CertStore Excel Class Module Reference Documentation

CertStore

Current Version: 9.5.0.90

Represents a collection of certificates. The certificates may be loaded from a PFX (PKCS#12) or from a Windows-based certificate store.

Many of the methods of this class are only applicable when running on a MS Windows operating system. The methods for opening, creating, and modifying Windows-based certificate stores (registry-based, file-based, and memory-based) are (of course) Windows-only. However, the methods for loading certs from PFX (PKCS#12), are valid on all supported operating systems, including Linux, MAC OS X, Windows, etc.

Object Creation

Dim oCertStore As Chilkat.CertStore
Set oCertStore = Chilkat.NewCertStore

Properties

AvoidWindowsPkAccess
AvoidWindowsPkAccess As Long

Applies only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system. If True, then any method that returns a certificate will not try to also access the associated private key, assuming one exists. This is useful if the certificate was installed with high-security such that a private key access would trigger the Windows OS to display a security warning dialog. The default value of this property is False.

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DebugLogFilePath
DebugLogFilePath As String

If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.

This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:

  1. a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
  2. the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
  3. there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.

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LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String (read only)

Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastErrorText
LastErrorText As String (read only)

Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastErrorXml
LastErrorXml As String (read only)

Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastMethodSuccess
LastMethodSuccess As Long
Introduced in version 9.5.0.52

Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of True indicates success, a value of False indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:

  • Any method that returns a string.
  • Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
  • Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = True and failure = False.
  • Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.

Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to True. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.

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NumCertificates
NumCertificates As Long (read only)

The number of certificates held in the certificate store.

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NumEmailCerts
NumEmailCerts As Long (read only)

(This property only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
The number of certificates that can be used for sending secure email within this store.

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SmartCardPin
SmartCardPin As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.86

Can be set to the PIN value for a certificate / private key stored on a smart card.

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UncommonOptions
UncommonOptions As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.87

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 Long

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 (read only)

Version of the component/library, such as "9.5.0.63"

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Methods

AddCertificate
AddCertificate(cert As Cert) As Long

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Adds a certificate to the store. If the certificate is already in the store, it is updated with the new information.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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CreateFileStore
CreateFileStore(filename As String) As Long

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Creates a new file-based certificate store. Certificates may be saved to this store by calling AddCertificate.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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CreateMemoryStore
CreateMemoryStore() As Long

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Creates an in-memory certificate store. Certificates may be added by calling AddCertificate.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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CreateRegistryStore
CreateRegistryStore(regRoot As String, regPath As String) As Long

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Creates a registry-based certificate store. regRoot must be "CurrentUser" or "LocalMachine". regPath is a registry path such as "Software/MyApplication/Certificates".

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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FindCertByKeyContainer
FindCertByKeyContainer(name As String) As Cert
Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

Finds a certificate by it's key container name.

Returns Nothing on failure

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FindCertByRfc822Name
FindCertByRfc822Name(name As String) As Cert

Locates and returns a certificate by its RFC 822 name.

If multiple certificates match, then non-expired certificates will take precedence over expired certificates. In other words, Chilkat will aways return the non-expired certificate over the expired certificate.

Returns Nothing on failure

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FindCertBySerial
FindCertBySerial(str As String) As Cert

Finds and returns the certificate that has the matching serial number.

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

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FindCertBySha1Thumbprint
FindCertBySha1Thumbprint(str As String) As Cert

Finds a certificate by it's SHA-1 thumbprint. The thumbprint is a hexidecimal string.

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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FindCertBySubject
FindCertBySubject(str As String) As Cert

Finds a certificate where one of the Subject properties (SubjectCN, SubjectE, SubjectO, SubjectOU, SubjectL, SubjectST, SubjectC) matches exactly (but case insensitive) with the passed string. A match in SubjectCN will be tried first, followed by SubjectE, and SubjectO. After that, the first match found in SubjectOU, SubjectL, SubjectST, or SubjectC, but in no guaranteed order, is returned. All matches are case insensitive.

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

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FindCertBySubjectCN
FindCertBySubjectCN(str As String) As Cert

Finds a certificate where the SubjectCN property (common name) matches exactly (but case insensitive) with the passed string

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

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FindCertBySubjectE
FindCertBySubjectE(str As String) As Cert

Finds a certificate where the SubjectE property (email address) matches exactly (but case insensitive) with the passed string. This function differs from FindCertForEmail in that the certificate does not need to match the ForSecureEmail property.

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

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FindCertBySubjectO
FindCertBySubjectO(str As String) As Cert

Finds a certificate where the SubjectO property (organization) matches exactly (but case insensitive) with the passed string.

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

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FindCertForEmail
FindCertForEmail(emailAddress As String) As Cert

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Finds a certificate that can be used to send secure email to the passed email address. A certificate matches only if the ForSecureEmail property is TRUE, and the email address matches exactly (but case insensitive) with the SubjectE property. Returns NULL if no matches are found.

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetCertificate
GetCertificate(index As Long) As Cert

Returns the Nth certificate in the store. The first certificate is at index 0.

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetEmailCert
GetEmailCert(index As Long) As Cert

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Returns the Nth email certificate in the store. The first certificate is at index 0. Use the NumEmailCertificates property to get the number of email certificates.

Returns Nothing on failure.

Returns Nothing on failure

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LoadPemFile
LoadPemFile(pemPath As String) As Long

Loads the certificates contained within a PEM formatted file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadPemStr
LoadPemStr(pemString As String) As Long

Loads the certificates contained within an in-memory PEM formatted string.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadPfxFile
LoadPfxFile(pfxFilename As String, password As String) As Long

Loads a PFX file. Once loaded, the certificates within the PFX may be searched via the Find* methods. It is also possible to iterate from 0 to NumCertficates-1, calling GetCertificate for each index, to retrieve each certificate within the PFX.

Note: This method does not import certificates into the Windows certificate stores. The purpose of this method is to load a .pfx/.p12 into this object so that other API methods can be called to explore or search the contents of the PFX. The Chilkat Pfx class also provides similar functionality.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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OpenCurrentUserStore
OpenCurrentUserStore(readOnly As Boolean) As Long

(This method is only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Opens the registry-based Current-User\Personal certificate store. Set readOnly = True if only fetching certificates and not updating the certificate store (i.e. certificates will not be added or removed). Setting readOnly = True causes the certificate store to be opened read-only, and will prevent "permission denied" errors caused by the need for read-write permission.

Once loaded, the certificates within the store may be searched via the Find* methods. An application may also iterate from 0 to NumCertficates-1 and call GetCertificate to access each certificate by index.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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OpenFileStore
OpenFileStore(filename As String, readOnly As Boolean) As Long

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Opens a file-based certificate store.

Once loaded, the certificates within the store may be searched via the Find* methods. An application may also iterate from 0 to NumCertficates-1 and call GetCertificate to access each certificate by index.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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OpenLocalSystemStore
OpenLocalSystemStore(readOnly As Boolean) As Long

(This method is only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Opens the registry-based Local-Computer\Personal certificate store. Set readOnly = True if only fetching certificates and not updating the certificate store (i.e. certificates will not be added or removed). Setting readOnly = True causes the certificate store to be opened read-only, and will prevent "permission denied" errors caused by the need for read-write permission.

Once loaded, the certificates within the store may be searched via the Find* methods. An application may also iterate from 0 to NumCertficates-1 and call GetCertificate to access each certificate by index.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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OpenRegistryStore
OpenRegistryStore(regRoot As String, regPath As String, readOnly As Boolean) As Long

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Opens an arbitrary registry-based certificate store. regRoot must be "CurrentUser" or "LocalMachine". regPath is a registry path such as "Software/MyApplication/Certificates".

Setting readOnly = True causes the certificate store to be opened read-only, and will prevent "permission denied" errors caused by the need for read-write permission.

Once loaded, the certificates within the store may be searched via the Find* methods. An application may also iterate from 0 to NumCertficates-1 and call GetCertificate to access each certificate by index.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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OpenSmartcard
OpenSmartcard(csp As String) As Long
Introduced in version 9.5.0.80

Opens the certificate store on the smartcard currently in the reader or USB token.

The csp can be set to the name of the CSP (Cryptographic Service Provider) that should be used. If csp is an empty string, then the 1st CSP found matching one of the following names will be used:

  • Microsoft Smart Card Key Storage Provider
  • Microsoft Base Smart Card Crypto Provider
  • Bit4id Universal Middleware Provider
  • YubiHSM Key Storage Provider (starting in v9.5.0.83)
  • eToken Base Cryptographic Provider
  • FTSafe ePass1000 RSA Cryptographic Service Provider
  • SecureStoreCSP
  • EnterSafe ePass2003 CSP v2.0
  • Gemalto Classic Card CSP
  • PROXKey CSP India V1.0
  • PROXKey CSP India V2.0
  • TRUST KEY CSP V1.0
  • Watchdata Brazil CSP V1.0
  • Luna Cryptographic Services for Microsoft Windows
  • Luna SChannel Cryptographic Services for Microsoft Windows
  • Safenet RSA Full Cryptographic Provider
  • nCipher Enhanced Cryptographic Provider
  • SafeSign Standard Cryptographic Service Provider
  • SafeSign Standard RSA and AES Cryptographic Service Provider
  • MySmartLogon NFC CSP
  • NFC Connector Enterprise
  • ActivClient Cryptographic Service Provider
  • EnterSafe ePass2003 CSP v1.0
  • Oberthur Card Systems Cryptographic Provider
  • Athena ASECard Crypto CSP"

(This method is only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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OpenWindowsStore
OpenWindowsStore(storeLocation As String, storeName As String, readOnly As Boolean) As Long
Introduced in version 9.5.0.49

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Opens a Microsoft Windows certificate store. storeLocation must be "CurrentUser" or "LocalMachine". storeName is the name of the certificate store to open. It may be any of the following:

  • AddressBook: Certificate store for other users.
  • AuthRoot: Certificate store for third-party certification authorities (CAs).
  • CertificationAuthority: Certificate store for intermediate certification authorities (CAs).
  • Disallowed: Certificate store for revoked certificates.
  • My: Certificate store for personal certificates.
  • Root: Certificate store for trusted root certification authorities (CAs).
  • TrustedPeople: Certificate store for directly trusted people and resources.
  • TrustedPublisher: Certificate store for directly trusted publishers.

Setting readOnly = True causes the certificate store to be opened read-only, and will prevent "permission denied" errors caused by the need for read-write permission.

Once loaded, the certificates within the store may be searched via the Find* methods. An application may also iterate from 0 to NumCertficates-1 and call GetCertificate to access each certificate by index.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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RemoveCertificate
RemoveCertificate(cert As Cert) As Long

(This method only available on Microsoft Windows operating systems.)
Removes the passed certificate from the store. The certificate object passed as the argument can no longer be used once removed.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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