deflate64

Command line utility to convert one file/string into compressed base64 encoding. the file/string can be decompressed and decoded to its original status.

---

⚠️ this version is no more maintained
please consider to switch to v.3.x.x when ready!

---

Index of Contents

• Install d64
  • npm-installation
  • Docker | Podman
• Usage
  • Use it as module
• Why I built this small utility
• Road Map
• Dedicated website and manual

---

Install d64

ℹ️ Once installed use deflate64 or d64 to run it.

• npm installation

npm i -g deflate64

---

• Docker | Podman

pull the image
docker pull simonedelpopolo/defalte64:latest
podman pull docker.io/simonedelpopolo/deflate64:latest

ℹ️ replace docker with podman to use podman in the commands below

run the container
docker run -d -t --name d64 simonedelpopolo/deflate64:latest

encode npmjs.com home page and save it to file
docker exec d64 d64 encode --remote https://www.npmjs.com --save encoded.npmjs.txt

decode npmjs.com home page from file
docker exec d64 d64 decode --file encoded.npmjs.txt

ℹ️ Containerized works the same way as locally installed.

---

Usage

deflate64 help # it shows the available commands and flags

---

Use it as module

d64 imported as a module in your project? It got you covered. Let's see two simple examples to implement this use case.

npm i deflate64

ESM encode->decode->replace->console.log

import { d64 } from 'deflate64'

const GMF = 'good morning folks'

// At first, encodes the string
const encodedGMF = await d64( [
    'encode',
    '--string',
    GMF, /* let's silence the stdout */
    '--quiet',
    'true'
] )

// At second, decodes the string
const goodMorningFolks = await d64( [
    'decode',
    '--string',
    encodedGMF, /* let's silence the stdout */
    '--quiet',
    'true'
] )

// At third, replaces the word folks with buddies
const goodMorningBuddies = goodMorningFolks.replace( 'folks', 'buddies' )

console.log( goodMorningBuddies )

// it prints good morning buddies

ESM encode->stats

import { d64 } from 'deflate64'

const longString = 'I\'m actually working on a series of distributed microservice with nodejs. One of this microservice has a feature to compile a small PHP website, and it uses yaml file to make this happens.'

// At first, encodes the remote string
const encoded_longString = await d64( [
  'encode',
  '--string',
  longString,
  /* Let's silence the stdout */
  '--quiet',
  'true',
  /* Let's request the stats */
  '--ratio',
  'true'
] )

// the ratio flag returns an object similar to this one below
/**
 * {
 *    data: 'Z29vZCBtb3JuaW5nIGZvbGtz', // the encoded string
 *    ratio: { in: 18, out: 18, result: 0 }
 * }
 * 
 * ratio property explained:
 * 
 * [in] size of the input string in bytes
 * 
 * [out] size of the output string in bytes
 * 
 * [result] percentage of the compression ratio
 * minus when the size of the output is smaller than the input.
 * unsigned (plus) when the size of the output is bigger than the input.
 * in the example above the --compression flag was set to false
 */

// now we format the returned stats with console.table
// enlarge the shell very much ;)

console.table( encoded_longString )

// down below the returned table

┌─────────┬─────┬─────┬─────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ (index) │ in  │ out │       result        │                                                                                           Values                                                                                           │
├─────────┼─────┼─────┼─────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  data   │     │     │                     │ 'eJxVjTESwjAMBL9yHQ2Td0BFvqDYChaxrYwlk+H3OENFfXu790sBBe+U8weHtk3qE1pBMG7CBl0RxbzJ0p0jioSmY3pLYBziCVUjv2zCo/IJexL7pxLZ0K1M3hvDFUHLLpnPRhldzLcZBy8mzldQjRBHt9H+UMlYT3S8Cm38syfad642fQFSS0QA' │
│  ratio  │ 188 │ 138 │ -26.595744680851062 │                                                                                                                                                                                            │
└─────────┴─────┴─────┴─────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

Why I built this small utility

I'm actually working on a series of distributed microservice with nodejs. One of this microservice has a feature to compile a small PHP website, and it uses yaml file to make this happens.
Some files ( html, png, jpeg, javascript, css and also servers configuration for apache2 and nginx ) are stored as compressed base64 string in yaml configuration file. So instead of doing it manually I wanted to automate this task building this small utility.
I found out, while building it, that is useful as hell, and it can be extended in many ways.
I'll show some use cases related to the main project, so you'll get the point.

---

Road Map

fell free to propose some challenges 😎

• [x] --remote flag to get content remotely
• [ ] --call-back flag to import external javascript module to run personalized tasks after encoding/decoding
• [ ] --pre-call flag to import external javascript module to run personalized tasks before encoding/decoding
• [x] --json flag add option of type string to specify the property name which will store the encoded/decoded string
• [ ] --in-object flag add option of type string to process the decoded/encoded string extracting it from the specified property name
• [ ] --complex-string="the very \"much\" long and \'complex string\' to parse and decode with RegHex and finally solve the --string flag dilemma?

---

Dedicated website and manual

ℹ️ for a complete list of commands and flags go to the dedicated website at //todo still working on it

---