Converting VARBINARY to PDF

Question

In SQL, I have a field called "Data" that contains what was once a PDF, but has been converted to a VARBINARY(MAX) field. I am pulling that data from a java servlet, and I need to know how to format it so that it can be sent to the front end and displayed as a PDF. I've seen a number of solutions that relate to BASE 64 encoding\decoding but those have not proven useful. Here is an example of what the data looks like after it has been put into SQL:

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

I've gotten to the point where I can display a PDF with the right number of pages, but each of those pages are completely blank. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The database says that the datatype is "application/pdf;filename="DocName.pdf";frevvo-attachment=true; charset=utf-8" and the conversion can be on Java or Javascript.

Update:

So I am able to get this to work thanks to the help of Mark, but there are some exceptions. On some I get the following error:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: 43677 at java.lang.String.charAt(String.java:658) at pdftestapp.PDFTestApp.hexStringToByteArray(PDFTestApp.java:40) at pdftestapp.PDFTestApp.main(PDFTestApp.java:31)

Here is my code:

package pdftestapp;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.Base64;
import sun.misc.BASE64Decoder;
import sun.misc.BASE64Encoder;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
/**
 *
 * @author mmarino
 */
public class PDFTestApp {

/**
 * @param args the command line arguments
 */


  public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception{
    String str = "0x255044462D312E350..."; //data omitted

    str = str.substring(2)

    byte[] arr = hexStringToByteArray(str1);    
    Files.write(Paths.get("test.pdf"), arr);
}

public static byte[] hexStringToByteArray(String s) {
    int len = s.length();
    byte[] data = new byte[len / 2];
    for (int i = 0; i < len; i += 2) {
        data[i / 2] = (byte) ((Character.digit(s.charAt(i), 16) << 4)
                + Character.digit(s.charAt(i+1), 16));
    }
    return data;
}
}

Answer 1

To test it:

If you got the String representation use something like this:

import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
public class Main {
    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception{
        String str = "255[...]0A2525454F46"; //0x removed, omitted data
        byte[] arr = hexStringToByteArray(str);    
        Files.write(Paths.get("test.pdf"), arr);
    }

    public static byte[] hexStringToByteArray(String s) {
        int len = s.length();
        byte[] data = new byte[len / 2];
        for (int i = 0; i < len; i += 2) {
            data[i / 2] = (byte) ((Character.digit(s.charAt(i), 16) << 4)
                    + Character.digit(s.charAt(i+1), 16));
        }
        return data;
    }
}

Your pdf file will be able to read:

If your pdf is in a byte array you could write it directly to file.

To do it:

If the question is how to display it to an user with a browser you should do something simmilar:

@WebServlet("/foo.pdf")
public class PdfServlet extends HttpServlet {

    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse     response) throws ServletException, IOException {
        byte[] file = getsomehow();
        response.setHeader("Content-Type", "Your staffs content type");
        response.setHeader("Content-Length", file.length);
        response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "inline; filename=\"something.pdf\"");
        response.getOutputStream().write(file);
        response.getOutputStream().close();
    }

}