Processing files in Apex has always been… painful.

Processing files in Apex has always been… painful. This new namespace helps with that.

The new(ish) Compression namespace has gone under the radar, and I wanted to share it.

Internally at Elevate, we have already gotten a lot of use out of it for our clients. I've had my eye on it for some time while it was in beta, so I was excited when it finally became GA.

Apex is a powerful language compared to many other business application scripting languages, but it still has its limitations. You always have the option to take processing and business logic off-platform, but I like to experiment with the platform first and see what is possible natively.

One of the more challenging limitations in Apex has been its ability to process files. Anything text-based is fine, but being able to interact with zips makes moving files between platforms and working with files on-platform significantly easier. Many of the file extensions you know and love are actually just zip files too. Think docx, xlsx, and pptx.

There are a lot of possibilities being opened up with the new Compression namespace. Some I have been thinking about:

1. Sending compressed email attachments 2. Document bundling for downloads 3. Document generation 4. Callout optimization

Let me know what other ideas you have for this.