Encoding base64 in Java and decoding in C#

Question

Hi!

I have to send a file to my webservice, but the webservice assumes the file (byte Array) as a base64Binary.

Before the encoding, the byteArrayFile is saved on disk as a regular File. (I'm doing it just for testing)

So, in my Java client for webservice, I'm sending the information this way:

String file = new sun.misc.BASE64Encoder().encode(byteArrayFile);
port.sendFileToWebService(file);

The webservice have to decode the information and save the received file on disk.

    [WebMethod]
    public string sendFileToWebService(string file)
    {

        string dirname = HttpContext.Current.Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + "\\Attachments\\";
        if (!System.IO.Directory.Exists(dirname))
        {
            System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(dirname);
        }
        string filename = dirname + "/" + "file.sim";
        WebClient myWebClient = new WebClient();
        myWebClient.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
        byte[] byteArray = null;

        byteArray = Convert.FromBase64String(file.Replace("\n", ""));

        byte[] responseArray = myWebClient.UploadData(filename, "POST", byteArray);
        return "Webservice says OK";
    }

The problem is:

The file saved on disk (before encoding) and the file decoded with C# are not equals. I don't know if it's a problem in Java encoding or C# decoding.

Any suggestions, including changing file types or logic process, will always be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT - File comparison:

Answer 1

I'm probably wrong bit I think that you need to convert the file to a string format for a proper base64 conversion.

Don't know this is necesary in java but in javascript You have to cast first to string and then convert to base64.

Answer 2

Try use normal file i/o instead of a WebClient

public string sendFileToWebService(string file)
{

    string dirname = HttpContext.Current.Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + "\\Attachments\\";
    if (!System.IO.Directory.Exists(dirname))
    {
        System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(dirname);
    }
    string filename = dirname + "/" + "file.sim";
    byte[] byteArray = Convert.FromBase64String(file);
    File.WriteAllBytes(filename, byteArray ); //might wanna catch exceptions that could occur here
    return "Webservice says OK";
}

Answer 3

I know that the XSD standard specifies a data type called base64Binary. What this should allow for, is your [WebMethod] parameter to be a byte[]. Then the underlying service stack will encode the byte array to a base64 string.

For example, I just did a quick Java service like this

   @WebMethod(operationName = "TestByteArray")
    public void testByteArray(byte[] data) {

    }

And the relevant parts of the generated WSDL look like this:

<operation name="TestByteArray">
    <input wsam:Action="jordan.services/EncodingTests/TestByteArrayRequest" message="tns:TestByteArray"/>
    <output wsam:Action="jordan.services/EncodingTests/TestByteArrayResponse" message="tns:TestByteArrayResponse"/>
</operation>

And

<xs:complexType name="TestByteArray">
    <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="arg0" type="xs:base64Binary" nillable="true" minOccurs="0"/>
    </xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

I have also done a test in .Net:

[WebMethod]
public void testByteArray(byte[] bytes) {
}

Relevant parts of the generated WSDL:

<wsdl:portType name="TestWSSoap">
    <wsdl:operation name="testByteArray">
        <wsdl:input message="tns:testByteArraySoapIn"/>
        <wsdl:output message="tns:testByteArraySoapOut"/>
    </wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:portType>

And

<wsdl:types>
    <s:schema elementFormDefault="qualified" targetNamespace="http://tempuri.org/"&gt;
        <s:element name="testByteArray">
            <s:complexType>
                <s:sequence>
                    <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="bytes" type="s:base64Binary"/>
                </s:sequence>
            </s:complexType>
        </s:element>
        <s:element name="testByteArrayResponse">
            <s:complexType/>
        </s:element>
    </s:schema>
</wsdl:types>