Visual Basic Script / ASP Development
Visual Basic 6.0 Development

The process of using SecureXML from VBScript either on the client side or on an ASP page on the server side starts with first creating an instance of the SecureXML Signature object by doing a CreateObject on the object name:

Set SigObj = CreateObject("XMLSign.Signature") on the client side and
Set SigObj = Server.CreateObject("XMLSign.Signature") on an ASP page for server side usage.

Access to all methods and properties are straight forward as their names remain exactly the same as in the XMLSign.idl file.
Example 1: PKI Signature, Co-Signing

'Create SecureXML Signature object
Set SigObj = CreateObject("XMLSign.Signature")

'Set a signature property
SigObj.ChangeOrAddProperty "Signer Name", "John Doe"

' Set ExcludeSignerCertificate to 1 if you don't want to include a copy of the signer's certificate in the signed XML
SigObj.ExcludeSignerCertificate = 1

' Just sign a simple data string
res = SigObj.SignDataStr("This is my test data")

'Co-sign the signed xml produced above
res = SigObj.CoSignXMLStr(res)

'Check for errors
MsgBox(SigObj.GetLastError)

'Save the signed xml containing two signatures to a file
SigObj.SaveXMLStr res, "TestFiles\c1.xml"

'Verify the signed XML created above
res = SigObj.SecureXMLVerify(res)

'Display verification result
MsgBox(res)

Example 2: HMAC or Password based signatures

'Create SecureXML Signature object
Set SigObj = CreateObject("XMLSign.Signature")

'Set Signature Id
SigObj.SignatureID(0) = "MySignature"

' Set EnvelopingFlag to Enveloped mode
SigObj.EnvelopingFlag = 2
' Enable HMAC signing
SigObj.UseHMAC = 1
' Set the signing password
SigObj.HMACPassword = "password"

'Set some other signature property
SigObj.ChangeOrAddProperty "Location", "Honolulu"

'Create the signature
res1 = SigObj.Sign("TestFiles\catalog.xml")
MsgBox res1 & "Last Error = " & SigObj.GetLastError

'Enable SaveXMLSignature to overwrite existing files
SigObj.OverwriteFile = 1

'Save the signature created above
SigObj.SaveXMLSignature "TestFiles\c1.xml"
MsgBox "Signature Saved As TestFiles\c1.xml"

Visual Basic Script / ASP Development
Visual Basic 6.0 Development

There are two ways to create an instance of the SecureXML Digital Signature object in Visual Basic 6.0. One way is to follow the usage presented for Visual Basic Script. This method, also know as late binding method has a disadvantage that you don't get the benefit of the Intellisense built into the VB 6.0 development environment. Also there is a run-time penalty for late binding. The preferred way is to create a reference to the SecureXML Digital Signature type library in your VB 6.0 development environment and then declare a typed object. In order to create a reference to the SecureXML Digital Signature Type Library, please click on Project pull down menu and select References… At this point you will be presented with a dialog box with a list of available references. Please locate and select an entry called "Infomosaic SecureXML Digital Signature 1.0 Type Library". If you don't find this entry, click on the browse button and locate and select XMLSign.dll in C:\Program Files\Infomosaic\SecureXML\ directory or the SecureXML install directory if you chose a different directory during installation.

After you have created a reference to the SecureXML Digital Signature Type Library you would need to declare a variable of this new type. This is done as follows:

Public SigObj As XMLSIGNLib.Signature

Later in your code, you would need to create an instance of the SecureXML object as follows:

Set SigObj = New XMLSIGNLib.Signature

Now SigObj points to an instance of the SecureXML Digital Signature object and the VB 6.0 development environment can help you use it by presenting you with a list of methods and properties available for this object. For the most part if you go through the sample VB 6.0 project included with the SecureXML download, you will have your first VB application running within one or two days.

With VB, all the method and property names remain the same as in the IDL file and the VB 6.0 Intellisense can help you use them without having to read this guide in great detail.