base64 encoding for attachments in a web service

Attachments can be sent over web services through base64 encoding of the binary files and transporting them as string through a SOAP message.

Here is util file in java for encoding and decoding a binary file into base64 string.

package com.peoplesoft.hr.sa;

import java.util.zip.*;

import java.util.Enumeration;

import java.io.*;

import java.util.Stack;

import sun.misc.BASE64Encoder;

import sun.misc.BASE64Decoder;

public class base64Utils {

public base64Utils() {

}

/**

* encodes a file in base64 format

* @param filename name of the file to encode

* @return String the base64 text of the encoded file

*/

public String base64Encode(String filename) {

BASE64Encoder b64e = new BASE64Encoder();

byte[] temparray, filearray;

int bytecount;

try {

BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(

filename));

ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();

b64e.encode(bis, bos);

bis.close();

return bos.toString();

}

catch (Exception a) {

return null;

}

}

/**

* decodes a file from base64 format

* @param filename name of the file to decode to

* @param filedata the base64 encoded data

* @return String the base64 text of the encoded file

*/

public boolean base64Decode(String filename, String filedata)

{

BASE64Decoder b64d=new BASE64Decoder();

byte [] outputfile;

try {

BufferedOutputStream bos=new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(filename));

outputfile=b64d.decodeBuffer(filedata);

bos.write(outputfile);

bos.close();

}

catch (Exception a) {

return false;

}

return true;

}

}