Byte array to xml with UTF8 and base64 encoding?

Question

    [return: System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElementAttribute("return", DataType="base64Binary")]
    public byte[] get(...)

I am trying to get a xml(utf-8) from this webservice. I have tried multiple things to try and get the xml out of the byte array like:

stream
encoding
decoder
converter

[Extra info] When decoding the byte array with Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes) I get a string with strange signs and symbols but also with some text Starting with: %PDF-1.4

[SOLUTION] Writing the byte array to a pdf file makes it readable.

groverboy · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-19 10:59:13Z

1

I think the web service provides a byte stream that is simply base64-encoded data represented as integers instead of chars. I believe that the base64 chars are a subset of ASCII, so you need to convert the byte array to ASCII (i.e. base64 represented as chars), then convert these chars from base64:

var base64AsAscii = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytesFromWebService);
var decodedBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(bytesAsAscii);
var text = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(decodedBytes);

answered Dec 19, 2013 at 10:59

groverboy

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12 Comments

Kenny Over a year ago

Thank you for your response. I tried it, but i got following error. The input is not a valid Base-64 string as it contains a non-base 64 character, more than two padding characters, or an illegal character among the padding characters.

Kenny Over a year ago

This is the response after the get string. %PDF-1.4 %???? 5 0 obj <</Type/XObject/ColorSpace/DeviceGray/Subtype/Image/BitsPerComponent 8/Width 319/Length 96/Height 238/Filter/FlateDecode>>stream x???1

groverboy Over a year ago

@Kenny - My code includes 2 calls to GetString: which one? Anyway it looks like the base64 data encodes PDF content, not simple text.

Kenny Over a year ago

The first get string gives that response.

groverboy Over a year ago

@Kenny - I'm trying to understand this weird name base64Binary. You say the XML is UTF8 so might be worthwhile trying UTF8 for both calls to GetString?

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ken2k · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-19 10:16:37Z

1

You can try Convert.ToBase64String.

answered Dec 19, 2013 at 10:16

ken2k

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1 Comment

Kenny Over a year ago

No, it does not work. I tried the convert methods. Is there anyway to know which decoding i need to do? I just need to get my data from the byte array

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