I am trying desperately to solve the following problem and need the help
of a Rails/Ruby guru. I am receiving data via a POST request from a
remote web application. The information is composed of 5 fields of data
plus a sixth field that's the encoded version of the first 5 bits plus
a shared secret. The problem I am having is converting the sample code I
was given (Java) to Ruby so that I can re-hash the data in my Rails app
to confirm the validity of the data.
The allDataElements string is the same for both sets of code - a string
of key, value pairs from the POST plus the shared secret
Once I hash this text I should be able to compare it to the hashed value
I was passed in the POST request.
Here's the Java code:
//Generate hash from profile data in hashmap object
MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
byte mashedHash = md.digest(allDataElements.getBytes("UTF-8"));
BASE64Encoder encoder = new BASE64Encoder();
//Encode to pass as a printable String to The Hartford website
yourhashedKey = encoder.encode(mashedHash);
The return value from my code does not match what I receive from the
Java code. I believe it has to do with teh UTF-8 parameter in the
getBytes function. Can someone help? I'm desperate!!!!
Once I hash this text I should be able to compare it to the hashed
value
I was passed in the POST request.
Here's the Java code:
//Generate hash from profile data in hashmap object
MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
byte mashedHash = md.digest(allDataElements.getBytes("UTF-8"));
BASE64Encoder encoder = new BASE64Encoder();
//Encode to pass as a printable String to The Hartford website
yourhashedKey = encoder.encode(mashedHash);
Does it work if all of your data is just plain ascii? in that case the
utf-8 ness wouldn't make any difference.
How is allDataElements computed ? (both ruby & java )
Thanks for getting back to me on this one. Unfortunately I don't have
any insight/ability to test out what happens in the Java code as it's on
another company's system. I have a request into them to try it without
the UTF-8 part so I'll have to wait and see on that front.
However, here's how the allDataElements string is built. Basically, I
just string together the 5 key/value pairs as if it were a GET request
and then tack on the sharedSecret value. Here's the sample Java code I
received (sytax errors and all). I have verified that only the variables
listed in allDataElements are included in the hash even though there are
other variables listed in the sample code.
String secretKey = ""; //key we share
String userID = ""; //HIFP user id
String timeStamp = ""; //timeStamp must be in MM/DD/YYYY
String firstName = "";
String lastName = "";
String firm = "";
String emailAddress = "";
String address1 = "";
String address2 = "";
String city = "";
String state = "";
String zip = "";
String Phone = "";
String hashedKey = "";
String allDataElements = "userID=" + userID
+ "&timeStamp=" + timeStamp
+ "&firstName=" + firstName);}
+ "&lastName=" + lastName);}
+ "&firm=" + firm);}
+ "&sharedSecret=" + secretKey);
try
{
//Generate hash from profile data in hashmap object
MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
byte mashedHash = md.digest(allDataElements.getBytes("UTF-8"));
BASE64Encoder encoder = new BASE64Encoder();
//Encode to pass as a printable String to The Hartford website
yourhashedKey = encoder.encode(mashedHash);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
System.out.println("EMIvul.jsp - Exception: " + e.toString() );
yourhashedKey = null;
}
Somehow I need to turn this into Ruby. I had thought I would be fine
with Base64.encode64(Digest::MD5.digest(allDataElements)) as I have done
this type of thing from C# to Ruby before and it seemed to work out. The
only difference is the getBytes("UTF-8") part.
Thank you for your help. I sincerely appreciate any insight you may have
to offer.
So, it turns out that the sample code from the client was wrong. Even
though I had questioned the naming of the 'firmName' variable as 'firm'
I had not tried changing the variable name until just now. I have
notified the client that they should update their sample code.
I thank Fred for his generous willingness to help and I hope that
someone finds the code useful down the road as it does turn out that:
MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
byte mashedHash = md.digest(allDataElements.getBytes("UTF-8"));
BASE64Encoder encoder = new BASE64Encoder();
//Encode to pass as a printable String to The Hartford website
yourhashedKey = encoder.encode(mashedHash);
can be translated into ruby as
yourhashedKey = Base64.encode64(Digest::MD5.digest(allDataElements))
You probably want to formalize the code more, but you get the idea.
