Base64 Encoding for PeopleSoft

This week on the ittoolbox peopeltools-I forum, I ran across a question on base64 encoding binary data using PeopleCode. There are a couple of ways to base64 encode data, none of which are delivered. Before deciding which method to use, we first have to answer two questions:

1. Where is the data (file, database, text string)?
2. Is the data in binary or plain text format?

If the data resides in the database, then we can select it out using the following SQL:

SELECT UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_VARCHAR2(UTL_ENCODE.BASE64_ENCODE(UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW('Hello World'))) FROM DUAL;

In fact, rewrite that as:

SELECT UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_VARCHAR2(UTL_ENCODE.BASE64_ENCODE(UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW(%TextIn(:1)))) FROM DUAL;

And, if you are an Oracle database user, then you have a generic SQL statement you can use to base64 encode any plain text. If you name the SQL definition BASE_64_ENCODE, then you can call that SQL definition as follows:

Local string &source = "Hello World";
Local string &encoded;
Local number &i;

SQLExec(SQL.BASE_64_ENCODE, &source, &encoded);
MessageBox(0, "", 0, 0, "base64: " | &encoded);

The PeopleCode and SQL above will work for any text string as long as you are using an Oracle database. Now, what if you want to base64 encode binary data? If the binary data is in the database, then modify the SQL accordingly.

Did you notice the %TextIn Meta-SQL I sneaked into the SQL above? Use it whenever you are sending large amounts of text to the database. For a string as short as "Hello World," you don't need it, but if you are trying to base64 encode an entire XML document, then you might.

What if you are not using Oracle database? Perhaps T-SQL has a base64 encoding routine? If so, great. If not, then the following code provides a Java/PeopleCode solution. Unfortunately, the 2 common Java base64 encoding algorithms use method and constructor overloads in a manner that requires some ugly Java reflection PeopleCode.

REM ** create an instance of the Java base64 encoder;
Local JavaObject &encoder = CreateJavaObject("sun.misc.BASE64Encoder");

REM ** get a reference to a Java class instance for the primitive byte array;
Local JavaObject &arrayClass = GetJavaClass("java.lang.reflect.Array");
Local JavaObject &bytArrClass = &arrayClass.newInstance(GetJavaClass("java.lang.Byte").TYPE, 0);

REM ** use reflection to get a reference to the method we want to call;
Local JavaObject &encodeArgTypes = CreateJavaObject("java.lang.Class[]", &bytArrClass.getClass());
Local JavaObject &encodeMethod = &encoder.getClass().getMethod("encode", &encodeArgTypes);

REM ** call the method;
Local JavaObject &bytes = CreateJavaObject("java.lang.String", "Hello World").getBytes();
Local JavaObject &result = &encodeMethod.invoke(&encoder, CreateJavaObject("java.lang.Object[]", &bytes));

REM ** print the result;
MessageBox(0, "", 0, 0, "Result: " | &result.toString());

If you know enough about Java to compile a wrapper class and you have access to your app server's class directory, then you can eliminate the Java reflection code in favor of a wrapper:

package com.blogspot.jjmpsj;

import java.io.IOException;

import sun.misc.BASE64Encoder;

public class Base64Coder {
    public static String encodeString(String data) {
        BASE64Encoder encoder = new BASE64Encoder();
        return encoder.encode(data.getBytes());
    }

    public static String encodeBytes(byte[] data) {
        BASE64Encoder encoder = new BASE64Encoder();
        return encoder.encode(data);
    }
}

... and call it like so:

Local JavaObject &encoder = GetJavaClass("com.blogspot.jjmpsj.Base64Coder");
Local string &result = &encoder.encodeString("Hello World");

MessageBox(0, "", 0, 0, &result);

As you can see from this final example, when working with overloaded constructors and methods, Java wrappers dramatically simplify PeopleCode.

Each of the examples above uses "Hello World" as the text string. What is "Hello World" in base64? SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=. You can find an online base64 encoder/decoder here.

I will have to leave the question of base64 encoding binary files for another day. I am on the East coast attending Collaborate '09 and I need to get some rest so I can be right as rain for the conference tomorrow morning.

Update May 4th, 2009 at 4:09 AM: In the comments to this post, devwfb suggests that developers use org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64
rather than sun.misc.BASE64Encoder because classes in the sun package are undocumented and unsupported. devwfb is right and I should have mentioned this fact in my original post. I chose to use sun's base64 encoder because it is delivered and doesn't require customers to add more jars to the $PS_HOME/class directory. I will post the commons-codec example and link to it from here. See Sun's FAQ for more information.