Base64 encode-decode in JavaMe

I want to start this post asking: why do you think you need to encode data? At first, I didn't have a specific answer, so I googled and found some interesting answers and now I can tell you: You want to encode, because you need to transfer binary data through a channel that is designed to deal with textual data. A common example is when you need to transfer an Image inside a JSON String or in a XML message.

We will use the Bouncy Castle library to Encode/Decode binary data in Base64 format. Although this library has a lot more and can be used for Encryption/Decryption using different methods, today we will focus on the Encoding/Decoding part. You can download the library using the following link:

bouncy castle library

Make sure you download the J2ME version. When you download this version, you'll get the full source code and when you build it, you get a 1.7MB library... which may be too much for a mobile application. Anyway, with the source code you can make a build of some classes and not of all of them. That's how I made a build with only the encoders packages and classes and is just about 14KB. If you need it, just ask for it you can download it using this link.

To work with Base64 in JavaMe (J2ME) the bouncy castle library comes with the org.bouncycastle.util.encoders.Base64 class. Next is how you can use it in your MIDlet:

import org.bouncycastle.util.encoders.Base64;

...
    /**
     * As an example, encodes a String and then it decodes it.
     * Prints to console the result of the encode/decode.
     */
    public void encodeDecodeExample() {
      
        String word = "New word to encode using Base64 also special "
                + "chars like Ñ and ó";
      
        System.out.println("Encoding: ");
        System.out.println(word);
      
        byte[] coded = Base64.encode(word.getBytes());
        String strCoded = new String(coded);
      
        //prints the encoded word
        System.out.println("Result: ");
        System.out.println(strCoded);

        System.out.println("Decoding: ");
        System.out.println(strCoded);
      
        byte[] decoded = Base64.decode(strCoded);
        String strDecoded = new String(decoded);

        //prints the decoded word
        System.out.println("Result: ");
        System.out.println(strDecoded);
    }
...

When the previous code is run, the console output shows the following:

Encoding: 
New word to encode using Base64 also special chars like Ñ and ó

Result: 
TmV3IHdvcmQgdG8gZW5jb2RlIHVzaW5nIEJhc2U2NCBhbHNvIHNwZWNpYWwgY2hhcnMgbGlrZSDRIGFuZCDz

Decoding: 
TmV3IHdvcmQgdG8gZW5jb2RlIHVzaW5nIEJhc2U2NCBhbHNvIHNwZWNpYWwgY2hhcnMgbGlrZSDRIGFuZCDz

Result: 
New word to encode using Base64 also special chars like Ñ and ó

You can see that first it prints the String varible called 'word' encoded, after that it decodes the encoded word and prints the decoded word. You only need to have the byte array of data and invoke the proper methods.

This library is pretty simple to use and it gives you the power of transmit binary data as text. As we mentioned before, if you need to send, for example, an Image as text (JSON String? XML?).

This is a small part of the bouncy castle library. It has many encryption/decryption method to be used in your mobile applications. In future posts we will explore some of these methods to add security to our mobile applications.

This concludes our introduction to Base64 in JavaMe (J2ME), wait for the next post where we will use it to send images from the server to the mobile client using, once again, JSON Strings.

see ya soon!


References:

Base64. 2010. Wikipedia [online].
Available on Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64
[accessed on December 28 2010].

The Legion of the Bouncy Castle. bouncycastle.org [online].
Available on Internet: http://www.bouncycastle.org/
[accessed on December 28 2010].