Sign documents with Metadata embedded object

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.

Definition of class

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; }
}

Implementation of embedding custom object into Metadata signature

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);
 }

More resources

GitHub Examples

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

Free Online App

Along with full-featured .NET library we provide simple, but powerful free Apps.

You are welcome to eSign PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint documents with free to use online GroupDocs Signature App.

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