Data Exchange Modifications (Alternative to ZIP Files)

[lquessenberry]

I am wondering if anyone has come up with a way to forego the ZIP container around the CSV or XML files in favor of providing and export in CSV or XML without it being contained in a ZIP file. I would love to not have to uncompress the XML files and access them directly.

Ideally, I would like to be able to modify the OrderExport functionality to perhaps write a duplicate XML file into a separate directory with a static filename that is overwritten each time that an order export is executed so I would have a constant URL with updated data at each time an export is made.

[Naveed]

You can write a generic ASHX handler for a static URL. That generic ashx handler can scan a directory ( data exchange download folder) and detect the latest exported order file (compressed), un-compress it into memory or to a temporary location and return the contents to you.

[lquessenberry]

That sounds awesome, but here's the catch. I am not familiar with ASHX, but I understand your logic here. Do you know of any particular examples of code that I can look at for this? I am used to PHP development and I am not a complete dummy when it comes to code, but knowing where to start would be awesome. Any ideas?

[Naveed]

I try to explain some related code stuff:

1. You can locate the latest modified file using some code below:
Add following namespaces with using statements:

Code: Select all

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using CommerceBuilder.Common;

Code: Select all

    string mappedPath = Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/DataExchange/Download/");
    if (Directory.Exists(mappedPath))
    {
	string fileTypes = "ORDERS_*.zip";
	string[] backupFilePaths = fileTypes.Split('|').SelectMany(filter => Directory.GetFiles(mappedPath, filter, SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly)).ToArray();
	if (backupFilePaths != null && backupFilePaths.Length > 0)
	{
	    IList<FileInfo> backupFiles = new List<FileInfo>();
	    // GET FILE NAMES
	    for (int i = 0; i < backupFilePaths.Length; i++)
	    {
		FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(backupFilePaths[i]);
		backupFiles.Add(fileInfo);
	    }

	    backupFiles.Sort("LastWriteTime", CommerceBuilder.Common.SortDirection.DESC);

	    // LAST MODIFIED FILE
	    FileInfo lastFile = backupFiles[0];
	    }
    }

Here is how you can uncompress the contents of zip file:
Add using statement at the top:

Code: Select all

using ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.Zip;

Uncompress to a directory:

Code: Select all

// UNCOMPRESS LAST FILE
	    // EXTRACT TO A TEMPORARY DIRECTORY, WHICH WILL BE DELETED AT THE END
	    string extractDirectory = "~/App_Data/DataExchange/Download/" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString() + "/";
	    try
	    {
		FastZip fastZip = new FastZip();
		fastZip.ExtractZip(filePath, SafeMapPath(extractDirectory), string.Empty);

		// LOCATE THE UNCOMPRESSED FILE, AND PROCESS THE FILE CONTENTS
	    }
	    finally
	    {
		// DELETE THE TEMP DIRECTORY
		Directory.Delete(SafeMapPath(extractDirectory), true);
	    }

I hope it will help.

[lquessenberry]

Thank you Naveed. This will help greatly. I will begin trying to implement some of this and give it a shot.