Generating Bcrypt in Visual Basic .NET

VB.NET, or Visual Basic .NET, is an object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft. It is the modern version of the Visual Basic language and is fully integrated into the .NET framework. VB.NET inherits the ease of use and concise syntax of Visual Basic while introducing features of object-oriented programming, enabling developers to build complex applications.

One of the design goals of VB.NET is to provide an easy way to access the powerful capabilities of the .NET framework, including Windows API, database connections, and network programming. This makes VB.NET an ideal choice for developing Windows applications, web services, and web applications. As part of the .NET framework, VB.NET supports all key language features such as automatic garbage collection, exception handling, generics, delegates, event handling, and LINQ. These features not only enhance the capabilities of the language but also improve development efficiency and program performance.

Generating Bcrypt hashes in Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) can be done using the BCrypt.Net-Next library, a C# implementation of the bcrypt password hashing function library that is also compatible with VB.NET. Here are detailed explanations and sample code for several methods:

1. Using the BCrypt.Net-Next Library

Install the BCrypt.Net-Next Library

You can install BCrypt.Net-Next through the NuGet package manager. In Visual Studio, you can execute the following command in the Package Manager Console:

Install-Package BCrypt.Net-Next

Or using .NET CLI:

dotnet add package BCrypt.Net-Next

Generate Bcrypt Hash

In VB.NET, you can use the following code to generate a Bcrypt hash:

Imports BCrypt.Net

Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        ' Password to hash
        Dim password As String = "mySecurePassword"

        ' Generate Bcrypt hash
        Dim hashedPassword As String = BCrypt.HashPassword(password)

        ' Output the hash value
        Console.WriteLine("Hashed Password: " & hashedPassword)
    End Sub
End Module

Verify Password

You can use the following code to verify if the password matches the stored hash:

Imports BCrypt.Net

Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        ' Password input by the user
        Dim password As String = "mySecurePassword"

        ' Hash value retrieved from the database
        Dim storedHash As String = "$2a$10$...", ' Replace this with the actual hash value

        ' Verify the password
        Dim isValid As Boolean = BCrypt.Verify(password, storedHash)

        ' Output the verification result
        Console.WriteLine("Password match: " & isValid.ToString())
    End Sub
End Module

2. Using Aliases to Simplify Code

If you don't want to write the full namespace every time, you can use aliases in your project file. For example, you can add the following line to your .csproj file to create an alias "BC" for BCrypt.Net.BCrypt:

<ItemGroup>
    <Using Include="BCrypt.Net.BCrypt" Alias="BC"/>
</ItemGroup>

This way, you can directly use BC.HashPassword() and BC.Verify() in your code without the using statement.

3: Enhanced Entropy Mode

BCrypt.Net-Next also offers an enhanced entropy mode, which increases the entropy used by pre-hashing the password. Here is an example of how to use the enhanced entropy mode:

Imports BCrypt.Net

Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        ' Password
        Dim password As String = "mySecurePassword"

        ' Generate enhanced entropy hash
        Dim enhancedHashPassword As String = BCrypt.EnhancedHashPassword(password)

        ' Verify the password
        Dim validatePassword As Boolean = BCrypt.EnhancedVerify(password, enhancedHashPassword)

        ' Output the verification result
        Console.WriteLine("Password match with enhanced entropy: " & validatePassword.ToString())
    End Sub
End Module