Security
A WPF application with TX Text Control keeps its documents on the desktop: the editor, the engine and the files all live on the user's computer. Security therefore rests on two things, the protection built into the documents and the decisions your application makes about users, passwords, certificates and the files it installs. Whether you design such an application or review one, what follows explains what TX Text Control protects, where that protection ends and what your code adds.
Four Places to Look
- The editor. Protected documents and editable regions limit what users change in the
TextControl, based on user names that your application provides. - Incoming documents. Files from others can fail to load, be encrypted or contain links and file paths. Your code decides what is imported and what a click on a link does.
- Outgoing documents. Passwords encrypt PDF documents, permissions ask PDF readers to restrict actions and digital signatures reveal changes.
- The release. Licensing files and feed credentials stay out of the installer, and the components you ship stay current.
Find the Right Page
| If you want to | Read |
|---|---|
| See the security model of a desktop application with TX Text Control | Security Overview |
| Learn what document protection prevents and how to set user names from your sign-in | Document Protection and User Permissions |
| Open files from other people with limited formats, safe links and error handling | Handling Untrusted Documents |
| Delete sensitive text for good before a document is passed on | Redact Text |
| Protect PDF documents, apply the permissions of opened PDF files and verify encryption | PDF Passwords and Permissions |
| Plan where signing keys are kept and who can sign with them | Certificate and Private Key Handling |
| Go through the checks before a release, from licensing files to SBOMs | Secure Application Deployment |
Where to Start
- Read Security Overview for the model and a comparison of the mechanisms.
- Continue with the page that matches your application: protecting documents in the editor, opening documents from outside or creating protected PDF files.
- Work through Secure Application Deployment before you ship.
How each mechanism is used in code is shown in the feature sections: Document Protection and Editable Regions, Passwords and Access Permissions and Digital Signatures.
Pages in This Section
- Security Overview — where documents are processed, what TX Text Control protects and what your application decides.
- Document Protection and User Permissions — the limits of protected documents and safe user names.
- Handling Untrusted Documents — the Open dialog box, load errors, links, file references and text redaction.
- PDF Passwords and Permissions — encryption, permissions and a check of the output.
- Certificate and Private Key Handling — the places a signing key can live and what each means.
- Secure Application Deployment — the checklist for a release.