fEncrypt (Function)

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External file management functions

Operating mode in Windows Vista (and later)

Encrypting/Decrypting a character string

Related examples

See also

fEncrypt (Function)

In french: fCrypte

Warning
From version 24, fCrypt is kept for backward compatibility. This function is replaced by fEncrypt.

Encrypts a file in binary or ASCII format.

Remark: This file can be decrypted by fDecrypt.

Versions 15 and later

This function is now available for Android applications.

New in version 15

This function is now available for Android applications.

Versions 16 and later

This function is now available for PHP sites.

This function is now available for WINDEV applications in Linux.

New in version 16

This function is now available for PHP sites.

This function is now available for WINDEV applications in Linux.

This function is now available for PHP sites.

This function is now available for WINDEV applications in Linux.

Versions 17 and later

This function is now available for iPhone/iPad applications.

New in version 17

This function is now available for iPhone/iPad applications.

Versions 18 and later

This function is now available in Android Widget mode.

This function is now available in Windows Store apps mode.

New in version 18

This function is now available in Android Widget mode.

This function is now available in Windows Store apps mode.

This function is now available in Android Widget mode.

This function is now available in Windows Store apps mode.

Versions 21 and later

This function is now available in Universal Windows 10 App mode.

New in version 21

This function is now available in Universal Windows 10 App mode.

Example

See additional examples

// Encrypt a file
ResEncrypt = fEncrypt("C:\MyDirectories\File.txt", ...
"C:\MyDirectories\EncryptedFile.txt", "Password")

// Encrypt a file
ResEncrypt = fEncrypt("\MyDirectories\File.txt", ...
"\MyDirectories\EncryptedFile.txt", "Password")

Syntax

<Result> = fEncrypt(<Path of file to encrypt> , <Path of encrypted file> , <Password> [, <Type of encryption> [, <Format of encrypted file>]])

<Result>: Boolean

True if the encryption was performed,
False otherwise. To get the details of the error, use ErrorInfo with the errMessage constant.

<Path of file to encrypt>: Character string (with quotes)

Name and full (or relative) path of the file to encrypt (up to 260 characters). A UNC path can be used.
Versions 15 and later
This parameter can be in Ansi or Unicode format.
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: In Android, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories, as well as to the external memory (SDCard).
New in version 15
This parameter can be in Ansi or Unicode format.
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: In Android, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories, as well as to the external memory (SDCard).
This parameter can be in Ansi or Unicode format.
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: In Android, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories, as well as to the external memory (SDCard).
Name and full path of the file to encrypt (up to 260 characters).
Versions 17 and later
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: On iPhone/iPad, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories.
New in version 17
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: On iPhone/iPad, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories.
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: On iPhone/iPad, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories.

<Path of encrypted file>: Character string (with quotes)

Name and full (or relative) path of the encrypted file (up to 260 characters). A UNC path can be used.
Versions 15 and later
This parameter can be in Ansi or Unicode format.
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: In Android, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories, as well as to the external memory (SDCard).
New in version 15
This parameter can be in Ansi or Unicode format.
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: In Android, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories, as well as to the external memory (SDCard).
This parameter can be in Ansi or Unicode format.
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: In Android, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories, as well as to the external memory (SDCard).
This path must be a full path or a UNC path. It cannot be a relative path.
Versions 17 and later
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: On iPhone/iPad, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories.
New in version 17
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: On iPhone/iPad, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories.
This parameter can correspond to a full path or a path relative to the current directory (returned by fCurrentDir). This parameter is case-sensitive.
Reminder: On iPhone/iPad, the file system is read-only on the device and on the emulator. An application can only write to its setup directory or one of its subdirectories.

<Password>: Character string (with quotes)

Password used to encrypt the file. This password will be used to decrypt the encrypted file (fDecrypt). A long password provides better encryption security.

<Type of encryption>: Optional constant

Indicates the type of encryption:
cryptNone No encryption is performed.
cryptFast
(Default value) Priority is given to the encryption speed (algorithm on 128 bits).
The algorithm used will be a Blowfish algorithm.
Versions 15 and later
This constant is not available.
New in version 15
This constant is not available.
This constant is not available.
Versions 16 and later
The algorithm used will be a Blowfish algorithm with 16 rounds.
New in version 16
The algorithm used will be a Blowfish algorithm with 16 rounds.
The algorithm used will be a Blowfish algorithm with 16 rounds.
cryptRC516 Priority is given to the encryption security (RC5 algorithm on 16 rounds).
This constant has no effect.
cryptSecure Priority is given to the encryption security (RC5 algorithm on 128 bits).
The algorithm used will be a PBE algorithm (Password Based Encryption).
Versions 16 and later
The algorithm used will be a 128-bit RIJNDAEL algorithm.
New in version 16
The algorithm used will be a 128-bit RIJNDAEL algorithm.
The algorithm used will be a 128-bit RIJNDAEL algorithm.

<Format of encrypted file>: Optional Integer constant

Indicates the format of the encrypted file:
encodePCS or True
(Default value) ASCII format.
The encrypted file will contain printable characters only. The encrypted file will be larger (about 30%) than the initial file.
This format can be used to insert an encrypted file into the email body for example.
encodeNone or False Binary format.
The encrypted file may contain non-printable characters. The file will be larger (about 4 bytes) than the initial file.
encodeBASE64 BASE 64 format.
The file is encrypted with the BASE64 algorithm. The encrypted file will be larger (about 30%) than the initial file.
This format can be used to insert an encrypted file into the email body for example.
encodeUUEncode UUEncode format.
The file is encrypted with the UUEncode algorithm. The encrypted file will be larger (about 30%) than the initial file.
This format can be used to insert an encrypted file into the email body for example.

This parameter is ignored.

Remarks

Managing errors

fEncrypt generates an error in the following cases:

the file to encrypt does not exist,
the file to encrypt is locked,
the path of the file to encrypt is invalid,
<Password> is an empty string,
the user has no read rights on the file to encrypt,
the user has no write rights on the encrypted file.

Operating mode in Windows Vista (and later)

If this function does not operate properly in Windows Vista (and later), check whether the file or directory used is not in one of the system directories (Windows directory or "Program Files" directory).

Indeed, in Windows Vista (and later), with the UAC mechanism (User Account Control) enabled, you must have the administrator privileges to handle and/or modify the files or directories in the system directories (Windows directory or "Program Files" directory).

Programming tip: To handle and/or modify the files or directories without administrator privileges, you should:

avoid writing to the Windows directory or to the "Program Files" directory,
use the system directory of the application (returned by SysDir with the srAppDataCommun constant, for example).

Remark: In Windows Vista (and later), the virtualization mechanism is used to make the applications compatible with Vista. If the file is created in a system directory without having sufficient rights, this file will actually be created in another directory (C:\Users\<LOGIN>AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Windows\). In this case, the file cannot be shared between several applications.

Encrypting/Decrypting a character string

To encrypt/decrypt a character string, use Encrypt and Decrypt.

Encryption in PHP
In PHP, the BlowFish encryption (cryptFast constant) and the RINJDAEL encryption (cryptSecure constant) are based on the MCrypt library. This library is commonly used by the PHP hosting companies and therefore it is always enabled. This library can be downloaded from the PHP site.

To enable (if necessary) this library locally, the following elements are required:

PHP installed.
the PHP.INI file found in the Windows directory must include the "extension=php_mcrypt.dll" line.
the php_mcrypt.dll file must exist in the directory of PHP extensions. This directory is defined in the PHP.INI file by the "extension_dir" variable.

Encryption in Android/Java and decryption by a WINDEV application (or conversely)
Caution: the encryption/decryption algorithms used in Java and Android differ from the ones used by WINDEV. Therefore, you cannot encrypt a file in Java or Android and decrypt it with WINDEV (and conversely).

Related Examples:

Unit examples (WINDEV Mobile): The encryption functions

[ + ] Using the WLanguage encryption and decryption functions.
This example is used to:
- Encrypt a character string
- Decrypt a character string

Component: wd260std.dll