified in debPath.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetDirRoot
Function GetDirRoot(ByVal index As Integer) As String

Returns the value of the Nth directory root. For example, if an application calls AddDirRoot twice, then the NumDirRoots property would have a value of 2, and GetDirRoot(0) would return the path passed to AddDirRoot in the 1st call, and GetDirRoot(1) would return the directory path in the 2nd call to AddDirRoot.

Returns Nothing on failure

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ListXml
Function ListXml(ByVal tarPath As String) As String

Scans a TAR archive and returns XML detailing the files and directories found within the TAR.

Returns Nothing on failure

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ListXmlAsync (1)
Function ListXmlAsync(ByVal tarPath As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the ListXml method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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LoadTaskCaller
Function LoadTaskCaller(ByVal task As Task) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.80

Loads the caller of the task's async method.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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Untar
Function Untar(ByVal tarPath As String) As Integer

Extracts the files and directories from a TAR archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property. Returns the number of files and directories extracted, or -1 for failure.

More Information and Examples
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UntarAsync (1)
Function UntarAsync(ByVal tarPath As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the Untar method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UntarBz2
Function UntarBz2(ByVal tarPath As String) As Boolean

Extracts the files and directories from a tar.bz2 (or tar.bzip2) archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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UntarBz2Async (1)
Function UntarBz2Async(ByVal tarPath As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UntarBz2 method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UntarFirstMatchingToBd
Function UntarFirstMatchingToBd(ByVal tarPath As String, ByVal matchPattern As String, ByVal bd As BinData) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.82

Untars the first file matching the matchPattern into bd.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UntarFirstMatchingToMemory
Function UntarFirstMatchingToMemory(ByVal tarFileBytes As Byte(), ByVal matchPattern As String) As Byte()

Memory-to-memory untar. The first file matching the matchPattern is extracted and returned.

Returns an empty byte array on failure

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UntarFromMemory
Function UntarFromMemory(ByVal tarFileBytes As Byte()) As Integer

Extracts the files and directories from an in-memory TAR archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property. Returns the number of files and directories extracted, or -1 for failure.

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UntarFromMemoryAsync (1)
Function UntarFromMemoryAsync(ByVal tarFileBytes As Byte()) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UntarFromMemory method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UntarGz
Function UntarGz(ByVal tarPath As String) As Boolean

Extracts the files and directories from a tar.gz (or tar.gzip) archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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UntarGzAsync (1)
Function UntarGzAsync(ByVal tarPath As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UntarGz method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UntarZ
Function UntarZ(ByVal tarPath As String) As Boolean

Extracts the files and directories from a tar.Z archive, reconstructing the directory tree(s) in the local filesystem. The files are extracted to the directory specified by the UntarFromDir property.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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UntarZAsync (1)
Function UntarZAsync(ByVal tarPath As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UntarZ method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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VerifyTar
Function VerifyTar(ByVal tarPath As String) As Boolean

Verifies that a TAR archive is valid. This method opens the TAR archive and scans the entire file by walking the TAR headers. Returns True if no errors were found. Otherwise returns False.

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VerifyTarAsync (1)
Function VerifyTarAsync(ByVal tarPath As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the VerifyTar method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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WriteTar
Function WriteTar(ByVal tarPath As String) As Boolean

Writes a TAR archive. The directory trees previously added by calling AddDirRoot one or more times are included in the output TAR archive.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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WriteTarAsync (1)
Function WriteTarAsync(ByVal tarPath As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteTar method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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WriteTarBz2
Function WriteTarBz2(ByVal bz2Path As String) As Boolean

Writes a .tar.bz2 compressed TAR archive. The directory trees previously added by calling AddDirRoot one or more times are included in the output file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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WriteTarBz2Async (1)
Function WriteTarBz2Async(ByVal bz2Path As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteTarBz2 method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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WriteTarGz
Function WriteTarGz(ByVal gzPath As String) As Boolean

Writes a .tar.gz (also known as .tgz) compressed TAR archive. The directory trees previously added by calling AddDirRoot one or more times are included in the output file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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WriteTarGzAsync (1)
Function WriteTarGzAsync(ByVal gzPath As String) As Task

Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteTarGz method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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Events

AbortCheck
Event OnAbortCheck

Provides the opportunity for a method call to be aborted. The AbortCheck event is fired periodically based on the value of the HeartbeatMs property. If HeartbeatMs is 0, then no AbortCheck events will fire. As an example, to fire 5 AbortCheck events per second, set the HeartbeatMs property equal to 200.

Args are passed using Chilkat.AbortCheckEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents tar As Chilkat.Tar

Private Sub tar_OnAbortCheck(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.AbortCheckEventArgs) Handles tar.OnAbortCheck

    ...

End Sub
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NextTarFile
Event OnNextTarFile

Called for methods that create a TAR archive. This event is called just before a file is to be added to the TAR. The skip argument may be set to True to prevent the file from being added.

Args are passed using Chilkat.NextTarFileEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents tar As Chilkat.Tar

Private Sub tar_OnNextTarFile(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.NextTarFileEventArgs) Handles tar.OnNextTarFile

    ...

End Sub
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PercentDone
Event OnPercentDone

Provides the percentage completed for any method that involves network communications or time-consuming processing (assuming it is a method where a percentage completion can be measured). This event is only fired when it is possible to know a percentage completion, and when it makes sense to express the operation as a percentage completed. The pctDone argument will have a value from 1 to 100. For operations (Chilkat method calls) that complete very quickly, the number of PercentDone callbacks will vary, but the final callback should have a value of 100. For long running operations, no more than one callback per percentage point will occur (for example: 1, 2, 3, ... 98, 99, 100).

The PercentDone callback counts as an AbortCheck event. For method calls that complete quickly such that PercentDone events fire, it may be that AbortCheck events don't fire because the opportunity to abort is already provided in the PercentDone callback. For time consuming operations, where the amount of time between PercentDone callbacks are long, AbortCheck callbacks may be used to allow for the operation to be aborted in a more responsive manner.

The abort output argument provides a means for aborting the operation. Setting it to True will cause the method to abort and return a failed status (or whatever return value indicates failure).

Args are passed using Chilkat.PercentDoneEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents tar As Chilkat.Tar

Private Sub tar_OnPercentDone(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.PercentDoneEventArgs) Handles tar.OnPercentDone

    ...

End Sub
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ProgressInfo
Event OnProgressInfo

A general name/value event that provides information about what is happening during a method call. To find out what information is available, write code to handle this event and log the name/value pairs. Most are self-explanatory.

Args are passed using Chilkat.ProgressInfoEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents tar As Chilkat.Tar

Private Sub tar_OnProgressInfo(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.ProgressInfoEventArgs) Handles tar.OnProgressInfo

    ...

End Sub
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TaskCompleted
Event OnTaskCompleted

Called in the background thread when an asynchronous task completes.

More Information and Examples

Args are passed using Chilkat.TaskCompletedEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents tar As Chilkat.Tar

Private Sub tar_OnTaskCompleted(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.TaskCompletedEventArgs) Handles tar.OnTaskCompleted

    ...

End Sub
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