Encrypted User Data!

Hello,

I have a rather uncommon situation where I have created a module that encrypts user profile data before it is saved into the database table and upon request [user_load()] the data gets decrypted so that I can deal with the information and display it. However, I have been using views for a long time, more as a user than a developer for its flexibility in retrieving, sorting and displaying data with relationships and arguments. This is really great stuff but unfortunately, because Views does direct queries within the database tables, I get the encrypted results back and am finding it difficult to deal with. I have no problems decrypting them for display because I am using the Custom Field module which allows me to use php to modify the returned data. However, my view needs to have an exposed form for people to be able to search by first name and last name. I have created the necessary filters and exposed them but when I type in the name of an existing user I get no results. This is because the query is looking in the database table for a name that is not encrypted such as "David" but in the table the data is encrypted and can therefore not match.

I am quite new to using the views api and form api and I would like to know how it might be possible to encrypt the user's input before the form is submited. How would I go about doing this?

I have a feeling I need to use HOOK_form_alter to do this but after that I'm honestly clueless. And they call me a developer .. huh .. well .. we can't be good at everything in the world of development but I really need help for this one. Can anyone give me some clues or even better, a full on explanation about how I might go about doing this?