(VB.NET) Encrypt File to PKCS7 .p7m

VB.NET example to public-key encrypt a file creating a PKCS#7 .p7m file as output. Also demonstrates how to decrypt the .p7m to recover the original file.

Chilkat .NET Downloads Chilkat .NET Framework Chilkat for .NET Core

' This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
' See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

Dim crypt As New Chilkat.Crypt2

' Indicate the public-key encryption is to be used.
' Do this by setting the encryption algorithm equal 
' to "PKI" (an acroynm for public-key infrastructure).
crypt.CryptAlgorithm = "PKI"

' Indicate the inner symmetric encryption algorithm to be used.
' possible values are "aes", "des", "3des", and "rc2".
' For this example, we'll use 256-bit AES encryption.
crypt.Pkcs7CryptAlg = "aes"
crypt.KeyLength = 256

' To encrypt, only a certificate w/ public key is needed.
' (The certificate w/ private key is required for decryption.)

' The LoadFromFile method can load virtually any certificate format:
' 1. DER encoded binary X.509 (.CER)
' 2. Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)
' 3. Cryptographic Message Syntax Standard - PKCS #7 Certificates (.P7B)
' 4. PEM format
Dim encryptCert As New Chilkat.Cert
Dim success As Boolean = encryptCert.LoadFromFile("/Users/chilkat/testData/cer/acme.cer")
If (success <> True) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(encryptCert.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


' Tell the crypt object to use the certificate for encrypting:
crypt.AddEncryptCert(encryptCert)

' Encrypt a file, producing a .p7m as output.
' The input file is unchanged, the output .p7m contains the encrypted
' contents of the input file.
Dim inFile As String = "/Users/chilkat/testData/pdf/sample.pdf"
Dim outFile As String = "/Users/chilkat/testData/p7m/sample.pdf.p7m"
success = crypt.CkEncryptFile(inFile,outFile)
If (success <> True) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(crypt.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


' For demonstration purposes, a different instance of the object will be used
' for decryption.
Dim decrypt As New Chilkat.Crypt2

' To decrypt, the certificate w/ private key is required.  A PFX (also known
' as PKCS#12) is a common secure container for certs and private keys.
Dim pfxFilename As String = "/Users/chilkat/testData/pfx/acme.pfx"
Dim pfxPassword As String = "secret"

' Tell the component to look in the PFX file for certs and private keys.
success = decrypt.AddPfxSourceFile(pfxFilename,pfxPassword)
If (success <> True) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(decrypt.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


' Tell the decrypt object that PKI (public key encryption) is to be used
' for decryptiong.
decrypt.CryptAlgorithm = "PKI"
' There is no need to set the Pkcs7Alg or KeyLength because this information
' is contained within the .p7m

' Decrypt the .p7m
inFile = "/Users/chilkat/testData/p7m/sample.pdf.p7m"
outFile = "/Users/chilkat/testData/pdf/recovered.pdf"
success = decrypt.CkDecryptFile(inFile,outFile)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(decrypt.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


Debug.WriteLine("Success!")