Base64 Encoding

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You can provide image data to the Vision API by specifying the URI path to the image, or by sending the image data as Base64 encoded text.

Using the command line

Within a gRPC request, you can simply write binary data out directly; however, JSON is used when making a REST request. JSON is a text format that does not directly support binary data, so you will need to convert such binary data into text using Base64 encoding.

Most development environments contain a native base64 utility to encode a binary into ASCII text data. To encode a file:

Linux

Encode the file using the base64 command line tool, making sure to prevent line-wrapping by using the -w 0 flag:

base64 INPUT_FILE -w 0 > OUTPUT_FILE

macOS

Encode the file using the base64 command line tool:

base64 -i INPUT_FILE -o OUTPUT_FILE

Windows

Encode the file using the Base64.exe tool:

Base64.exe -e INPUT_FILE > OUTPUT_FILE

PowerShell

Encode the file using the Convert.ToBase64String method:

[Convert]::ToBase64String([IO.File]::ReadAllBytes("./INPUT_FILE")) > OUTPUT_FILE

Create a JSON request file, inlining the base64-encoded data:

JSON

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "image": {
        "content": "BASE64_ENCODED_DATA"
      },
      "features": [
        {
          "type": "LABEL_DETECTION",
          "maxResults": 1
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Using client libraries

Embedding binary data into requests through text editors is neither desirable or practical. In practice, you will be embedding base64 encoded files within client code. All supported programming languages have built-in mechanisms for base64 encoding content.

Go

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"

	vision "cloud.google.com/go/vision/apiv1"
	"google.golang.org/api/option"
)

// setEndpoint changes your endpoint.
func setEndpoint(endpoint string) error {
	// endpoint := "eu-vision.googleapis.com:443"

	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := vision.NewImageAnnotatorClient(ctx, option.WithEndpoint(endpoint))
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewImageAnnotatorClient: %v", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Vision API Quickstart Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Vision API Java reference documentation.

ImageAnnotatorSettings settings =
    ImageAnnotatorSettings.newBuilder().setEndpoint("eu-vision.googleapis.com:443").build();

// Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
// once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
// the "close" method on the client to safely clean up any remaining background resources.
ImageAnnotatorClient client = ImageAnnotatorClient.create(settings);

Node.js

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const vision = require('@google-cloud/vision');

async function setEndpoint() {
  // Specifies the location of the api endpoint
  const clientOptions = {apiEndpoint: 'eu-vision.googleapis.com'};

  // Creates a client
  const client = new vision.ImageAnnotatorClient(clientOptions);

  // Performs text detection on the image file
  const [result] = await client.textDetection('./resources/wakeupcat.jpg');
  const labels = result.textAnnotations;
  console.log('Text:');
  labels.forEach(label => console.log(label.description));
}
setEndpoint();

Python

from google.cloud import vision

client_options = {'api_endpoint': 'eu-vision.googleapis.com'}

client = vision.ImageAnnotatorClient(client_options=client_options)