Description
Converts a string to a binary object. Used to convert binary data that has been encoded into string format back into binary data.
Returns
A binary object.
Category
Conversion functions, String functions
Function syntax
BinaryDecode(string, binaryencoding) |
See also
BinaryEncode, CharsetEncode, CharsetDecode
History
ColdFusion MX 7: Added this function.
Parameters
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
string |
A string containing encoded binary data. |
binaryencoding |
A string that specifies the algorithm used to encode the original binary data into a string; must be one of the following:
|
Usage
Use this function to convert a binary-encoded string representation of binary data back to a binary object for use in your application. Binary data is often encoded as a string for transmission over many Internet protocols, such as HTTP and SMTP, or for storage in a database.Adobe recommends that you use the BinaryDecode function, not the ToBinary(base64data) function, to convert Base64-encoded data to binary data in all new applications.See the following pages for additional information on handling binary data:
- cffile for loading and reading binary data in files
- cfwddx for serializing and deserializing binary data
- IsBinary for checking variables for binary format
- Len for determining the length of a binary object
Example
The following example reads a GIF file as binary data, converts it to a binary-encoded string, converts the binary-encoded data back to binary data and writes the result to a file. It displays the encoded string and the image in the output file.
| <h3>Binary Encoding Conversion Example</h3> <!--- Do the following if the form has been submitted. ---> <cfif IsDefined("Form.binEncoding")> <!--- Read in a binary data file. ---> <cffile action="readbinary" file="C:\images\help.gif" variable="binimage"> <!--- Convert the read data to binary encoding and back to binary data. ---> <cfscript> binencode=BinaryEncode(binimage, Form.binEncoding); bindecode=BinaryDecode(binencode, Form.binEncoding); </cfscript> <!---Write the converted results to a file. ---> <cffile action="write" file="C:\temp\help.gif" output="#bindecode#" addnewline="No" > <!--- Display the results. ---> <cfoutput> <p><b>The binary encoding:</b> #Form.binEncoding#</p> <p><b>The image converted into a binary-encoded string by BinaryEncode </b><br> #binencode#</p> <p><b>The image as written back to a file after converting back to binary using BinaryDecode</b><br> <img src="C:\temp\help.gif"><br> </cfoutput> </cfif> <!--- The input form. ---> <form action="#CGI.SCRIPT_NAME#" method="post"> <b>Select binary encoding</b><br> <select size="1" name="binEncoding" > <option selected>UU</option> <option>Base64</option> <option>Hex</option> </select><br> <br> <input type = "Submit" value = "convert my data"> </form> |
