C++ XOR hashing a CString with printable characters

You could use the old UUencode or just try basE91: "basE91 is an advanced method for encoding binary data as ASCII characters. It is similar to UUencode or base64, but is more efficient." See basE91 encoding. This link has "Source code package (C, Java, PHP, 8086 assembly, AWK)"

Actually I'm finding a Visual Basic example that uses Asc() and Hex() to do an ascii to hex conversion to accomplish the same task. The XOR encryption does the XOR and then hex() to get a printable result, and then to decrypt uses asc() to convert the next to ASCII.

what would be the equivalent for me to perform those ASCII to hex conversions on an MFC CString?

I don't have MFC, so I looked up Need help converting CString to hex for you. It has various code snippets that should help. Below is one snippet to try out.

LPSTR p = m_strMessage.GetBuffer(1);
int len = m_strMessage.GetLength();

for (int n = 0 ; n < len ; n++) {
	TCHAR tmp[4] = { 0 };
	_stprintf(tmp, TEXT("%02x "), p[n]);
	m_strOutput += tmp;
}
m_strMessage.ReleaseBuffer();

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Nice I found myself reading the same link!

!!

I'm not finding any details anywhere on how to then convert it back.

for reference attached is the VB code I am trying to reproduce in C++.. It doesn't have to use MFC actually.

Public Function XORDecryption(CodeKey As String, DataIn As String) As String
    
    Dim lonDataPtr As Long
    Dim strDataOut As String
    Dim intXOrValue1 As Integer
    Dim intXOrValue2 As Integer
    

    For lonDataPtr = 1 To (Len(DataIn) / 2)
        'The first value to be XOr-ed comes from the data to be encrypted
        intXOrValue1 = Val("&H" & (Mid$(DataIn, (2 * lonDataPtr) - 1, 2)))
        'The second value comes from the code key
        intXOrValue2 = Asc(Mid$(CodeKey, ((lonDataPtr Mod Len(CodeKey)) + 1), 1))
        
        strDataOut = strDataOut + Chr(intXOrValue1 Xor intXOrValue2)
    Next lonDataPtr
   XORDecryption = strDataOut
End Function


Public Function XOREncryption(CodeKey As String, DataIn As String) As String
    
    Dim lonDataPtr As Long
    Dim strDataOut As String
    Dim temp As Integer
    Dim tempstring As String
    Dim intXOrValue1 As Integer
    Dim intXOrValue2 As Integer
    

    For lonDataPtr = 1 To Len(DataIn)
        'The first value to be XOr-ed comes from the data to be encrypted
        intXOrValue1 = Asc(Mid$(DataIn, lonDataPtr, 1))
        'The second value comes from the code key
        intXOrValue2 = Asc(Mid$(CodeKey, ((lonDataPtr Mod Len(CodeKey)) + 1), 1))
        
        temp = (intXOrValue1 Xor intXOrValue2)
        tempstring = Hex(temp)
        If Len(tempstring) = 1 Then tempstring = "0" & tempstring
        
        strDataOut = strDataOut + tempstring
    Next lonDataPtr
   XOREncryption = strDataOut
End Function

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very nice I understand. Thank you kindly for your guidance.

You are very welcome. Glad it worked out.

Where there's a "%2x", maybe it would be better to make it a "%02x". And for functions whose arguments are input, it is better to add the "const" qualifier.

Thank you