ToBinary

Note: Adobe recommends that you use the BinaryDecode function to convert Base64 encoded data to binary data in all new applications.

Description

Calculates the binary representation of Base64-encoded data, PDF document, or a spreadsheet.

Returns

A binary representation of the data.

Function syntax

ToBinary(Data)

See also

BinaryDecode for conversion of binary-encoded data, including Base64, to binary data
cffile for information about loading and reading binary data
cfwddx for information about serializing and deserializing binary data
IsBinary and ToBase64 for checking format and converting to Base64
Len for determining the length of a binary object
Binary data type and binary encoding in Data types- Developing guide in the Developing ColdFusion Applications

Parameters

Parameter	Description
Data	A variable representing data in Base64-encoded format or a PDF document.

Usage

The ToBinary function can take as a parameter a PDF document variable (specified by the cfpdf tag name attribute). In this case, the ToBinary function returns a byte array (byte[]) representation of the document. You can use the results of this function, for example, to store the PDF in a database as a BLOB, or, in a cfcontent tag, to write the PDF to the browser. You can use this binary representation with a read operation in the cfpdf tag to create a variable.The following example reads an unprotected PDF file, applies protections, and displays it in the browser:

<cfpdf action="read" source="Copy of coldfusion11.pdf" name="p"> 
<cfpdf action="protect" source="p" newUserpassword="user" permissions="none" 
newOwnerpassword="owner"> 
<cfcontent type="application/pdf" variable="#tobinary(p)#">

Adobe recommends that you use the BinaryDecode function to convert Base64 encoded data to binary data in all new applications.If you pass a binary value to this function, it returns the input value.

Example

<h3>ToBinary Example</h3> 
<!---- Initialize data. ----> 
<cfset charData = ""> 
<!---- Create a string of ASCII characters (32-255); concatenate them. ----> 
<cfloop index = "data" from = "32" to = "255"> 
<cfset ch = chr(data)> 
<cfset charData = charData & ch> 
</cfloop> 
<p>The following string is the concatenation of all characters (32 to 255) 
from the ASCII table.<br> 
<cfoutput>#charData#</cfoutput></p> 
<!----- Create a Base64 representation of this string. -----> 
<cfset data64 = toBase64(charData)> 

<!--- Convert string to binary. ----> 
<cfset binaryData = toBinary(data64)> 
<!--- Convert binary back to Base64. ---> 
<cfset another64 = toBase64(binaryData)> 
<!---- Compare another64 with data64 to ensure that they are equal. ----> 
<cfif another64 eq data64> 
<h3>Base64 representation of binary data is identical to the Base64 
representation of string data.</h3> 
<cfelse> 
<h3>Conversion error.</h3> 
</cfif>