Base64 encoding in an xlate

I’ve never done this specifically, but you could try something like this in an Xlate copy Tcl snippet:

package require base64

set str [lindex $xlateInVals 0]
set xlateOutVals

]

yes there is a package

ex: package require base64

This would un-encode a base64 value:

set code [catch {base64::decode “$base64string”} output1]

Are you un-encoding a base64 string in OBX.5 ?

Yes, you can and like Jeff indicates you need to require the base64 package.

I do the following (using Jeff’s example):

set msg_data_encoded [base64::encode $str]

set xlateOutVals [lreplace $xlateOutVals 0 0 $msg_data_encoded]

BUT – if you are encoding the data in sructured message (HL/7, X12, etc.), what if encoding characters (HL/7 ‘| ^ ~, etc’) are in the data to be encoded? It is possible the inbound may not parse out correctly.

Jim

Wow, re-reading my post, I see I did a pretty bad job checking my work…

It should read something like this:

package require base64

set str [lindex $xlateInVals 0]
set xlateOutVals

]

… and now I see that it wasn’t me…  seems my coding confused the editor somehow.

my response was substantially like Jim’s, so we’ll just leave it at that.

Jeff, I bet it is your keyboard. For over 55 years I have not had one keyboard that can spell or convey my thoughts properly 🙂

Yep, it’s definitely busted.

It’s also getting more apathetic as it gets older.

I’ll requisition a new one.

Regarding possible (HL7) encoding characters in base64.
Base64 encodes into a-z, A-Z, 0-9, “+” and “/”. So no HL7 encoding characters, which means you can safely use a base64 encoded string inside a (normal) HL7 message.

EDIFact would have problems with this as + is a reserved character. Other structered messages may have problems with this as well.