I apologize for using dummy names for my variables: I do know better. Let me digress:

I need to use real data to construct the encryption key such that the key may consist of "$user|$server". I want to store the encrypted password in a file that can be accessed by an associated key made up of user etc. I need to construct the encryption key in a sensible way...i.e. not a hex number but real data. I am stumped figuring out how to do this.