Am I misunderstanding what a hash salt is?

Question

I am working on adding hash digest generating functionality to our code base. I wanted to use a String as a hash salt so that a pre-known key/passphrase could be prepended

Answer 1

If I'm understanding you correctly, it sounds like you've got it right. The psuedocode for the process looks something like:

string saltedValue = plainTextValue + saltString;
// or string saltedalue = saltString + plainTextValue;

Hash(saltedValue);

The Salt just adds another level of complexity for people trying to get at your information.