How to encode media in base64 given URL in Ruby

Question

I'm trying to upload an image to PingFM. Their documentation says:

media – base64 encoded media data.

I can access this image via the URL. I tried (practically guessed) this:

ActiveSupport::Base64.encode64(open("http://image.com/img.jpg"))

But I get this error:

TypeError: can't convert Tempfile into String
    from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/base64.rb:97:in `pack'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/base64.rb:97:in `encode64'
    from (irb):19
    from :0

Answer 1

To encode a file:

require 'base64'
Base64.encode64(File.open("file_path", "rb").read)

To produce the file from the encoded string:

require 'base64'
encoded_string = Base64.encode64(File.open("file_path", "rb").read)

File.open(file_name_to_create, "wb") do |file|
    file.write(Base64.decode64(encoded_string))
end