Question

Looking for a simple text encryption/decryption VB6 code. Ideally, the solution should accept (text, password) arguments and produce readable output (without any special characters), so it can be used anywhere without encoding issues.

There are lots of code available for .NET, but not really much I can find for legacy VB6. Only this I’ve found so far: http://www.devx.com/vb2themax/Tip/19211

Answer 1

I’m using RC4 implementation like this

Option Explicit

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim sSecret     As String

    sSecret = ToHexDump(CryptRC4("a message here", "password"))
    Debug.Print sSecret
    Debug.Print CryptRC4(FromHexDump(sSecret), "password")
End Sub

Public Function CryptRC4(sText As String, sKey As String) As String
    Dim baS(0 To 255) As Byte
    Dim baK(0 To 255) As Byte
    Dim bytSwap     As Byte
    Dim lI          As Long
    Dim lJ          As Long
    Dim lIdx        As Long

    For lIdx = 0 To 255
        baS(lIdx) = lIdx
        baK(lIdx) = Asc(Mid$(sKey, 1 + (lIdx Mod Len(sKey)), 1))
    Next
    For lI = 0 To 255
        lJ = (lJ + baS(lI) + baK(lI)) Mod 256
        bytSwap = baS(lI)
        baS(lI) = baS(lJ)
        baS(lJ) = bytSwap
    Next
    lI = 0
    lJ = 0
    For lIdx = 1 To Len(sText)
        lI = (lI + 1) Mod 256
        lJ = (lJ + baS(lI)) Mod 256
        bytSwap = baS(lI)
        baS(lI) = baS(lJ)
        baS(lJ) = bytSwap
        CryptRC4 = CryptRC4 & Chr$((pvCryptXor(baS((CLng(baS(lI)) + baS(lJ)) Mod 256), Asc(Mid$(sText, lIdx, 1)))))
    Next
End Function

Private Function pvCryptXor(ByVal lI As Long, ByVal lJ As Long) As Long
    If lI = lJ Then
        pvCryptXor = lJ
    Else
        pvCryptXor = lI Xor lJ
    End If
End Function

Public Function ToHexDump(sText As String) As String
    Dim lIdx            As Long

    For lIdx = 1 To Len(sText)
        ToHexDump = ToHexDump & Right$("0" & Hex(Asc(Mid(sText, lIdx, 1))), 2)
    Next
End Function

Public Function FromHexDump(sText As String) As String
    Dim lIdx            As Long

    For lIdx = 1 To Len(sText) Step 2
        FromHexDump = FromHexDump & Chr$(CLng("&H" & Mid(sText, lIdx, 2)))
    Next
End Function

Command1 outputs this:

9ED5556B3F4DD5C90471C319402E
a message here

You might need better error handling on FromHexDump though.

Update (2018-05-04)

For much stronger AES 256-bit encryption (in ECB mode) and proper handling of unicode texts/passwords you can check out Simple AES 256-bit password protected encryption as implemented in mdAesEcb.bas module (~380 LOC).