TCompress component set V11.4

File and Database Compression Components for Delphi, C++ Builder and Kylix - continually supported since 1995

Contents What is TCompress? What can it do? Registration Information New in V11.4 (now supports RAD Studio 10.2) Download a copy Tips & Tricks Reviews FAQ!!!

What's New?

April 2018: TCompress is now released with full source units instead of compiled DCUs and formal product support is ended. A registration payment is no longer required to use its code compiled into your projects. However, redistribution or resale of the source code itself remains prohibited and subject to copyright notices in the source code.
Download it here.

June 2017: TCompress v11.4 now adds support for RAD Studio 10.2 (Delphi and C++ Builder) including 64-bit platforms. This is a FREE upgrade for users of v11.0 or later, and chargeable for users of all earlier versions of TCompress.
Notes:
(1) this version supports only 32-bit database blob compression for the 32-bit platform, as there is no 64-bit version of the BDE
(2) to use the database compression components with this version of Rad Studio: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde250.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30752
(3) the download does not include object files for C++Builder, Kylix, Delphi.Net or for Delphi compilers earlier than XE3. For those compilers, please evaluate using the Delphi DCUs provided and obtain a full source license to use with your compiler, rather than a standard license.
Download it here.

May 2016: TCompress v11.3 now adds support for RAD Studio 10.1 (Delphi and C++ Builder) including 64-bit platforms. This is a FREE upgrade for users of v11.0 or later, and chargeable for users of all earlier versions of TCompress.
Note: to use the database compression components for Rad Studio 10.1: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde240.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30752

September 2015: TCompress v11.2 now adds support for RAD Studio 10 (Delphi and C++ Builder) including 64-bit platforms. This is a FREE upgrade for users of v11.0 or later, and chargeable for users of all earlier versions of TCompress.
Note: to use the database compression components for Rad Studio 10: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde230.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30359

April 2015: TCompress v11.1 now adds support for RAD Studio XE8 (Delphi and C++ Builder). This is a FREE upgrade for users of v11.0 or later, and chargeable for users of all earlier versions of TCompress.
Note: for XE8: to use the database compression components: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde220.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30185

September 2014: TCompress v11 now adds support for RAD Studio XE7 (Delphi and C++ Builder) including 64-bit platforms. This is a chargeable upgrade for users of all earlier versions of TCompress.
Note: for XE7, to use the database compression components: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde210.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/29997

May 2014: TCompress v10.3 released. incorporating support for RAD Studio XE6.

October 2013: TCompress v10.2 released. incorporating support for RAD Studio XE5.

August 2013: TCompress v10.1 released. incorporating support for RAD Studio XE4.

September 2012: TCompress v10.0 with support for RAD Studio XE3.

December 2011: TCompress v9.4 released, fixing a small bug related to DLL compressed resources, and using code-page independent strings in CompressString and ExpandString. Free upgrade for existing TCompress v9 registered users - just download and use the latest component file.

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Overview

TCompress provides native components for Delphi (including .NET), C++ Builder and Kylix supporting easy creation of multi-file compressed archives, as well as database, file and in-memory compression using streams.

Three compression methods (RLE, LZH1 and LZH5) are built in, with "hooks" for the easy addition of custom compression formats. Compressed file protection using keys is supported.

TCompress also includes drop 'n play components for automatic database blob, image, memo and rich text, based on the VCL's TDBMemo, TDBImage and TDBRichText components.

Bitmap images compress by up to 98% when using LZH5, hence there is a massive saving in disk space and disk or network access when using these components.

TCompress comes with an extensive demonstration, many source examples (including how to make a self-extracting EXE) and comprehensive help and keyword files.

Included in the TCompress set are:

	TCompress component — general purpose multi-file archive, resource and stream compression. Includes RLE and LZH compression as standard
	TCDBImage component — uses TCompress to automatically compress/expand database image fields
	TCDBMemo component — uses TCompress to automatically compress/expand database memo fields
	TCDBRichText component — uses TCompress to automatically compress/expand rich text database fields
	COMPDEMO application — extensive full-source drag-and-drop demonstration of multi-file and database field compression (note: under XE7 or later, you need to install the BDE before compiling this - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30359 and similar articles for earlier versions of RAD Studio)
	Numerous source examples — several example files showing how to use the TCompress event handlers, how to work directly with database blobs (e.g. saving compressed arrays), how to store compressed resources in your EXE or DLL and how to implement custom compression

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Key Features

• Works with Delphi 6 and C++ Builder 6 up to Rad Studio 10.2, and with Kylix 3
• NATIVE compression — no mucking about with DLLs, OCXes et al
• Multi-file compressed archives using the TCompress component
• Database BLOB (memo, image) compression with TCDBMemo, TCDBRichText and TCDBimage - (note: under XE7 or later, you need to install the BDE before compiling the package with these database components - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/29997)
• In-memory compression using streams (file/memory/blob/resource to file/memory/blob)
• Key-based protection of compressed data
• Self-extracting EXEs and compressed resources in EXEs
• Thread-safe compression for multi-threaded applications
• Event hooks for customizable user interaction
• Built-in RLE (Run-Length Encoding) and LZH (Lempel-Ziv-Huffman) compression
• Easy to add your own custom compression routines at any time
• Comprehensive help
• Loads of example source included
• Full component source code available

TCompress and its companions provide very comprehensive data compression capabilities. Most developers might only need to drop a TCompress component on a form and call its ExpandFile/CompressFile methods in order to create and work with their own multi-file archives...

Others might drop TCDBMemo/TCDBImage/TCDBRichText components on as well and simply interact with them to have text and picture data automatically compressed and decompressed when they are stored in a database (requires BDE, hence 32-bit platform only).

...and some developers might use the TCBlobfield class to store all kinds of data (sound, numbers, video etc) directly into compressed database blobs.

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New in TCompress v11.4

• Added support for Rad Studio 10.2
• to use the database compression components for the latest RAD Studio version: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde250.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30752
• Note that we no longer supply object files for C++Builder, Delphi-dotNet or Kylix, nor for Delphi compilers earlier than XE3. For those compilers, please test using the Delphi DCUs provided and obtain a full-source license to use with your compiler, rather than a standard license.

No source change was made for this release.

New in TCompress v11.3

• Added support for Rad Studio 10.1
• to use the database compression components for the latest RAD Studio version: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde240.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30522

No source change was made for this release.

New in TCompress v11.2

• Added support for Rad Studio 10
• to use the database compression components for RAD Studio 10: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde230.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30359

No source change was made for this release.

New in TCompress v11.1

• Added support for Rad Studio XE8
• for XE8, to use the database compression components: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde220.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/30185

No source change was made for this release.

New in TCompress v11

• Added support for Rad Studio XE7
• for XE7, to use the database compression components: before compiling the package containing them you need to install the BDE and then find and install the dclbde210.bpl package from the bin folder - see http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/29997

No source change was made for this release.

New in TCompress v10.3 (May 2014)

• Added support for Rad Studio XE6

No source change was made for this release.

New in TCompress v10.2 (October 2013)

• Added support for Rad Studio XE5

No source change was made for this release.

New in TCompress v10.1 (August 2013)

• Added support for Rad Studio XE4

No source change was made for this release.

New in TCompress v10.0 (August 2012)

• Added support for Rad Studio XE3
• 64-bit DCUs provided for XE2 and XE3 (excluding database compression components, as there is no BDE support on the 64-bit platform)

New in TCompress v9.4 (December 2011)

• CompressString/ExpandString now use RawByteString arguments (which support all string types) in Delphi 2009 or later - this ensures code-page free decompression of older string data, with no change needed in calling logic.
• LoadCompressedResource functions properly for DLL resource access on later OSes; call the new ReleaseCompressedResource method after expansion, or call LoadExpandedResource instead to bypass any need.

New in v9.3 (November 2011):

• Added support for RAD Studio XE2
• Fixed a data-dependent bug affecting WideStrings passed to the CompressString method (bug shows as a checksum error when ExpandString is subsequently called).

New in v9.2: Added support for Delphi 2011 and C++ Builder 2011 (RAD Studio XE).

New in v9.1: Added support for Delphi 2010 and C++ Builder 2010 (RAD Studio 2010).

New in v9.0:

• Added support for Delphi 2009 and C++ Builder 2009 (RAD Studio 2009).
• UNICODE: 100% backwards compatibility has been assured under the 2009-and-later Unicode compilers by typing filenames in archives to be 1-byte characters. Also, TCDBMemo and TCDBRichText both support only regular Ansi text, just like their non-compressing VCL equivalents.
• Certain method and event parameters (e.g. the CID parameter of the Compress.CheckHeader protected method) use AnsiString rather than string. Apart from the events, these are mostly internal methods and thus any changes to your code for the Unicode compilers would be nil or very trivial.

TCompress v11.4 is a FREE upgrade for Registered Users of TCompress v11.0 or later — just download the new files and use your existing registration code.

TCompress v11.4 is a CHARGEABLE upgrade for users of all versions prior to v11.0 -- download the new files and upgrade via our online order form.

Upgrade price for Registered Users of earlier versions: $US79

If you bought source units for an earlier version, the upgrade fee above includes a source upgrade for any units you own.

For proof of registration, please supply your existing RegName and RegNumber.

To order your upgrade, use our online form or use the form in the Registration section of Compress.hlp.

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Download TCompress

Download TCompress V11.4 with source today! (165KB) (<=== this link will do it)

Download COMPDEMO exe - a drag and drop demo to compress or decompress TCompress archives

 

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Tips & Tricks

"I found that best compression rates on large tables are achieved by using first coRLE to squeeze the table quickly into 25% of it's original size and then coLZH to finish it up. It gives the best compression/time ratio and the best compression rate ever: 1,076,152 bytes squeezed down to 39,300bytes."
Bob Heida (bobtsf@login.cz)

"I tweaked the Compress method source so it always puts a header in compressed blobs. Having done that, I can now compress multiple items into a single database field — very useful if you have a range of information to store in a single record."
Lee Slater (lees@motelnet.co.nz)

"Well, I just tested using TCompress with images in Interbase and it works just fine. The trick seems to be to set the TCblobfield size to 1. It's the same you'd write for any other SQL database I think."
Ricky Engberg (ricky.engberg@microlan.se)

If you have any tips of your own to add, or particular usage questions, please email software@webcentre.co.nz.

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News and Reviews: What TCompress users have said, and what they're doing with it

"The TCompress component package is ideal for anyone who wants simple, straightforward, compression."
Extract from the TCompress review at www.Delphi32.com.

"...we were quite frankly amazed with not only the speed, but the compression ratios achieved... To say the least, for ease of use, speed, reliability, functionality, and robustness of implementation, these components are simply outstanding!"
Extract from the TCompress review by The Think Tank.

"Trouble free, big in, little out tool, love it to bits. Easy to use, rapid response to Delphi changes, what more could I ask? I rarely use anyone else's components but this is one I wouldn't be without."
Gordon Whittam (GWhit41980 @ aol.com)

"Once again, thanks for your prompt assistance. Your company's level of support is way above what I have come to expect from the industry!"
Tim at UFO Systems, Australia

"We've really been using this component of yours everywhere!!! It's great, but I still haven't figured out how to get it compress the caffeine in my coffee :)."
Richard at Computer Consulting Group (ccg @ mind.net)

"It took me less than a day to implement your TCompress in a dll that's backwards API compatible with our old library. It is a god-given control! (my P120-NT-box made an overnight compression burn-in test. I stopped it this morning with 15731 successfull compression iterations).... (far better than my good old compress.dll and PK libraries)."
Bob Heida (bobtsf @ login.cz)

"TCompress is the first component I've found that does what I want it to... and more. I didn't realize you could compress image and memo fields — that's also a huge advantage for the program I'm working on."
Mike Yui, Queens University (3mry @ qlink.queensu.ca)

"Classy stuff! Well-designed, intuitive. I was able to use it without a glance at any help or instructions."
Lou Garner (lou.garner @ lunatic.com)

"It works! And where the previous component took 2.5 seconds to compress a 10K bitmap, TCompress is instantaneous!"
Jon Robertson (touri @ flash.net)

"I appreciate your support... the product I had to get ready for Comdex is PictureAlbum for Windows (made for Mediaminds Inc)...

"...TCompress continues to perform well for me. I have included it in Projector for Windows v4.1, — a windows screen saver that uses a powerful image engine for the front end and a database for the backend. Each database is actually 3 files, the database file, a memo file which contains the image blobs, and an index.
"I use TCompress to archive these files together, so that the user need not be bothered with tracking several files. The database file, which is basically an index, is highly compressible with LZH. One of the things I point out to customers is that my archive files can actually GROW if you try to 'zip' them."
Bruce Nunnally (nunnally @ iadfw.net )

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