Recipe2.12.Decoding a Base64-Encoded Binary

Recipe 2.12. Decoding a Base64-Encoded Binary

Problem

You have a String that contains information such as a bitmap encoded as base64. You need to decode this data (which may have been embedded in an email message) from a String into a byte[] so that you can access the original binary.

Solution

Using the static method Convert.FromBase64String on the Convert class, an encoded String may be decoded to its equivalent byte[]:

 using System; public static byte[] Base64DecodeString(string inputStr) {     byte[] decodedByteArray =       Convert.FromBase64String(inputStr);          return (decodedByteArray); }

Discussion

The static FromBase64String method on the Convert class makes decoding an encoded base64 string a simple matter. This method returns a byte[] that contains the decoded elements of the String.

If you receive a file via email, such as an image file (.bmp), that has been converted to a string, you can convert it back into its original bitmap file, using something like the following:

 byte[] imageBytes = Base64DecodeString(bmpAsString); using (FileStream fstrm = new FileStream(@"C:\winnt_copy.bmp",                   FileMode.CreateNew, FileAccess.Write)) {     using (BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(fstrm))     {          writer.Write(imageBytes);     } }

In this code, the bmpAsString variable was obtained from the code in the Discussion section of Recipe 2.11. The imageBytes byte[] is the bmpAsString String converted back to a byte[], which can then be written back to disk.

To encode a byte[] to a String, see Recipe 2.13.