File compression in Unity3D

Question

I am trying to compress files from a Unity3D project I have. I am using the following code to compress my files:

private void CompressFolder(string path, ZipOutputStream zipStream, int folderOffset) {

    string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(path);

    foreach (string filename in files) {

        FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(filename);

        string entryName = filename.Substring(folderOffset); // Makes the name in zip based on the folder
        entryName = ZipEntry.CleanName(entryName); // Removes drive from name and fixes slash direction
        ZipEntry newEntry = new ZipEntry(entryName);
        newEntry.DateTime = fi.LastWriteTime; // Note the zip format stores 2 second granularity

        newEntry.Size = fi.Length;

        zipStream.PutNextEntry(newEntry);

        // Zip the file in buffered chunks
        // the "using" will close the stream even if an exception occurs
        byte[ ] buffer = new byte[4096];
        using (FileStream streamReader = File.OpenRead(filename)) {
            StreamUtils.Copy(streamReader, zipStream, buffer);
        }
        zipStream.CloseEntry();
    }
    string[ ] folders = Directory.GetDirectories(path);
    foreach (string folder in folders) {
        CompressFolder(folder, zipStream, folderOffset);
    }
}

This function actually takes as an input the a dir with folders and zip them one by one. My issue here is that when the compression is taking place the main project is freezing. How can I overcome this problem?

Answer 1

The simplest way is to use ninja threads, multithread coroutines: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/15717

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
using CielaSpike; //include ninja threads

public class MyAsyncCompression : MonoBehaviour {


    public void ZipIt(){
        //ready data for commpressing - you will not be able to use any Unity functions while inside the asynchronous coroutine
        this.StartCoroutineAsync(MyBackgroundCoroutine()); // "this" means MonoBehaviour

    }

    IEnumerator MyBackgroundCoroutine(){
        //Call CompressFolder() here
        yield return null;
    }

    private void CompressFolder(string path, ZipOutputStream zipStream, int folderOffset) {
        /*...
         *... 
          ...*/
    }

}