Help inquiry for a simple project...

[Sadlittleman]

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..

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 Select Expand


Private Sub cmdEncrypt_Click()
txtCrypt2.Text = txtCrypt1.Text
InStr(txtCrypt2.Text, frmSettings.txta.Text) = frmSettings.txta2.Text
End Sub

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.

[CrAz3D]

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

[Sadlittleman]

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

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.    

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

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

[Sadlittleman]

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

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 Select Expand


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




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..

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Private Sub cmdEncrypt_Click()
Print Replace(txtCrypt1, frmSettings.txtb.Text, frmSettings.txta2.Text, frmSettings.txtb2.text, 1, 9999)
End Sub


??


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.

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

basically, replace the longer strings first.

[Stealth]

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

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[b]pseudocode[/b]

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

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.

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

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

[Sadlittleman]

Code Select Expand

[b]pseudocode[/b]

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

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?

[Dyndrilliac]

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

Code Select Expand

[b]pseudocode[/b]

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

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.

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

[Stealth]

True - in his screenshot above, it is not.

[Fr0z3N]

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

[Sadlittleman]

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

Thank you, that works well...

Code Select Expand


txtCrypt2 = Replace(txtCrypt1, frmSettings.txta.Text, frmSettings.txta2.Text, 1, 9999)


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

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


..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:

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


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....:

[Stealth]

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.

[Sadlittleman]

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.

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?