RE: base64 encoder/decoder for EBCDIC systems

Mark,

The only problem with that would be getting an ASCII Base64 converter to
work on the AS/400.  Some of the ASCII characters it would be converting to
would not be text in EBCDIC, and not sure how they would turn out.

It was not my original question, but my assumption is that someone is
writing and e-mail attachment program for the AS/400, which uses Base64
Encoding.

Regards,

Jim Langston

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Waterbury [mailto:mark.s.waterbury@worldnet.att.net]

Hi, Jim (et al):

Maybe I am "missing something" here, but, it seems to me that
you could simply write a "wrapper" to call QDCXLATE to
translate from EBCDIC to ASCII, then invoke the Base64 code,
then at the other end, convert from Base64 back to ASCII, then,
(if necessary), invoke QDCXLATE to translate it back to EBCDIC
again (if you are running on an AS/400 or iSeries or IBM mainframe
at the other end, that needs EBCDIC).

So, what's the "big deal"? Why do you want to "mess about"
trying to create a special EBCDIC-only version of Base64,
which will be a non-standard version of base64 anyway?

Perhaps someone can "step back" to look at the "big picture"
and tell me what it is you are trying to do, and why you think
you need to use base64 in the first place.

Regards,

Mark S. Waterbury