PHP base64 encode a pdf file

Question

I am using an API where I can send a document to something like dropbox. According to the documentation, the file which is sent needs to be BASE64 encoded data.

As such, I am trying something like this

$b64Doc = chunk_split(base64_encode($this->pdfdoc));

Where $this->pdfdoc is the path to my PDF document.

At the moment, the file is being sent over but it seems invalid (displays nothing).

Am I correctly converting my PDF to BASE64 encoded data?

Thanks

Answer 1

base64_encode takes a string input. So all you're doing is encoding the path. You should grab the contents of the file

$b64Doc = chunk_split(base64_encode(file_get_contents($this->pdfdoc)));

Answer 2

base64_encode() will encode whatever string you pass to it. If the value you pass is the file name, all you are going to get is an encoded filename, not the contents of the file.

You'll probably want to do file_get_contents($this->pdfdoc) or something first.