XP batch File, command line Zip, how?





Seasonal greetings to you all,

Sorry if this is a tad off topic; I?m both a newbie and inexperienced in XP,
but I?ve had a reasonable understanding of older Window?s OSs. I?m trying to
learn and achieve, using XP?s CMD editor, how to create a batch file that
will (before I ?backup?/burn files to a disc), zip a folder using XP?s own
zip/compression utilities. However, I can see a number of ways in which this
can be done using other proprietary software (some of them are free), but I
would prefer to use an XP batch, as it?s already there. The problem is, is
that although the folder changes colour to blue, there?s no compression
taking place? Can I presume that an MHTML is already a compressed file? As
an alternative, if I (using Windows explorer), simply ?Send to a Zip folder?
not only does the new file appear with a proper ?Zipper? Icon, all the MHTML
files are now half the original size, which is what I want. But there?s no
way to command line this ?ZIP? function within a batch, or is there?



Below is an example of my simple Batch file:

:Trying to compress

@echo off

echo.

echo Michael?s, Zipper batch file

copy TestSource\*.* TestDest

compact TestDest /c

echo.

Pause



Then if I disable the copy line and swap the compact line for: ?compact
TestDest /u? this will decompress this folder.

?TestSource? folder has a few MHTML documents in it and the ?TestDest?
folder is already in place and empty. The ?Pause? line is there so I can
read what XP?s doing, otherwise it?s gone in a flash, also helpful if I
leave echo ?on?.

So my objective is twofold (a): Reduce the folder size of my downloaded,
saved, Web pages, placing them in a single ?Zipped? folder and (b): Remove a
problem my CD burner has with very long Web page names. All achieved via a
batch file.

My PC is a 'Packard Bell Xtreme, AMD Athlon, 2.5 GHz, 1 GB RAM and 120 GB
Hard drive, about 25% used. I'm running 'Windows' XP Home edition with SP2.

Any thoughts for me folks, many thanks, Michael.


.