Convert Character to ASCII value

[cyclonebri]

Hey Everybody,

 

Hopefully this is an easy one but I can't seem to find the answer through search, so I apologize in advance if this has already been posted.

 

A simple problem. I have a string that I want to iterate by character, converting each character to it's ascii representation.

 

I was wondering how I can accomplish this without making a table with the values and just finding them...my goal is to mask a plain text password stored in an XML file for later retrieval (since we don't use the registry anymore). Basically the user logs in and I want the ability to remember their settings like a cookie would do on a web page, but this is a desktop app.

 

I have all the code I need, except the ability to convert an unknown character (variable tmpChar) to it's ascii representation.

 

I do this:

 

for (int i = 0; i<mPassword.Length; i++)

{

tmpStr = mPassword.Substring(i,1);

tmpChar = Convert.ToChar(tmpStr);

 

//convert to ascii

//tmpInt = SomeConvertFunction(tmpChar);

//if I have to I could write a function but I'd rather not do that

}

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

Brian

[PlausiblyDamp]

No offence but that would be a pretty easy to crack scheme.

 

A much better way is to not store the password in any way shape or form but store a hash of the password. When the user enters their password - hash it and compare to the stored hash.

 

Best place to look is under System.Security.Cryptography at their implementation of SHA or similar.

[cyclonebri]

no offense taken, I understand how easy this would be to crack :)

I didn't say that was the only method of security, just happens to be a portion of it ;), in any event it will still be easy to crack :).

 

I'm just looking for fast solutions. I will look under the System.Security.Cryptography and see what it has to offer. Thanks for the heads up :)

 

Brian

[cyclonebri]

Well, just in case anyone ever cares about doing something like this in the future, I have found a site online that has helped and have used the code to produce a solution. The code can be found HERE

 

and when implemented could look something like this:

 

byte[] Bytstr = new byte[mPassword.Length];
System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(mPassword.ToCharArray(),0,mPassword.Length,Bytstr,0);
byte myByte;
string[] tmpBytStr = new string[mPassword.Length];

for(int i = 0; i<mPassword.Length;i++)
{
   myByte = Bytstr[i];
   tmpBytStr[i] = myByte.ToString();
}

 

hope this will help someone out in the future :)

 

Take care,

Brian