Using variables with setRequestHeader, why won't they work? - vbscript

Question

Edit: Problem is solved. For some reason the Base64Encode function was putting a line break in the output string, something I didn't notice until I response.write the output and looked at the source code of the page instead of the compiled page.
I'm trying to send JSON to a remote server in order to get back a JSON response (Basically I send them data, they perform calculations based on my data and send back different data). However instead of getting data back the server tells me the request failed authentication.
The Authentication involves sending a base64 encoded string, username, and password combined. These values can change so I'm using variables to pass the information on. This does not work, however if I enter the fully encoded value as a string it does work.
Function GetAPdataPost(sSendHTML, sURL)
dim apHTTP
dim sHTTPResponse
dim API_KEY
dim API_PWD
dim auth
API_KEY = "fred"
API_PWD = "barney"
auth = Base64Encode(API_KEY & ":" & API_PWD)
Set apHTTP = Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP")
apHTTP.Open "POST", sURL, false
apHTTP.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json; charset=UTF-8"
apHTTP.setRequestHeader "Authorization","Basic ZnJlZDpiYXJuZXk=" '<-- works
apHTTP.setRequestHeader "Authorization", "Basic " & auth '<-- doesn't work
apHTTP.setRequestHeader "Content-Length", len(sSendHTML)
apHTTP.setRequestHeader "Accept", "*/*"
apHTTP.setRequestHeader "Account-Number", "00000004"
apHTTP.setRequestHeader "Cache-Control", "no-cache"
apHTTP.setRequestHeader "Connection", "close"
On Error Resume Next
apHTTP.send sSendHTML
sHTTPResponse = apHTTP.responseText
If Err.Number = 0 Then
GetAPdataPost = sHTTPResponse
Else
GetAPdataPost = "Something went wrong: " & Err.Number
End If
On Error Goto 0
Set apHTTP = Nothing
End Function
Using the first line result in a proper response form the server, a valid JSON string with all the required data. The second line results in a JSON string saying "The request failed authentication".
So aside from typing out the Base64 encoded string how do I get a variable to be recognised as a valid string?
I should just note that I have tried surrounding auth with double quotes ("") and Chr(34) to no avail.
Edit: Base64 Encode function.
Function Base64Encode(sText)
Dim oXML, oNode
Set oXML = CreateObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.3.0")
Set oNode = oXML.CreateElement("base64")
oNode.dataType = "bin.base64"
oNode.nodeTypedValue =Stream_StringToBinary(sText)
Base64Encode = oNode.text
Set oNode = Nothing
Set oXML = Nothing
End Function
Function Stream_StringToBinary(Text)
Const adTypeText = 2
Const adTypeBinary = 1
'Create Stream object
Dim BinaryStream 'As New Stream
Set BinaryStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
'Specify stream type - we want To save text/string data.
BinaryStream.Type = adTypeText
'Specify charset For the source text (unicode) data.
BinaryStream.CharSet = "us-ascii"
'Open the stream And write text/string data To the object
BinaryStream.Open
BinaryStream.WriteText Text
'Change stream type To binary
BinaryStream.Position = 0
BinaryStream.Type = adTypeBinary
'Ignore first two bytes - sign of
BinaryStream.Position = 0
'Open the stream And get binary data from the object
Stream_StringToBinary = BinaryStream.Read
Set BinaryStream = Nothing
End Function

Answer 1

The Base64Encode function was putting a line break in the output string, something I didn't notice until I response.write the output and looked at the source code of the page instead of the compiled page.
Always remember to look at the raw data, not just the displayed data (i.e. not like me)