Cert Chilkat2 PHP Reference Documentation
Cert
Current Version: 11.7.0
Markdown version of this page for AI tools (v 11.7.0) · all AI docs
Chilkat.Cert
Load public certificates from PEM, DER, Base64, files, strings, binary
data, certificate stores, PFX/P12 files, smart cards, and other sources.
Read subject and issuer fields, serial numbers, fingerprints, validity
dates, key usage, extensions, SAN values, and other X.509 information.
Work with certificates backed by private keys from PFX/P12 files, OS
certificate stores, smart cards, HSMs, PKCS#11 modules, or cloud signing
providers.
Build and inspect certificate chains, verify signatures, check expiration,
examine trust-related information, and work with revocation data.
Pass
Export certificate data in common formats and use detailed diagnostic
output to troubleshoot loading, validation, private-key, chain, or store
problems.
For an extended overview, see
Cert Class Overview.
Load, inspect, validate, and use X.509 certificates throughout Chilkat.
Chilkat.Cert is the central certificate object used throughout
Chilkat for TLS, S/MIME, PKCS7/CMS, PDF signing, XML signing, code signing,
decryption, certificate stores, smart cards, HSMs, PKCS#11, and cloud-based
signing. It provides a broad set of features for loading certificates,
inspecting certificate fields, checking validity, accessing private keys,
building chains, checking revocation status, exporting certificate data, and
diagnosing certificate-related problems.
Load certificates
Inspect certificate details
Private key access
Trust and validation
Use across Chilkat
Cert objects to other Chilkat classes for TLS client
authentication, S/MIME, signing, encryption, decryption, and verification.
Export and diagnostics
Object Creation
use Chilkat2\Cert;
try {
$cert = new Cert();
// ... use $cert ...
} catch (\Chilkat2\Exception $e) {
echo $e->getClass(), '::', $e->getMethod(), " failed\n";
echo $e->getMessage(), "\n"; // the LastErrorText of the failed call
}Creates the object. The optional array sets properties in order, as if assigned one by one (new Cert(['VerboseLogging' => true, 'RaiseError' => false])); an unknown or read-only name throws Error. The class is defined by the chilkat2 extension (extension=chilkat2 in php.ini): there is no PHP file to include.
There is no close(): PHP frees the object when its last reference goes (unset($cert), $cert = null, or the end of the function or request). Objects returned by methods are independent and freed the same way. The class may be extended (class MyCert extends \Chilkat2\Cert); objects cannot be cloned or serialized.
When true (the default), a method that fails throws Chilkat2\Exception. When false, it returns false (or null) instead, and the reason is in LastErrorText. Objects returned by a method inherit the value of the object that returned them.
Errors
Chilkat2\Exception extends RuntimeException: getMessage() is the failed call's full LastErrorText, getClass() its class ('Chilkat2\Cert') and getMethod() the method name. The object remains usable. Methods that look something up and find nothing return null without throwing (each such method says so), methods that answer a question (HasMember, IsUnlocked, ...) return a plain bool, and property reads and writes do not throw for Chilkat reasons.
Misuse always throws, whatever RaiseError is: a wrong argument type is a TypeError (exact types under declare(strict_types=1)), a missing or extra argument an ArgumentCountError, a string containing a NUL byte or an out-of-range integer a ValueError, and an unknown property (properties are case-sensitive) or a write to a read-only one an Error. Named arguments work with the parameter names shown.
Strings are passed and returned as UTF-8; binary data is a PHP string of bytes. Unlocking: call (new \Chilkat2\GlobalSettings())->UnlockBundle('...') once at startup.
Properties
AuthorityKeyId
The authority key identifier of the certificate in base64 string format. This is only present if the certificate contains the extension OID 2.5.29.35.
topAvoidWindowsPkAccess
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.
CertVersion
The version of the certificate (1, 2, or 3). A value of 0 indicates an error -- the most likely cause being that the certificate object is empty (i.e. was never loaded with a certificate). Note: This is not the version of the software, it is the version of the X.509 certificate object. The version of the Chilkat certificate software is indicated by the Version property.
topDebugLogFilePath
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.
Expired
Has a value of true if the certificate or any certificate in the chain of authority has expired. (This information is not available when running on Windows 95/98 computers.)
ExtendedKeyUsage
Returns a string containing a comma separated list of keywords with the extended key usages of the certificate. The list of possible extended key usages are:
- serverAuth - TLS WWW server authentication
- clientAuth - TLS WWW client authentication
- codeSigning - Signing of downloadable executable code
- emailProtection - Email protection
- timeStamping - Binding the hash of an object to a time
- OCSPSigning - Signing OCSP responses
ForClientAuthentication
true if this certificate can be used for client authentication, otherwise false.
ForCodeSigning
true if this certificate can be used for code signing, otherwise false.
ForSecureEmail
true if this certificate can be used for sending secure email, otherwise false.
ForServerAuthentication
true if this certificate can be used for server authentication, otherwise false.
ForTimeStamping
true if this certificate can be used for time stamping, otherwise false.
IntendedKeyUsage
Bitflags indicating the intended usages of the certificate.
The flags are:
Digital Signature: 0x80
Non-Repudiation: 0x40
Key Encipherment: 0x20
Data Encipherment: 0x10
Key Agreement: 0x08
Certificate Signing: 0x04
CRL Signing: 0x02
Encipher-Only: 0x01
IsRoot
true if this is the root certificate, otherwise false.
IssuerC
The certificate issuer's country.
topIssuerCN
The certificate issuer's common name.
topIssuerDN
The issuer's full distinguished name.
topIssuerE
The certificate issuer's email address.
topIssuerL
The certificate issuer's locality, which could be a city, count, township, or other geographic region.
topIssuerO
The certificate issuer's organization, which is typically the company name.
topIssuerOU
The certificate issuer's organizational unit, which is the unit within the organization.
topIssuerS
The certificate issuer's state or province.
topLastErrorHtml
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.
topLastErrorText
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.
LastErrorXml
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.
topLastMethodSuccess
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. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.
OcspUrl
If present in the certificate's extensions, returns the OCSP URL of the certificate. (The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) is an Internet protocol used for obtaining the revocation status of an X.509 digital certificate.)
PrivateKeyExportable
(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) Indicates whether the private key was installed with security settings that allow it to be re-exported.
Revoked
Deprecated: This property does not check the revocation status of the certificate, and always returns false. Do not use it to decide whether a certificate is revoked.
To check whether a certificate has been revoked, call CheckRevoked (Windows only), which returns 1 (revoked), 0 (not revoked), or -1 (unable to check). Applications on any operating system can also send an OCSP request to the certificate's OcspUrl, if the certificate has one.
(A property cannot do this work because checking revocation can require contacting a CRL distribution point or an OCSP responder over the network, which can take a long time. In some programming languages, properties are evaluated at design time in the IDE.)
Note: Chilkat does not check certificate revocation status during the TLS handshake. Settings such as RequireSslCertVerify verify signatures, expiration, and the chain to a trusted root, but not revocation. To reject a revoked server certificate, the application must check it after connecting.
Rfc822Name
The RFC822 name of the certificate. (The RFC822 name is one part of the Subject Alternative Name extension of a certificate, if it exists. It is often the only part of the SAN.)
If the certificate contains a list of RFC822 names then this property will return the comma separated list of names.
Starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.85, to get the complete Subject Alternative Name extension as XML, use the SubjectAlternativeName property.
topSelfSigned
true if this is a self-signed certificate, otherwise false.
SerialDecimal
The certificate's serial number as a decimal string.
topSerialNumber
The certificate's serial number as a hexidecimal string.
topSha1Thumbprint
Hexidecimal string of the SHA-1 thumbprint for the certificate. (This is the SHA1 hash of the binary DER representation of the entire X.509 certificate.)
topSignatureVerified
Returns true if the certificate and all certificates in the chain of authority have valid signatures, otherwise returns false.
SmartCardFailReason
Set after calling LoadFromSmartcard. Possible values are:
- 0 - No failure. The call to LoadFromSmartcard was successful.
- 1 - No smartcard or USB token was detected.
- 2 - The SmartCardPin was provided and the PIN login failed. (Note: Chilkat only PIN authenticates if PKCS11 was the chosen means for communicating with the smartcard.)
- 3 - The certificate matching the specified criteria was not found.
- 99 - Some other undefined failure. Consult the LastErrorText for more information.
SmartCardNoDialog
If set to true, then no dialog will automatically popup if the SmartCardPin is incorrect. Instead, the method requiring the private key on the smart card will fail. The default value of this property is false, which means that if the SmartCardPin property is incorrect, a dialog with prompt will be displayed.
SmartCardPin
Can be set to the PIN value for a certificate / private key stored on a smart card.
SubjectAlternativeName
The subject alternative name (SAN) name of the certificate returned as XML. See the examples linked below.
SubjectC
The certificate subject's country.
topSubjectCN
The certificate subject's common name.
topSubjectDN
The certificate subject's full distinguished name.
topSubjectE
The certificate subject's email address.
topSubjectKeyId
The subject key identifier of the certificate in base64 string format. This is only present if the certificate contains the extension OID 2.5.29.14.
topSubjectL
The certificate subject's locality, which could be a city, count, township, or other geographic region.
topSubjectO
The certificate subject's organization, which is typically the company name.
topSubjectOU
The certificate subject's organizational unit, which is the unit within the organization.
topSubjectS
The certificate subject's state or province.
topTrustedRoot
Returns true if the certificate has a trusted root authority, otherwise returns false.
Note: As of version 9.5.0.41, the notion of what your application deems as trusted becomes more specific. The TrustedRoots class/object was added in v9.5.0.0. Prior to this, a certificate was considered to be anchored by a trusted root if the certificate chain could be established to a root (self-signed) certificate, AND if the root certificate was located somewhere in the Windows registry-based certificate stores. There are two problems with this: (1) it's a Windows-only solution. This property would always return false on non-Windows systems, and (2) it might be considered not a strong enough set of conditions for trusting a root certificate.
As of version 9.5.0.41, this property pays attention to the new TrustedRoots class/object, which allows for an application to specificallly indicate which root certificates are to be trusted. Certificates may be added to the TrustedRoots object via the LoadCaCertsPem or AddCert methods, and then activated by calling the TrustedRoots.Activate method. The activated trusted roots are deemed to be trusted in any Chilkat API method/property that needs to make this determination. In addition, the TrustedRoots object has a property named TrustSystemCaRoots, which defaults to true, which allows for backward compatibility. It will trust CA certificates stored in the Windows registry-based certificate stores, or if on Linux, will trust certificates found in /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt.
UncommonOptions
This is a catch-all property to be used for uncommon needs. This property defaults to the empty string, and should typically remain empty. Possible comma separated keywords can include:
CheckRevokedCacheOnly: Added inv11.2.0. In theCheckRevokedmethod, prevents network access and only checks the cached revocation information on the local computer.
ValidFromStr
The date (in RFC822 string format) that this certificate becomes (or became) valid. It is a GMT/UTC date that is returned.
topValidToStr
The date (in RFC822 string format) that this certificate expires. It is a GMT/UTC date that is returned.
topVerboseLogging
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.
Version
Methods
BuildCertChain
Builds the certificate chain in $certChain containing all the certificates (including this one), in the chain of authentication to the trusted root (if possible). If this certificate object was loaded from a PFX, then the certiicates contained in the PFX are automatically available for building the certificate chain. The UseCertVault method can be called to provide additional certificates that might be required to build the cert chain. Finally, the TrustedRoots object can be used to provide a way of making trusted root certificates available.
Note: Returns true even if certificate chain is not completed to the root. The certificate chain's ReachesRoot property can be examined to see if the chain was completed to the root.
On Windows systems, the registry-based certificate stores are automatically consulted if needed to locate intermediate or root certificates in the chain. Chilkat searches certificate stores in the following order. See System Store Locations for more information.
- Current-User
CACertificate Store - Local-Machine
CACertificate Store - Current-User
RootCertificate Store - Local-Machine
RootCertificate Store - Current-User
MYCertificate Store - Local-Machine
MYCertificate Store - Current-User
ADDRESSBOOKCertificate Store (if it exists) - Local-Machine
ADDRESSBOOKCertificate Store (if it exists)
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
CheckRevoked
Returns 1 if the certificate has been revoked, 0 if not revoked, and -1 if unable to check the revocation status.
Note: This method is only implemented on Windows systems. It uses the underlying Microsoft CertVerifyRevocation Platform SDK function to check the revocation status of a certificate. (Search CertVerifyRevocation to get information about it.) Starting in v11.2.0, the keyword "CheckRevokedCacheOnly" can be included in the UncommonOptions to prevent the Microsoft revocation handler from
accessing any network based resources for revocation checking. In other words, just check the cached revocation information on the local computer.
CertVerifyRevocation can use the certificate's CRL distribution points as well as OCSP. If it returns -1, see the LastErrorText. One cause is that the issuing intermediate CA certificate is not present in the Windows certificate store.
Non-Windows (and Windows) applications can send an OCSP request as shown in the example below. Note that some CAs publish revocation status only through CRLs, not OCSP. For example, Let's Encrypt removed the OCSP URL from its certificates in May 2025 and shut down its OCSP responders in August 2025, so an OCSP request is not possible for current Let's Encrypt certificates.
CheckSmartCardPin
Verifies that the SmartCardPin property setting is correct. Returns 1 if correct, 0 if incorrect, and -1 if unable to check because the underlying CSP does not support the functionality.
ExportCertDerBd
Exports the digital certificate in ASN.1 DER format to a BinData object.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
ExportCertDerFile
Exports the digital certificate to ASN.1 DER format binary file.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
ExportCertPem
Exports the digital certificate to an unencrypted PEM formatted string.
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
ExportCertPemFile
Exports the digital certificate to an unencrypted PEM formatted file.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
ExportCertXml
Exports a certificate to an XML format where the XML tags are the names of the ASN.1 objects that compose the X.509 certificate. Binary data is either hex or base64 encoded. (The binary data for a bits ASN.1 tag is hex encoded, whereas for all other ASN.1 tags, such as octets, it is base64.)
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
ExportToPfxBd
Exports the certificate and private key (if available) to $pfxData. The $password is what will be required to access the PFX contents at a later time. If $includeCertChain is true, then the certificates in the chain of authority are also included in the PFX.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
ExportToPfxFile
Exports the certificate and private key (if available) to a PFX (.pfx or .p12) file. The output PFX is secured using the $pfxPassword. If $bIncludeCertChain is true, then the certificates in the chain of authority are also included in the PFX output file.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
FindIssuer
Finds and returns the issuer certificate. If the certificate is a root or self-issued, then the certificate returned is a copy of the caller certificate. (The IsRoot property can be check to see if the certificate is a root (or self-issued) certificate.)
Returns null if not found: this is not an error, and it does not throw whatever RaiseError is. The returned object is new and independent of this one, and inherits its RaiseError.
GetEncoded
Returns a base64 encoded string representation of the certificate's binary DER format, which can be passed to SetFromEncoded to recreate the certificate object.
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetExtensionAsText
Returns the certificate extension data as a string. This method should only be called for those extensions with text values NOT stored as binary ASN.1. In most cases, applications should call GetExtensionAsXml because most extensions contain ASN.1 values that need to be decoded..
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetExtensionAsXml
Returns the certificate extension data in XML format (converted from ASN.1). The $oid is an OID, such as the ones listed here: http://www.alvestrand.no/objectid/2.5.29.html
Note: In many cases, the data within the XML is returned base64 encoded. An application may need to take one further step to base64 decode the information contained within the XML.
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetExtensionBd
Returns the certificate extension data specified by $oid in $bd.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetIssuer
Finds and returns the issuer certificate in $issuer. If the certificate is a root or self-issued, then the certificate returned is a copy of the caller certificate. (The IsRoot property can be check to see if the certificate is a root (or self-issued) certificate.)
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetPrivateKey
Loads the $privKey with the certificate's private key, if it exists. Returns false if the certificate has no associated private key.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetPrivateKeyPem
Exports the certificate's private key to a PEM string (if the private key is available).
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetPubKeyDer
Loads the $bd with the certificate's public key in ASN.1 DER format. If the key type (such as RSA) supports both PKCS1 and PKCS8 formats, then $preferPkcs1 selects which format to return.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetPublicKey
Loads the $pubKey with the certificate's public key.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetSignature
Loads the $bd with the certificate's signature.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetSpkiFingerprint
Returns the SPKI Fingerprint suitable for use in pinning. (See RFC 7469.) An SPKI Fingerprint is defined as the output of a known cryptographic hash algorithm whose input is the DER-encoded ASN.1 representation of the Subject Public Key Info (SPKI) of an X.509 certificate. The $hashAlg specifies the hash algorithm and may be sha256, sha384, sha512, sha1, md2, md5, haval, ripemd128, ripemd160,ripemd256, or ripemd320. The $encoding specifies the encoding, and may be base64, hex, or any of the encoding modes specified in the article at the link below.
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
GetSubjectPart
Returns a part of the certificate's subject by name or OID. The $partNameOrOid can be a part name, such as CN, O, OU, E, S, L, C, or SERIALNUMBER, or it can be an OID such as 2.5.4.3.
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
HashOf
Returns an encoded hash of a particular part of the certificate. The $part may be one of the following:
- IssuerDN
- IssuerPublicKey
- SubjectDN
- SubjectPublicKey
The $hashAlg is the name of the hash algorithm, such as sha1, sha256, sha384, sha512, md5, etc. The $encoding is the format to return, such as hex, base64, etc.
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
HasPrivateKey
Returns true if a private key associated with the certificate is available.
Never throws: false is an answer, not a failure.
IsEcdsa
Returns true if certificate is ECDSA-based (i.e. has an ECDSA key).
Never throws: false is an answer, not a failure.
IsRsa
Returns true if certificate is RSA-based (i.e. has an RSA key).
Never throws: false is an answer, not a failure.
LinkPkcs11
Links to the certificate's private key located on an HSM (smart card, token, or cloud HSM). Once linked, the certificate can be used for signing where the signing occurs on the HSM. See the example below for more detailed information.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadByCommonName
This method searches for a certificate with the specified common name (CN) on different operating systems.
- On Windows, it searches the Local Machine and Current User certificate stores.
- On macOS and iOS, it searches the Default and System Keychains.
If the certificate is found, it is loaded and ready for use.
Note: Chilkat v10.0.0 or later is needed for Apple Keychain.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadByEmailAddress
This method searches for a certificate with the specified email address on different operating systems.
- On Windows, it searches the Local Machine and Current User certificate stores.
- On macOS and iOS, it searches the Default and System Keychains.
If the certificate is found, it is loaded and ready for use.
Note: Chilkat v10.0.0 or later is needed for Apple Keychain.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadByIssuerAndSerialNumber
This method searches for a certificate with the specified issuer common name ($issuerCN) and serial number ($serialNumber) on different operating systems.
- On Windows, it searches the Local Machine and Current User certificate stores.
- On macOS and iOS, it searches the Default and System Keychains.
If the certificate is found, it is loaded and ready for use.
Note: Chilkat v10.0.0 or later is needed for Apple Keychain.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadBySubjectOid
This method searches for a certificate containing a subject part matching the $oid and $value.
On Windows, it searches the Local Machine and Current User certificate stores.
- On macOS and iOS, it searches the Default and System Keychains.
If the certificate is found, it is loaded and ready for use.
Note: Chilkat v10.0.0 or later is needed for Apple Keychain.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadByThumbprint
This method searches for a certificate with the specified $thumbprint. The $thumbprint is passed as a string using the encoding specified by $encoding (such as base64, hex, etc.).
On Windows, it searches the Local Machine and Current User certificate stores.
- On macOS and iOS, it searches the Default and System Keychains.
If the certificate is found, it is loaded and ready for use.
Note: Chilkat v10.0.0 or later is needed for Apple Keychain.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadFromBase64
Loads an ASN.1 or DER encoded certificate represented in a Base64 string.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadFromBd
Loads an X.509 certificate from data contained in $certBytes.
Note: The $certBytes may contain the certificate in any format. It can be binary DER (ASN.1), PEM, Base64, etc. Chilkat will automatically detect the format.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadFromFile
Loads a certificate from a .cer, .crt, .p7b, or .pem file. This method accepts certificates from files in any of the following formats:
1. DER encoded binary X.509 (.CER)
2. Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)
3. Cryptographic Message Syntax Standard - PKCS #7 Certificates (.P7B)
4. PEM format
This method decodes the certificate based on the contents if finds within the file, and not based on the file extension. If your certificate is in a file having a different extension, try loading it using this method before assuming it won't work. This method does not load .p12 or .pfx (PKCS #12) files.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadFromSmartcard
Important: It's important to set the SmartCardPin property before calling this method.
Loads a certificate and its associated private key (if available) from a connected USB token or smart card. This function works on Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, and Alpine Linux. If multiple USB tokens and/or smartcards are connected to the system, then each will be searched and the first matching certificate will be loaded.
The $certSpec can have the following formats and values:
- Empty String: Passing the empty string is the most common way to call this function. Pass the empty string when only one HSM (USB token or smart card) is connected to the system, and it contains only one certificate with a private key. The HSM can contain other certificates, but Chilkat will automatically choose and load the certificate that has the associated private key also located on the HSM.
- cn=<cert subject common name>: Finds and loads the certificate having the specified subject common name (CN).
- subjectdn_withtags=<distinguished name with tags>: Finds and loads the certificate having the specified DN with tags. For example, subjectdn_withtags=C=US, O=Example Corporation, OU=IT Department, CN=www.example.com
- subjectdn=<distinguished name without tags>: Finds and loads the certificate having the specified DN without tags. For example, subjectdn=US, California, San Francisco, Example Corp, Engineering, www.example.com, support@example.com
- issuercn=<subject hex serial:issuer common name>: Finds and loads the certificate having the specified hex serial number and an issuer with the specified common name. For example,
01020304: Let's Encrypt Authority X1 - serial=<hex serial number>: Finds and loads the certificate having the specified hexidecimal serial number.
- thumbprint=<hex SHA1 thumbprint>: Finds and loads the certificate having the specified hexidecimal SHA1 thumbprint.
- policyoid=<certificate policy OID>: Finds and loads the certificate having a policy OID equal to the specified value, such as 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.11.39.
- o=<subject organization>: Finds and loads the certificate having the
Osubject part equal to the specified value. - c=<subject country>: Finds and loads the certificate having the
Csubject part equal to the specified value. - l=<subject locality>: Finds and loads the certificate having the
Lsubject part equal to the specified value. - ou=<subject organizational unit>: Finds and loads the certificate having the
OUsubject part equal to the specified value. - st=<subject state>: Finds and loads the certificate having the
STsubject part equal to the specified value. - e=<subject email>: Finds and loads the certificate having the
Esubject part equal to the specified value.
On Windows systems, $certSpec can specify a CSP (Cryptographic Service Provider) name, such as YubiHSM Key Storage Provider. This option is retained for legacy support, as Chilkat initially handled USB tokens and smartcards only on Windows via CSPs. Chilkat now supports HSMs across multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Alpine Linux) and uses various methods to communicate with HSMs, including PKCS11, macOS Keychain services, Windows ScMinidriver, MsCNG, and legacy Windows CryptoAPI. Chilkat automatically detects the HSM make/model and selects the optimal communication method.
Some possible CSP values are:
- 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)
- SafeSign Standard Cryptographic Service Provider
- SafeSign Standard RSA and AES Cryptographic Service Provider
- eToken Base Cryptographic Provider
- cryptoCertum3 CSP
- 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
- MySmartLogon NFC CSP
- NFC Connector Enterprise
- ActivClient Cryptographic Service Provider
- EnterSafe ePass2003 CSP v1.0
- Oberthur Card Systems Cryptographic Provider
- Athena ASECard Crypto CSP
- many others...
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadPem
Loads the certificate from a PEM string.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadPfxBd
Loads the certificate from the PFX contained in $pfxData. Note: If the PFX contains multiple certificates, the 1st certificate in the PFX is loaded.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
LoadPfxFile
Loads a PFX file. Note: If the PFX contains multiple certificates, the 1st certificate in the PFX is loaded.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
PemFileToDerFile
Converts a PEM file to a DER file.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
SaveToFile
Saves a certificate object to a .cer file.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
SetCloudSigner
Provides information for a cloud signing service to do the signing via a remote signing server. Current supported services are AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, and ARSS (Aruba Remote Signing Service). See the examples below.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
SetFromEncoded
Initializes the certificate object from a base64 encoded string representation of the certificate's binary DER format.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
SetPrivateKey
Used to associate a private key with the certificate for subsequent (PKCS7) signature creation or decryption.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
SetPrivateKeyPem
Same as SetPrivateKey, but the key is provided in unencrypted PEM format. (Note: The $privKeyPem is not a file path, it is the actual PEM text.)
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
Unload
Unload the certificate, which could mean closing a PKCS11 session if the certificate was loaded from a smart card.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
UploadToCloud
This is an open-ended method to accomodate uploading the private key to a cloud service, such as AWS KMS, or Azure Key Vault. For details, see the examples below.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
UseCertVault
Adds an XML certificate vault to the object's internal list of sources to be searched for certificates for help in building certificate chains and verifying the certificate signature to the trusted root.
Returns true on success. On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns false). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
VerifySignature
Verifies the certificate signature, as well as the signatures of all certificates in the chain of authentication to the trusted root. Returns true if all signatures are verified to the trusted root. Otherwise returns false.
Never throws: false is an answer, not a failure.
X509PKIPathv1
Returns the base64 representation of an X509PKIPathv1 containing just the calling certificate. This is typically used in an X.509 Binary Security Token. It is a PKIPath that contains an ordered list of X.509 public certificates packaged in a PKIPath. The X509PKIPathv1 token type may be used to represent a certificate path. (This is sometimes used in XAdES signatures.)
On failure it throws Chilkat2\Exception (or, with RaiseError set to false, returns null). $e->getMessage() (or the object's LastErrorText) explains why, and the object remains usable.
Events
All Chilkat methods are synchronous: the call returns when the work is done. During a long-running call, Cert reports progress to handlers installed with three methods, each taking any PHP callable (a closure, an arrow function, $this->method(...), an invokable object) and returning the object, so the calls chain:
$cert->onPercentDone(function (int $pctDone): bool {
echo "$pctDone%\n";
return false; // return true to abort the method in progress
})
->onProgressInfo(function (string $name, string $value): void {
echo "$name: $value\n";
});Each installs the handler for one event, replacing the one installed before; null removes it. A callable that does not exist is a TypeError right away.
The AbortCheck handler is called periodically during long operations; PercentDone is called when an operation's completion percentage is known; ProgressInfo delivers named progress values. A truthy return from the AbortCheck or PercentDone handler aborts the running method, which then fails in the usual way (Chilkat2\Exception, or false / null with RaiseError off). PHP's set_time_limit() does not interrupt a Chilkat call; an AbortCheck handler is how a script enforces its own limit.
Handlers run during the method call, in the same request. Inside a handler, the object's properties (such as $cert->AbortCurrent = true) and other objects may be used, but calling a method of the same object throws Error. An exception thrown by a handler aborts the running method and propagates from it; the object remains usable. A closure that captures $cert itself makes a reference cycle, which PHP's cycle collector frees.
AbortCheck
public function onAbortCheck(?callable $callback): static
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.
Example
$deadline = microtime(true) + 30; // give up after 30 seconds
$cert->onAbortCheck(fn(): bool => microtime(true) > $deadline);PercentDone
public function onPercentDone(?callable $callback): static
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.
Example
$cert->onPercentDone(function (int $pctDone): bool {
// $pctDone ranges from 0 to 100.
echo "Percent done: $pctDone\n";
return false; // return true to abort the method in progress
});ProgressInfo
public function onProgressInfo(?callable $callback): static
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.
Note: Some Chilkat methods don't fire any ProgressInfo events.
Example
$cert->onProgressInfo(function (string $name, string $value): void {
echo "$name: $value\n";
});