Converting base64 encoded bytes to string different in Java and C#

Question

I have some code to login to a 3rd party solution, that requires me to encode a password. They have provided me with a sample in Java, but I also need to develop it in C# (and PHP, later).

I have the code in a C# Windows app, and a Java Android app, and with the same output, they seem to work well up until the point where I try and convert the cypher bytes to a base 64 encoded string.

Here is the Java code:

enc = Base64.encodeBase64(ciphertext);
return enc.toString();

And here is the C# code:

return System.Convert.ToBase64String(cipherBytes);

I can see that the ciphertext bytes in the Java app are the same as in the C# app, except that they are signed, and that the base64 encoded bytes in Java, if converted to ASCII values, would give the string that I am seeing in the C# app, but the enc.ToString() in Java is not returning that same string.

More info

Java

ciphertext = 66, 67, -69, 24, -48, -23, 84, -5
encodeded64 = 81, 107, 79, 55, 71, 78, 68, 112, 86, 80, 115, 61
to string = [B@41771ea8

C#

cipherBytes = 66, 67, 187, 24, 208, 233, 84, 251
result = QkO7GNDpVPs=

Many thanks for your help. (This is my first post here, so please feel free to let me know if I broke any rules)

Answer 1

The Java code you're using is calling toString() on a byte array, which will always give you a string of the form [B@....

You could use:

return new String(enc, "ASCII");

... but I would suggest changing to use an API where encoding a byte array gives you back a string to start with. I like this public domain implementation.

return Base64.encodeBytes(cipherText);