Question

Convert ascii to bcd(binary coded decimal) in Java

Asked by: chinsw

I need to send the field value in bcd format and then encode using base64. The field value consist of 40 digits (number) and how can i convert it into 20 bytes (bcd) format in java. Any body know the solution?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-10-09 at 02:07:51ID24798633
Topics

New to Java Programming

,

Java Programming Language

Participating Experts
4
Points
125
Comments
14

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Base64 Encoding in Java?!
    Hi all, How to do a Base64 encoding in Java? What is the class to be used and in which package? Please provide answer for java 1.1.8 and java 1.2.2. Thanks.
  2. Base64 Encoding
    if i have a Base64 Encoded graphic image, what can I use to decode it? My application is a cold fusion application (CFML).
  3. Problem with Base64 encoders stripping 0x00 characte…
    Hi, I am using a Base64 encoder to encode a binary message for sending across SOAP. The message being encoded is sent from a mobile device. The message looks like this: 82000085860088898A and is made up of Hex values. When it comes into my Base64 encoder the resulting Ba...
  4. How fast is your ASM Base64 Encoder?
    I was just reading over an old Q here from several years ago... How fast is your ASM hex converter? http:/Assembly/Q_20272901.html which was more of a fun challenge than a real question. I'm not sure how many ASM Experts are participating in this TA these days, ...
  5. How fast is your C/C++ Base64 Encoder?
    Are you up for a challenge? Several of us C and ASM programmers had a fun learning experience a few years ago when we tried to outdo each other by writing "The World's Fastest" binary-to-hex converter and output-formatting function. Now I'm throwing out the gauntle...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: dravidnsrPosted on 2009-10-09 at 02:33:49ID: 25533375

 

by: amitkathpal123Posted on 2009-10-09 at 04:14:18ID: 25533821

What i understood is you want to convert filed value (a String) into BCD format.
try baove code:

public static byte[] convertToBCD(String val) {
		BigInteger v = new BigInteger(val);
		return new BigInteger(v.abs().toString(), 16).shiftLeft(4)
			.add(BigInteger.valueOf(v.signum() < 0 ? 13L : 12L)).toByteArray();
	}

                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: chinswPosted on 2009-10-09 at 04:31:18ID: 25533912

Actually, i'm developing a messaging system to interface with Visa and they request us to make the Transaction ID field value into 20 bytes and encode using the base64. Let say, the transaction ID is "123243012334344000". What should i do in order to get the 20 bytes value?. I must pad it into 40 char and then call the above function to convert it to BCD format

 

by: rpnmanPosted on 2009-10-09 at 04:33:37ID: 25533921

There are some complexities you haven't covered - and your consuming application might be expecting sign or decimal point, and will probably expect them in a specific format. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary-coded_decimal

BUT, assuming positive integers, decimal, only, AND assuming that the string has been validated to contain decimal digits and only decimal digits, leading zeroes stripped

the following code should work:


    private static byte[] toBcd(String s) {
        int size = s.length();
        byte[] bytes = new byte[(size+1)/2];
        int index = 0;
        boolean advance = size%2 != 0;
        for ( char c : s.toCharArray()) {
            byte b = (byte)( c - '0');
            if( advance ) {
                bytes[index++] |= b;
            }
            else {
                bytes[index] |= (byte)(b<<4);
            }
            advance = !advance;
        }
        return bytes;
    }
                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: rpnmanPosted on 2009-10-09 at 04:42:24ID: 25533954

Dang... three posts between when I read and posted. (sigh, the XX lag time problem again.)

based on the new reqmts, my code changes as follows (I've added a main method that tests and displays

public class BCD {
 
    private static byte[] toBcd(String s) {
        int size = s.length();
        byte[] bytes = new byte[20];
        int index = 20 - (size+1)/2;
        boolean advance = size%2 != 0;
        for ( char c : s.toCharArray()) {
            byte b = (byte)( c - '0');
            if( advance ) {
                bytes[index++] |= b;
            }
            else {
                bytes[index] |= (byte)(b<<4);
            }
            advance = !advance;
        }
        return bytes;
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        byte[] ba = toBcd("12121243123");
        for ( byte b : ba ) {
            System.out.printf(" %02X",b);
        }
    }
}
                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:
21:
22:
23:
24:
25:
26:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: rpnmanPosted on 2009-10-09 at 04:50:25ID: 25533998

chinsw's code does not pad out to 20 bytes and (I'm speculating here) might not perform quite as quickly as the bytearray in the long run, but otherwise that's a pretty clever algorithm.  

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-10-10 at 02:05:03ID: 25541475

Padding the value is a fairly simple issue:

	byte[] ba = new BigInteger(numberString, 16).toByteArray();
	byte[] armature = new byte[20];
	System.arraycopy(ba, 0, armature, armature.length - ba.length, ba.length);
// Display only
	for ( byte b : armature) {
	    System.out.printf(" %02X",b);
	}
                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-10-10 at 02:05:24ID: 25541478

Padding the value is a fairly simple issue:

	byte[] ba = new BigInteger(numberString, 16).toByteArray();
	byte[] armature = new byte[20];
	System.arraycopy(ba, 0, armature, armature.length - ba.length, ba.length);
// Display purposes only
	for ( byte b : armature) {
	    System.out.printf(" %02X",b);
	}
                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: chinswPosted on 2009-10-20 at 05:33:19ID: 25613320

Is it possible to convert the value in alphabet to BCD

 

by: rpnmanPosted on 2009-10-20 at 06:23:12ID: 25613791

<boggle/>
Is not that exactly what the three of us have shown you?


 

by: rpnmanPosted on 2009-10-20 at 06:40:51ID: 25613963

On second thought I guess I'm just not clear on what you are asking for. Please explain in further detail what you want - . Are you asking about rendering Java Strings as character encodings and then rendering those into BCD?. If so, which character encoding. It matters a great deal. They are all, of course, ultimately just numbers, and can be encoded as BCD. It would be better if you could be more explicit.


 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-10-20 at 06:47:46ID: 25614046

>>Actually, i'm developing a messaging system to interface with Visa and they request us to make the Transaction ID field value into 20 bytes and encode using the base64.

Are you now saying that the id can contain characters as well? If so, which ones, and what basic encoding do they want you to use?

 

by: chinswPosted on 2009-11-03 at 16:30:16ID: 31639161

Complete solution

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-11-04 at 05:26:34ID: 25739014

:-)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...