A Simple Hash Tool

• Download demo project - 432 KB
• Download source - 456 KB

Introduction

This is my second article on CodeProject. Here I am demonstrating a tool to generate MD5 and SHA-1 checksums.

Using the code

You can use an executable directly. To edit code, you can import it in Visual Studio.

Points of Interest

To compute the hash of large files, the ComputeHash function cannot be directly used since the application will go unresponsive for large files.

To prevent this from happening, a hash is generated in another thread using a BackgroundWorker.

// When user clicks to generate MD5 of a file

private void button5_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
	...
    getFileMD5.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(MD5_DoWork);
    getFileMD5.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(MD5_Completed);
    getFileMD5.RunWorkerAsync();
	...
}

// Function to generate MD5 of a file

public void MD5_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e) {
    ...
    while((readCount = stream.Read(buffer, 0, bufferSize)) > 0) {
        algorithm.TransformBlock(buffer, 0, readCount, buffer, 0);
        progressBar1.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate() {    			
            if(progressBar1.Value < progressBar1.Maximum)
                progressBar1.Value += 1;
            else
                progressBar1.Value = 0;
        });
    }
    ...
}


// To be called when job is done, Clear progress-bar and copy result to clipboard
public void MD5_Completed(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e){
    ...
    stream.Close();
    textBox5.Text = ((string)e.Result).ToLowerInvariant();
    System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard.SetText(textBox5.Text);
	...
}

About this project

This tool I have written for my personal use and wanted to share with others. If it proves to be of any help, please let me know.