convert byte array to Base64 String in android

Question

So I have the user enter password to signup from the android app.

Before I save the password to the database on the server I want to convert it to a MD5 one way hash and save it to the database.

MessageDigest md = null;
    try {
        md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
    } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e3) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e3.printStackTrace();
    }
    try {
        md.update(password.getBytes("UTF-8"));
    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e3) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e3.printStackTrace();
    }
    byte raw[] = md.digest();

How do I convert this byte array to a Base64 string. I saw in some forum that android util package left out the Base64 encoding and decoding on the other hand I see the encodetoString function in the android developers site.

Any help is appreciated.

Kevin Gaudin · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-01 06:00:03Z

4

For such a basic utility class, as there is a late implementation of Base64 in API 8, I would copy the latest source from the AOSP git repo to my own application package. It compiles with API level 3.

This way, you can code in your application with the same API as the official android Base64 implementation and stay compatible with all android versions. The day API 8 becomes the oldest version of android on the market, you just have to delete your version of the class in your package and update the imports to the official android.util.Base64.

Eclipse hint: just follow the link I provided to the source in your browser, Ctrl-A to select all the code, Ctrl-C to copy it, open Eclipse, click on the package where you want to create the class, hit Ctrl-V. The .java file is created automatically with the source directly modified with the correct package declaration.

answered Dec 1, 2010 at 6:00

Kevin Gaudin

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2 Comments

Matt Briançon Over a year ago

Kind of makes me cringe but this is quick solution. Thanks!

Ben Over a year ago

You can find the code here: link

Eric Levine · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-01 01:02:44Z

3

If you want your application to be compatible below API level 8, then you can pull in a 3rd part library to handle the Base64 encoding.

Apache Commons Codec is one you can try. It includes a Base64 codec: http://commons.apache.org/codec/api-release/index.html.

answered Dec 1, 2010 at 1:02

Eric Levine

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2 Comments

President James K. Polk Over a year ago

A nice compact implementation with a very liberal license is here

Eric Levine Over a year ago

android.util.Base64 is available since API level 8 (Android 2.2). If there is a need to support earlier OS versions, then it wouldn't be an option.

Aakash · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-01 05:45:13Z

1

Here is how I did it... Just this code after the code above in my question.

StringBuffer hexString = new StringBuffer();
    for (int i=0; i<raw.length; i++)
        hexString.append(Integer.toHexString(0xFF & raw[i]));
    password = hexString.toString();

Thanks.

answered Dec 1, 2010 at 5:45

Aakash

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1 Comment

Ferrybig Over a year ago

This answer is incorrect, this answer encodes bytes as HEX, while the question asks for BASE64, there is a HUGE difference between these 2 encodings

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