SecureString VB.NET Reference Documentation

SecureString

Current Version: 10.0.0

A string class that stores the characters in memory in 256-bit AES CBC encrypted form. The encryption key will be a randomly-generated key.

Object Creation

Dim obj As New Chilkat.SecureString()

Properties

LastMethodSuccess

LastMethodSuccess As Boolean

Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of True indicates success, a value of False indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:

Any method that returns a string.
Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = True and failure = False.
Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.

Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to True. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.

MaintainHash

MaintainHash As String

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

If set to the name of a hash algorithm, then a hash of the current string value is maintained. This allows for the hash to be verified via the VerifyHash method. Possible hash algorithm names are "sha1", "sha256", "sha384", "sha512", "md5", "md2", "ripemd160", "ripemd128","ripemd256", and "ripemd320".

ReadOnly

ReadOnly As Boolean

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Can be set to True to make this secure string read-only (cannot be modified).

Methods

Access

Function Access() As String

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Returns the clear-text string value.

Returns Nothing on failure

Append

Function Append(ByVal str As String) As Boolean

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Appends a clear-text string to this secure string. The in-memory data will be decrypted, the string will be appended, and then it will be re-encrypted. Can return False if the string has been marked as read-only via the ReadOnly property.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

AppendSb

Function AppendSb(ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Boolean

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Appends a clear-text string contained in a StringBuilder to this secure string. The in-memory data will be decrypted, the string will be appended, and then it will be re-encrypted. Can return False if the string has been marked as read-only via the ReadOnly property.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

AppendSecure

Function AppendSecure(ByVal secStr As SecureString) As Boolean

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Appends the contents of a secure string to this secure string. The in-memory data will be decrypted, the secure string will be appended, and then it will be re-encrypted. Can return False if this string has been marked as read-only via the ReadOnly property.

HashVal

Function HashVal(ByVal encoding As String) As String

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Returns the hash value for the current value of this secure string. The encoding specifies the encoding to be used. It can be any of the binary encoding algorithms, such as "base64", "hex", and many more listed at Chilkat Binary Encodings

Returns Nothing on failure

LoadFile

Function LoadFile(ByVal path As String, ByVal charset As String) As Boolean

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Loads the contents of a file into this secure string. The current contents of this object are replaced with the new text from the file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

SecStrEquals

Function SecStrEquals(ByVal secStr As SecureString) As Boolean

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Returns True if the secStr equals the contents of this secure string.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

VerifyHash

Function VerifyHash(ByVal hashVal As String, ByVal encoding As String) As Boolean

Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

Verifies the hashVal against the hash value stored for the current value of this secure string. The MaintainHash property must've previously been set for this secure string to maintain an internal hash. The encoding specifies the encoding of the hashVal. It can be any of the binary encoding algorithms, such as "base64", "hex", and many more listed at Chilkat Binary Encodings

Returns True for success, False for failure.