public static String encodeFromFile( String filename )
    {
        String encodedData = null;
        Base64.InputStream bis = null;
        try
        {
            // Set up some useful variables
            java.io.File file = new java.io.File( filename );
            byte[] buffer = new byte[ (int)(file.length() * 1.4) ];
            int length   = 0;
            int numBytes = 0;
            
            // Open a stream
            bis = new Base64.InputStream( 
                      new java.io.BufferedInputStream( 
                      new java.io.FileInputStream( file ) ), Base64.ENCODE );
            
            // Read until done
            while( ( numBytes = bis.read( buffer, length, 4096 ) ) >= 0 )
                length += numBytes;
            
            // Save in a variable to return
            encodedData = new String( buffer, 0, length, Base64.PREFERRED_ENCODING );
                
        }   // end try
        catch( java.io.IOException e )
        {
            System.err.println( "Error encoding from file " + filename );
        }   // end catch: IOException
        finally
        {
            try{ bis.close(); } catch( Exception e) {}
        }   // end finally
        
        return encodedData;
        }   // end encodeFromFile