Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework Kick Start

Invoking the CryptoAPI

The CryptoAPI is a Windows CE API for performing common cryptographic functions such as computing hashes and encrypting or decrypting data. The .NET Compact Framework has no support for cryptographic functions that are accessible to the outside user. Thus, .NET Compact Framework developers must invoke the native CryptoAPI from their managed applications in order to perform cryptographic functions.

The CryptoAPI is a brittle API that will cause confusion for developers who don't understand some basic principles behind its use. The following sections review those basics before the rest of the chapter jumps into using the CryptoAPI.

Using Handles to Interact with CryptoAPI

Like many other functional areas in the Windows operating ...