UDF Function returning Blob type instead of String

[Reid Morrison]

I added a Base64 encoding and decoding function into our MySQL server, based on the code submitted for http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=18861. Source code: http://bugs.mysql.com/file.php?id=3294

The problem is that during testing in the MySQL Workbench, when calling base64encode it keeps returning a Blob data type instead of a String.

The function was imported into MySQL using:

CREATE FUNCTION base64encode RETURNS STRING SONAME 'mysql_extensions.so';

Running MySQL Server V5.1.54

Is there any way to have the base64 encoded string actually return as a string?

Thank you,
Reid Morrison
Software Architect