Add some methods to serialize an inventory to Base64 string.

Special thanks to Comphenix, @aadnk, for the code.

src/main/java/com/graywolf336/jail/Util.java

@@ -1,15 +1,24 @@
 package com.graywolf336.jail;
 
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
+import org.bukkit.Bukkit;
 import org.bukkit.ChatColor;
 import org.bukkit.Material;
+import org.bukkit.inventory.Inventory;
 import org.bukkit.inventory.ItemStack;
 import org.bukkit.inventory.meta.ItemMeta;
 import org.bukkit.util.Vector;
+import org.bukkit.util.io.BukkitObjectInputStream;
+import org.bukkit.util.io.BukkitObjectOutputStream;
+
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.external.biz.base64Coder.Base64Coder;
 
 public class Util {
 	private final static Pattern DURATION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^(\\d+)\\s*(m(?:inute)?s?|h(?:ours?)?|d(?:ays?)?|s(?:econd)?s?)?$", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
@@ -98,4 +107,72 @@ public class Util {
     	
     	return Long.valueOf(t);
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * A method to serialize an inventory to Base64 string.
+     * 
+     * <p />
+     * 
+     * Special thanks to Comphenix in the Bukkit forums or also known
+     * as aadnk on GitHub.
+     * 
+     * <a href="https://gist.github.com/aadnk/8138186">Original Source</a>
+     * 
+     * @param inventory to serialize
+     * @return Base64 string of the provided inventory
+     * @throws IllegalStateException
+     */
+    public static String toBase64(Inventory inventory) throws IllegalStateException {
+        try {
+            ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+            BukkitObjectOutputStream dataOutput = new BukkitObjectOutputStream(outputStream);
+            
+            // Write the size of the inventory
+            dataOutput.writeInt(inventory.getSize());
+            
+            // Save every element in the list
+            for (int i = 0; i < inventory.getSize(); i++) {
+                dataOutput.writeObject(inventory.getItem(i));
+            }
+            
+            // Serialize that array
+            dataOutput.close();
+            return Base64Coder.encodeLines(outputStream.toByteArray());
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Unable to save item stacks.", e);
+        }        
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * 
+     * A method to get an {@link Inventory} from an encoded, Base64, string.
+     * 
+     * <p />
+     * 
+     * Special thanks to Comphenix in the Bukkit forums or also known
+     * as aadnk on GitHub.
+     * 
+     * <a href="https://gist.github.com/aadnk/8138186">Original Source</a>
+     * 
+     * @param data Base64 string of data containing an inventory.
+     * @return Inventory created from the Base64 string.
+     * @throws IOException
+     */
+    public static Inventory fromBase64(String data) throws IOException {
+        try {
+            ByteArrayInputStream inputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(Base64Coder.decodeLines(data));
+            BukkitObjectInputStream dataInput = new BukkitObjectInputStream(inputStream);
+            Inventory inventory = Bukkit.getServer().createInventory(null, dataInput.readInt());
+    
+            // Read the serialized inventory
+            for (int i = 0; i < inventory.getSize(); i++) {
+                inventory.setItem(i, (ItemStack) dataInput.readObject());
+            }
+            
+            dataInput.close();
+            return inventory;
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+            throw new IOException("Unable to decode class type.", e);
+        }
+    }
 }