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Securing connection strings and Encrypting

hi experts,

i was searching for a way to Encrypting the Connection String in the web.config file using .net and i found this article at
http://www.codersource.net/asp_net_security_connection_string.aspx
i did every thing was written but i get this error saying
---- Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index 0 ------

here are the steps i did:

1- i got the encrypted connection string
2- i paste it in the web.config file ----
<appSettings>
<add key="ConnectionString"
value="c2VydmVyPXNydi1yeTt1aWQ9c2E7cHdkPTk4NztkYXRhYmFzZT1wdWJz"/>
</appSettings>
3- also i was able to decrypt the connection string again
4- in the page load for example that i want to display
i did the flowing steps:
----------------------------------------
Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
If Not Page.IsPostBack Then
Dim ConStr As SqlConnection
ConStr = DoCon()
'Dim myConnection As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("ConnectionString"))
Dim MySQL As String = "Select Top 10 au_id, au_fname + ' ' + au_lname " & _
"as FullName from Authors"
Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet
Dim Cmd As New SqlDataAdapter(MySQL, ConStr)
Cmd.Fill(ds, "PBAuthors")
dgPublishers.DataSource = ds.Tables("PBAuthors").DefaultView
dgPublishers.DataBind()
End If
End Sub

Function DoCon() As SqlConnection
Dim ConnectionStr As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings().Item("ConnectionString"))
Return (ConnectionStr)
End Function
----------------------------------------------------------

That's all, any suggestion please.........

appari

i think you missed decrypt part from that article.
change your code like this

add the following function to your code

Private Function DecryptConnectionString() As String

Dim b() As Byte = Convert.FromBase64String(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("ConnectionString"))

Dim decryptedConnectionString As String = System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetString(b)

Return decryptedConnectionString

End Function

no change your doCon function as follows

Function DoCon() As SqlConnection
Dim ConnectionStr As New SqlConnection(DecryptConnectionString(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings().Item("ConnectionString")))
Return (ConnectionStr)
End Function

bduhaish

ASKER

appari ,did you test it !!!!
because the same problem exists

---- Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index 0. ----

bduhaish

ASKER

any help please....

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

appari

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bduhaish

ASKER

no proplem working fin 100%
thanks

bduhaish

ASKER

Oh
appari , one thing else.

Is it right if put the Decrypt Connection String Function in a global file rather than writing it in each asp.vb file, if yes
You may answer these couple of questions:

1 - Under which sub should I put this Decrypt Connection String in the global file
2- If it was under the (Application_Start) or (Session_Start) should i do something to end because i triad couple of things wrong
3- Should i pass some global variable in aspx.vb pages because in the (DoCon) function we change ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings to DecryptConnectionString and this DecryptConnectionString is not declared in this case.

So what do your suggest?

bduhaish

ASKER

hi,
should i open a new session ????