File Encoding and Decoding

CLASS aprEncode

Description

The file encoding Class provides Methods for encoding and decoding binary files, typically attachments to e-mail messages. The process of encoding converts the contents of a binary file to printable 7-bit ASCII text. Decoding reverses the process, converting a previously encoded text file back into a binary file.

There are two primary types of encoding used, uucode and base64. The uucode format (so called because the programs to perform the conversion were called uuencode and uudecode) is commonly used on UNIX systems and is still widely used when attaching binary files to USENET newsgroup posts. The base64 algorithm is most commonly used with e-mail attachments, and is often referred to as MIME encoding since this is the encoding method specified in the MIME standards document.

Variables
	:cErr	Holds a description for the Last error code
	:DeBug	Enable/Disable extended Debug notifications.
	:DebugTrace	Enable/Disable Callstack List to be included in Error Messages (:Debug)
	:nErr	Holds the last error code

Methods
	:New	Creates a new Instance of the aprEncode Class
	:Destroy	Releases the system resources assigned by the :New() Method.

	:CompressFile	Compress the contents of the specified file
	:Decode	Decode a base64 encoded string, storing the result in a byte array
	:DecodeFile	Decode the contents of a file using the specified decoding method
	:Encode	Encode a byte array using the base64 encoding method
	:EncodeFile	Encode the contents of a file using the specified encoding method
	:ExpandFile	Expand the contents of a previously compressed file