Hello, I'm working a tool that would allow me (or any other user) to encrypt the common letters of the alphabet into a different set of characters, and then decrypt the characters back to plain English. These different characters can be user-defined in the "settings" portion of the program. I've got most of the program done, but the problem is that I just really can't figure out the most necessary part of the whole program..
[img]http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v260/Echoes512/10.jpg[/img]
Now as you can see, I would like to push the button "Encrypt," and according to the user-defined settings, the lower box would say "{d44\c." (And for the decrypt form, I could type "{d44\c." and push decrypt, and have the bottom text box say "hi.")

I have tried different lines of code, and I just really can't get it...I'm trying to teach myself VB, but I get stuck sometimes.
I am stuck with
[code]
Private Sub cmdEncrypt_Click()
txtCrypt2.Text = txtCrypt1.Text
InStr(txtCrypt2.Text, frmSettings.txta.Text) = frmSettings.txta2.Text
End Sub
[/code]
and so on,
where txta is the name of settings txt box with a, and txta2 is the name of the settings txt box that contains zf2&.
and wondering why it's not working. The funny part is, I'm probably way off, though.

Sorry if this sounds "noob," but I really didn't know where else to go for help. Thanks.
<scared on the side that a random user will steal my idea and make his own version because I posted a screenshot> oh well.

I think that the replace function would work quite nicely for what you're trying to do.

[quote author=CrAz3D link=board=31;threadid=7513;start=0#msg68001 date=1088638710]
I think that the replace function would work quite nicely for what you're trying to do.
[/quote]
Thanks, but I know nothing about this replace function! argh. Could you help me get started or anything? I'll definately try to figure it out first, but probably to no avail.

Edit: okay, I got it working, except the text is appearing on the background, not in the 2nd textbox. Argh, :confused:

Print Replace(txtCrypt1, frmSettings.txta, frmSettings.txta2) is for the letter "a"

Working great, but how do I make it so that it prints in txtCrypt2 (the bottom txt box).

Another edit: it's only replacing one "a" even if I type in ten, so my code must be wrong. Help meeee. :(

replace(arg1, arg2, arg3, 1, 9999)

Also, in the future you might run into the "lookahead" problem. Just warning you in advance; try your program with this:
A => XXA
B => XXAB

[quote author=$t0rm link=board=31;threadid=7513;start=0#msg68032 date=1088650589]
replace(arg1, arg2, arg3, 1, 9999)

Also, in the future you might run into the "lookahead" problem. Just warning you in advance; try your program with this:
A => XXA
B => XXAB
[/quote]

ok thanks, I understand the 1, 9999 part, but the how do I make the text appear in textbox 2 (the lower one)...it's just appearing on the background.

[code]
Private Sub cmdEncrypt_Click()
Print Replace(txtCrypt1, frmSettings.txta.Text, frmSettings.txta2.Text, 1, 9999)
End Sub
[/code]



Oh...and sorry that I'm not getting this quite like you might like, but what do you mean A => XXA and B => XXAB?

do you mean like..for b..
[code]
Private Sub cmdEncrypt_Click()
Print Replace(txtCrypt1, frmSettings.txtb.Text, frmSettings.txta2.Text, frmSettings.txtb2.text, 1, 9999)
End Sub
[/code]

??


I'll take any insults if appropriate, like dumb noob or whatever, I just don't have quite the understanding of the language that you do.

basically, replace the longer strings first.

Not even then.. you'd probably have to do something like:

[code]pseudocode

' for each letter in the string
' determine what the encoded string is for that letter
' append that string to a buffer[/code]

Using replace, you run into situations like:

y replaced with cdz\1
z is replaced with 9fch

"yz" would become first "cdz\1z", then "cd9fch\19fch" and your encryption system bites the dust.

Well yeah, the proper way to do this is with regex.

[quote author=Stealth link=board=31;threadid=7513;start=0#msg68185 date=1088742615]
[code]pseudocode

' for each letter in the string
' determine what the encoded string is for that letter
' append that string to a buffer[/code]
[/quote]

If this is asking too much just tell me, but I just don't know where to start...how would I go about doing that?

[quote author=Stealth link=board=31;threadid=7513;start=0#msg68185 date=1088742615]
Not even then.. you'd probably have to do something like:

[code]pseudocode

' for each letter in the string
' determine what the encoded string is for that letter
' append that string to a buffer[/code]

Using replace, you run into situations like:

y replaced with cdz\1
z is replaced with 9fch

"yz" would become first "cdz\1z", then "cd9fch\19fch" and your encryption system bites the dust.
[/quote]

You could use Mid() to get around that assuming the length of the encrypted text for each character is constant for all replacements.

True - in his screenshot above, it is not.

Textbox = Replace(arg1, arg2, arg3, 1, 9999)

[quote author=Fr0z3N link=board=31;threadid=7513;start=0#msg68778 date=1089095175]
Textbox = Replace(arg1, arg2, arg3, 1, 9999)
[/quote]

Thank you, that works well...

[code]
txtCrypt2 = Replace(txtCrypt1, frmSettings.txta.Text, frmSettings.txta2.Text, 1, 9999)
[/code]

It's working for the letter a, but if I add this:

[code]
txtCrypt2 = Replace(txtCrypt1, "a", frmSettings.txta2.Text, 1, 9999)
txtCrypt2 = Replace(txtCrypt1, "b", frmSettings.txtb2.Text, 1, 9999)
[/code]

..it only works for b. How could I do it for multiple letters? Should it all be in one subfunction? or what?

doing it like this works except for one tiny thing:

[code]
txtCrypt2 = Replace(txtCrypt1, "a", frmSettings.txta2, 1, 9999) & Replace(txtCrypt1, "b", frmSettings.txtb2, 1, 9999)
[/code]

a shows up as "zf2&a" when it should show up as "zf2&"
b shows up as "b4z9" when it should show up as "4z9"
ab comes up as "zf2&ba4z9" when it should say "zf2&4z9"

:frustrated....:

We just got done telling you that it WON'T work well..

In any event, you're replacing wrong. You should use txtCrypt2 in the second (and any subsequent) Replace() calls.

[quote author=Stealth link=board=31;threadid=7513;start=0#msg68893 date=1089148596]
We just got done telling you that it WON'T work well..

In any event, you're replacing wrong. You should use txtCrypt2 in the second (and any subsequent) Replace() calls.
[/quote]

I didn't hear anyone say "it won't work well", people just weren't helping.

Sorry, I admitted up front that I am probably doing it all wrong and that I needed help, didn't I?

So you're saying that this is impossible now?