Base64 encoder/decoder for C++ 11 and above (move semantics, yet highly compatible across compiler versions)
- Functionality has just been completed (as of 2019/06/01)
- Tests are only running the basic stuff
- Feedback is appreciated
-
It has a C++ 11 interface that takes benefit from move semantics
- Client code can be sound and clear, as in
y = f(x); - No unnecesary copies of the data will be made
- Client code can be sound and clear, as in
-
It is highly compatible across compiler versions
- You can compile the library with, let's say, MSVC 2012...
- ...and then use it in a program compiled in MSVC 2019...
- ...or vice-versa! Yes: I can develop my library with the latest, cutting edge compiler version, even though my client keeps using an old compiler
-
This compatibility scales as the number of libraries grows. It is transitive
- Let's say you create a compression library FooZip that uses CppMoveBase64
- FooZip can simply expose CppMoveBase64's objects in its own interface
- Objects provided by CppMoveBase64 can be passed around safely from one library/program to another, even though each one has been generated with a different version of the compiler
std::string binaryData("Hello world!!");
std::cout << "Text: " << binaryData << std::endl;
auto b64Text = cmbase64::encodeFromBin (
cmbase64::ConstSpan<char>(binaryData));
std::cout << "Base64: " << b64Text.c_str() << std::endl;The input in this example is a std::string just for the sake of clarity and simplicity. You can replace it with a std::vector, a std::array, or anything with data() and size() on its interface.
Oh, and the elements can be of type char, unsigned char, or any fundamental type (int, double...). However, note that if you use multi-byte elements, endianness does matter.
The code fragment above prints:
Text: Hello world!!
Base64: SGVsbG8gd29ybGQhIQ==
std::string b64Text("SGVsbG8gd29ybGQhIQ==");
std::cout << "Base64: " << b64Text << std::endl;
auto binaryData = cmbase64::decodeFromB64Txt (
cmbase64::ConstSpan<char>(b64Text));
std::cout << "Text: ";
for (char c : binaryData.span())
std::cout << c;
std::cout << std::endl;The code fragment above prints:
Base64: SGVsbG8gd29ybGQhIQ==
Text: Hello world!!
The resulting object binaryData contains char elements. You can access them througth the span() function. For example, you could construct a std::string copying the data:
std::string binaryString (binaryData.span().data(),
binaryData.span().size());
If you need to decode to other fundamental types (int, double...), then you can use cmbase64::decodeFromB64TxtToBin() instead.
In Windows, with MSVC:
C:\...\CppMoveBase64> mkdir build
C:\...\CppMoveBase64> cd build
C:\...\CppMoveBase64\build> cmake ..
[..]
C:\...\CppMoveBase64\build> cmake --build .
[..]
C:\...\CppMoveBase64\build> ctest
[..]
100% tests passed, 0 tests failed out of 6
If you have several MSVC versions installed, you can specify one of them in the first cmake call:
C:\...\CppMoveBase64\build> cmake -G "Visual Studio 11 2012" ..
In Linux you can use the same commands, but instead of cmake --build . you might prefer to directly run make, which will preserve the nice colors of the compiler output.