Sign documents with Metadata embedded object Leave feedback

GroupDocs.Signature provides ability to embed into Metadata signature custom objects. This feature is implemented over object serialization to string and further encryption. By default library uses json format serialization and symmetric encryption, the class SymmetricEncryption class. Creation of this encryption expects 3 arguments like encryption algorithm enumeration SymmetricAlgorithmType with one of following values (DES, TripleDES, RC2, Rijndael), string value key and string value salt.

Here are the steps to embed into Metadata custom object with standard encryption with GroupDocs.Signature:

• Implement if needed custom data serialization class that implement IDataSerializer interface. By default GroupDocs.Signature uses embedded json format serialization but allows user to customize it.
• Implement if needed custom data encryption class that implements IDataEncryption interface. By default GroupDocs.Signature has several encryption implementation you can use but allows user to customize it.
  Implement class with properties and specify if needed class attributes (like custom serialization attribute, custom encryption attribute), specify attributes for properties  like FormatAttribute to specify serialization name and display format, same as SkipSerializationAttribute  to mark property of class as not serialize
• Create new instance of Signature class and pass source document path as a constructor parameter.
• Create one or several objects of MetadataSignature object with MetadataSignature.Value as object instance. Setup MetadataSignature.DataEncryption property or use same for MetadataSignOptions.DataEncryption if all signatures should be encrypted.
• Instantiate the MetadataSignOptions object according to your requirements, add all metadata signatures to its collection and setup if needed DataEncryption property,
• Call Sign method of Signature class instance and pass MetadataSignOptions to it.

This example shows how to define custom class with serialization and encryption properties and setup Format attributes for properties.

public class DocumentSignatureData
{
    [Format("SignID")]
    public string ID { get; set; }
    [Format("SAuth")]
    public string Author { get; set; }
    [Format("SDate", "yyyy-MM-dd")]
    public DateTime Signed { get; set; }
    [Format("SDFact", "N2")]
    public decimal DataFactor { get; set; }
    [SkipSerialization]
    public string Comments { get; set; }
}

This example shows how to embed custom object into Metadata signature.

 using (Signature signature = new Signature("sample.docx"))
 {
     // setup key and passphrase
     string key = "1234567890";
     string salt = "1234567890";
     // create data encryption
     IDataEncryption encryption = new SymmetricEncryption(SymmetricAlgorithmType.Rijndael, key, salt);
     // setup options with text of signature
     MetadataSignOptions options = new MetadataSignOptions()
     {
         // set encryption for all metadata signatures for this options
         // if you need separate encryption use own MetadataSignature.DataEncryption property
         DataEncryption = encryption
     };
     // create custom object
     DocumentSignatureData documentSignatureData = new DocumentSignatureData()
     {
         ID = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(),
         Author = Environment.UserName,
         Signed = DateTime.Now,
         DataFactor = 11.22M
     };
     // setup signature metadata
     WordProcessingMetadataSignature mdSignature = new WordProcessingMetadataSignature("Signature", documentSignatureData);
     // setup signature metadata
     WordProcessingMetadataSignature mdAuthor = new WordProcessingMetadataSignature("Author", "Mr.Scherlock Holmes");
     // setup data of document id
     WordProcessingMetadataSignature mdDocId = new WordProcessingMetadataSignature("DocumentId", Guid.NewGuid().ToString());
     // add signatures to options
     options.Signatures.Add(mdSignature);
     options.Signatures.Add(mdAuthor);
     options.Signatures.Add(mdDocId);
     // sign document to file
     signature.Sign("MetadataEncryptedObject", options);
 }

You may easily run the code above and see the feature in action in our GitHub examples:

• GroupDocs.Signature for .NET examples, plugins, and showcase
• GroupDocs.Signature for Java examples, plugins, and showcase
• Document Signature for .NET MVC UI Example
• Document Signature for .NET App WebForms UI Example
• Document Signature for Java App Dropwizard UI Example
• Document Signature for Java Spring UI Example

Along with the full-featured .NET library, we provide simple but powerful free online apps.

To sign PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other documents you can use the online apps from the GroupDocs.Signature App Product Family.