Secrets VB.NET Reference Documentation

Secrets

Current Version: 11.1.0

Provides a unified API for managing secrets stored in the following locations:

  • Windows Credentials Manager
  • Apple Keychain
  • AWS Secrets Manager
  • Azure Key Vault
  • IBM Cloud Secrets Manager
  • Oracle Cloud Secrets
  • Doppler Secrets
  • In-Memory Secrets

Object Creation

Dim obj As New Chilkat.Secrets()

Properties

AutoSplit
AutoSplit As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

The AutoSplit property is specific to local_manager secrets on Windows. The Windows Credentials Manager supports a maximum of 2560 bytes per secret. If a secret exceeds this size, it will be automatically compressed and split when created or updated, and automatically recomposed when retrieved.

A secret can be split into a maximum of 10 parts.

The default value is True.

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Compression
Compression As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

If set to True, then the contents of the secret will be stored compressed. The default value of this property is False.

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DebugLogFilePath
DebugLogFilePath As String

If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.

Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.

Possible causes of hangs include:

  • A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
  • A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
  • An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.

More Information and Examples
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LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String (ReadOnly)

Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastErrorText
LastErrorText As String (ReadOnly)

Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastErrorXml
LastErrorXml As String (ReadOnly)

Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastMethodSuccess
LastMethodSuccess As Boolean

Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: True means success, False means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages.

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Location
Location As String
Introduced in version 10.1.0

The location of the secrets. Possible values are:

  • local_manager - On Windows this is the Credentials Manager. On MacOS and iOS it is the Keychain. This is not yet an option on Linux or Android.
  • aws_secrets_manager - AWS Secrets Manager
  • azure_key_vault - Azure Key Vault
  • ibm_cloud - IBM Cloud Secrets Manager
  • oracle_cloud - Oracle Cloud Secrets
  • doppler - Doppler Secrets
  • memory - In-Memory Secrets

The default location is the local_manager. On Linux and Android, local_manager will behave the same as memory.

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UncommonOptions
UncommonOptions As String
Introduced in version 10.1.0

This is a catch-all property to be used for uncommon needs. This property defaults to the empty string and should typically remain empty.

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VerboseLogging
VerboseLogging As Boolean

If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

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Version
Version As String (ReadOnly)

Version of the component/library, such as "10.1.0"

More Information and Examples
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Methods

DeleteSecret
Function DeleteSecret(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Deletes a secret. Cloud secrets managers will typically disable the secret and schedule the secret for deletion after some number of days.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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DeleteSecretAsync (1)
Function DeleteSecretAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the DeleteSecret method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretBd
Function GetSecretBd(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal bd As BinData) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Fetches a binary secret and returns the content in bd.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetSecretBdAsync (1)
Function GetSecretBdAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal bd As BinData) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the GetSecretBd method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretJson
Function GetSecretJson(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal jsonOut As JsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Fetches a JSON secret and returns the content in jsonOut.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetSecretJsonAsync (1)
Function GetSecretJsonAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal jsonOut As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the GetSecretJson method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretSb
Function GetSecretSb(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Fetches a string secret and returns the content in sb.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetSecretSbAsync (1)
Function GetSecretSbAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the GetSecretSb method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretStr
Function GetSecretStr(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject) As String
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Fetches a string secret and returns the content of the secret.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretStrAsync (1)
Function GetSecretStrAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the GetSecretStr method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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ListSecrets
Function ListSecrets(ByVal json As JsonObject, ByVal jsonOut As JsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Lists secrets matching the wildcarded or exact values passed in json. The results of the query are returned in jsonOut.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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ListSecretsAsync (1)
Function ListSecretsAsync(ByVal json As JsonObject, ByVal jsonOut As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the ListSecrets method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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SetBootstrapSecret
Function SetBootstrapSecret(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secretContent As Secrets) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Accessing a cloud-based secrets manager requires authentication credentials, which cannot be stored in the manager itself. Instead, they must be securely stored locally.

One solution is to store the authentication credentials as a secret in the Windows Credentials Manager or Apple Keychain. These credentials serve as the bootstrap secret for authenticating with the cloud-based secrets manager.

jsonId contains the name of the bootstrap secret. secretContent contains the bootstrap's secret content.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretBd
Function UpdateSecretBd(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As BinData) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates a binary secret if it does not yet exist, or updates an existing secret. The name of the secret is specified in jsonId, and the binary content of the secret in secret.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretBdAsync (1)
Function UpdateSecretBdAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As BinData) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UpdateSecretBd method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UpdateSecretJson
Function UpdateSecretJson(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As JsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates a JSON secret if it does not yet exist, or updates an existing secret. The name of the secret is specified in jsonId, and the JSON content of the secret in secret.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretJsonAsync (1)
Function UpdateSecretJsonAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UpdateSecretJson method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UpdateSecretSb
Function UpdateSecretSb(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates a string secret if it does not yet exist, or updates an existing secret. The name of the secret is specified in jsonId, and the string content of the secret in sb.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretSbAsync (1)
Function UpdateSecretSbAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UpdateSecretSb method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UpdateSecretStr
Function UpdateSecretStr(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates a string secret if it does not yet exist, or updates an existing secret. The name of the secret is specified in jsonId, and the string content of the secret in secret.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretStrAsync (1)
Function UpdateSecretStrAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As String) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UpdateSecretStr method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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Events

AbortCheck
Event OnAbortCheck

Enables a method call to be aborted by triggering the AbortCheck event at intervals defined by the HeartbeatMs property. If HeartbeatMs is set to its default value of 0, no events will occur. For instance, set HeartbeatMs to 200 to trigger 5 AbortCheck events per second.

More Information and Examples

Args are passed using Chilkat.AbortCheckEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents secrets As Chilkat.Secrets

Private Sub secrets_OnAbortCheck(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.AbortCheckEventArgs) Handles secrets.OnAbortCheck

    ...

End Sub
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PercentDone
Event OnPercentDone

This provides the percentage completion for any method involving network communications or time-consuming processing, assuming the progress can be measured as a percentage. This event is triggered only when it's possible and logical to express the operation's progress as a percentage. The pctDone argument will range from 1 to 100. For methods that finish quickly, the number of PercentDone callbacks may vary, but the final callback will have pctDone equal to 100. For longer operations, callbacks will not exceed one per percentage point (e.g., 1, 2, 3, ..., 98, 99, 100).

The PercentDone callback also acts as an AbortCheck event. For fast methods where PercentDone fires, an AbortCheck event may not trigger since the PercentDone callback already provides an opportunity to abort. For longer operations, where time between PercentDone callbacks is extended, AbortCheck callbacks enable more responsive operation termination.

To abort the operation, set the abort output argument to True. This will cause the method to terminate and return a failure status or corresponding failure value.

More Information and Examples

Args are passed using Chilkat.PercentDoneEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents secrets As Chilkat.Secrets

Private Sub secrets_OnPercentDone(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.PercentDoneEventArgs) Handles secrets.OnPercentDone

    ...

End Sub
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ProgressInfo
Event OnProgressInfo

This event callback provides tag name/value pairs that detail what occurs during a method call. To discover existing tag names, create code to handle the event, emit the pairs, and review them. Most tag names are self-explanatory.

More Information and Examples

Args are passed using Chilkat.ProgressInfoEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents secrets As Chilkat.Secrets

Private Sub secrets_OnProgressInfo(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.ProgressInfoEventArgs) Handles secrets.OnProgressInfo

    ...

End Sub
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TaskCompleted
Event OnTaskCompleted

Called from the background thread when an asynchronous task completes.

More Information and Examples

Args are passed using Chilkat.TaskCompletedEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents secrets As Chilkat.Secrets

Private Sub secrets_OnTaskCompleted(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.TaskCompletedEventArgs) Handles secrets.OnTaskCompleted

    ...

End Sub
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