9.11 Using the Compress Tool (Revision #6)

Aqua Data Studio includes a Compress Tool for quickly compressing and decompressing both unencrypted and encrypted files from within the application. Encryption schemes for 128, 192 and 256-Bit AES Encryption are supported, allowing password protection for compressed files. The Compress Tool functions like many commonly available Zip and archive utilities, presenting file and archive contents and properties in a grid with Name, Type, Path, Modified Date, Size, Packed Size, Ratio and CRC.

Launching the Compress Tool

The Compress Tool can be launched by:

• Right clicking on a compressed file (.zip,tar.gz) in the Files Browser
• Double clicking on an archive or zip
• Dragging a compressed file from the Operating System into the Main Application Window and releasing it
• Selecting Compress Tool from the Tools menu in the Main Application Menu

After launching the Compress Tool it is possible to

• Add files to an archive
• Remove files from an archive
• Exclude/Include files using wild cards and skip system files during compression
• Encrypt archives after they've been created.
• Extract archive and zip contents

Using the Compress Tool

To add files to an archive or zip, multiselect items from the Files Browser and right click to choose Compress from the context menu choices. This will include the selected files. Enter a Target File name and choose the ZIP or TAR.GZ format. Include or exclude files (with wildcards for further refinement) and click Compress.

To open a preexisting ZIP or TAR.GZ archive, double click it in the Files Browser, or launch the Compress Tool from the Main Application Menu and click Open and browse to it. The contents of the compressed file appear in a list with file details. To extract the contents click the Extract button or the Actions->Exctract menu at the top of the Compress Tool window.

The menus within the Compress Tool window are:

• File
  • New - Create a new TAR.GZ or ZIP from the selected content
  • Open - Open an existing TAR.GZ or ZIP
  • Close - Close the Compress Tool
• Actions
  • Add File - Add an additional file to the current list to be included in the archive
  • Remove File - Remove a file from the current list of files in the archive
  • Extract - Decompress the contents of the current archive
  • Extract to Archive - Select specific items within an existing compressed file and make a new archive with them
  • Encrypt - Encrypt a preexisting archive (the archive's contents will display in the list) by entering a password and selecting an encryption method ( 128, 192 or 256-Bit AES Encryption).

The buttons in the Compress Tool Window are:

• New
• Open
• Add File
• Remove File
• Extract
• Extract to Archive
• Encrypt

Just like in other areas of Aqua Data Studio, a Quick Filter is available and can be found at the top right of the Compress Tool window. This allows for quickly locating files as you type terms and is useful for searching very large archives with hundreds of files.

Keyboard Shortcuts for the Compression Tool are available with File->Options->Key Mappings->Compression Tool.