Cert VB.NET WinRT Reference Documentation

Cert

Current Version: 9.5.0.90

Digital certificate component / class

Object Creation

Dim obj As New Chilkat.Cert()

Properties

AuthorityKeyId
AuthorityKeyId As String (ReadOnly)
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

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.

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AvoidWindowsPkAccess
AvoidWindowsPkAccess As Boolean

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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CertVersion
CertVersion As Integer (ReadOnly)

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.

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CspName
CspName As String (ReadOnly)

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) If the HasKeyContainer property is True, then the certificate is linked to a key container and this property contains the name of the associated CSP (cryptographic service provider). When a certificate is linked to a key container , the following properties will provide information about the key container and private key: CspName, KeyContainerName, MachineKeyset, and Silent.

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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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Expired
Expired As Boolean (ReadOnly)

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.)

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ExtendedKeyUsage
ExtendedKeyUsage As String (ReadOnly)
Introduced in version 9.5.0.85

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

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ForClientAuthentication
ForClientAuthentication As Boolean (ReadOnly)

True if this certificate can be used for client authentication, otherwise False.

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ForCodeSigning
ForCodeSigning As Boolean (ReadOnly)

True if this certificate can be used for code signing, otherwise False.

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ForSecureEmail
ForSecureEmail As Boolean (ReadOnly)

True if this certificate can be used for sending secure email, otherwise False.

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ForServerAuthentication
ForServerAuthentication As Boolean (ReadOnly)

True if this certificate can be used for server authentication, otherwise False.

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ForTimeStamping
ForTimeStamping As Boolean (ReadOnly)

True if this certificate can be used for time stamping, otherwise False.

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HasKeyContainer
HasKeyContainer As Boolean (ReadOnly)

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) Indicates whether this certificate is linked to a key container. If True then the certificate is linked to a key container (usually containing a private key). If False, then it is not.

When a certificate is linked to a key container , the following properties will provide information about the key container and private key: CspName, KeyContainerName, MachineKeyset, and Silent.

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IntendedKeyUsage
IntendedKeyUsage As UInteger (ReadOnly)

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

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IsRoot
IsRoot As Boolean (ReadOnly)

True if this is the root certificate, otherwise False.

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IssuerC
IssuerC As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate issuer's country.

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IssuerCN
IssuerCN As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate issuer's common name.

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IssuerDN
IssuerDN As String (ReadOnly)

The issuer's full distinguished name.

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IssuerE
IssuerE As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate issuer's email address.

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IssuerL
IssuerL As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate issuer's locality, which could be a city, count, township, or other geographic region.

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IssuerO
IssuerO As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate issuer's organization, which is typically the company name.

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IssuerOU
IssuerOU As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate issuer's organizational unit, which is the unit within the organization.

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IssuerS
IssuerS As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate issuer's state or province.

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KeyContainerName
KeyContainerName As String (ReadOnly)

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) If the HasKeyContainer property is True, then the certificate is linked to a key container and this property contains the name of the key container.

When a certificate is linked to a key container , the following properties will provide information about the key container and private key: CspName, KeyContainerName, MachineKeyset, and Silent.

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LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String (ReadOnly)

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 (ReadOnly)

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 (ReadOnly)

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 Boolean
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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MachineKeyset
MachineKeyset As Boolean (ReadOnly)

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) If the HasKeyContainer property is True, then the certificate is linked to a key container and this property indicates whether the key container is in the machine's keyset or in the keyset specific to the logged on user's account. If True, the key container is within the machine keyset. If False, it's in the user's keyset.

When a certificate is linked to a key container , the following properties will provide information about the key container and private key: CspName, KeyContainerName, MachineKeyset, and Silent.

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OcspUrl
OcspUrl As String (ReadOnly)

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.)

More Information and Examples
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PrivateKeyExportable
PrivateKeyExportable As Boolean (ReadOnly)

(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.

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Revoked
Revoked As Boolean (ReadOnly)

True if the certificate or any certificate in the chain of authority has been revoked. This information is not available when running on Windows 95/98 computers. Note: If this property is False, it could mean that it was not able to check the revocation status. Because of this uncertainty, a CheckRevoked method has been added. It returns an integer indicating one of three possible states: 1 (revoked) , 0 (not revoked), -1 (unable to check revocation status).

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Rfc822Name
Rfc822Name As String (ReadOnly)

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.

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SelfSigned
SelfSigned As Boolean (ReadOnly)

True if this is a self-signed certificate, otherwise False.

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SerialDecimal
SerialDecimal As String (ReadOnly)
Introduced in version 9.5.0.75

The certificate's serial number as a decimal string.

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SerialNumber
SerialNumber As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate's serial number as a hexidecimal string.

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Sha1Thumbprint
Sha1Thumbprint As String (ReadOnly)

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.)

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SignatureVerified
SignatureVerified As Boolean (ReadOnly)

Returns True if the certificate and all certificates in the chain of authority have valid signatures, otherwise returns False.

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Silent
Silent As Boolean (ReadOnly)

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.)

If the HasKeyContainer property is True, then the certificate is linked to a key container and this property indicates that the key container will attempt to open any keys silently without any user interface prompts.

When a certificate is linked to a key container , the following properties will provide information about the key container and private key: CspName, KeyContainerName, MachineKeyset, and Silent.

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SmartCardNoDialog
SmartCardNoDialog As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

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.

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SmartCardPin
SmartCardPin As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.75

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

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SubjectAlternativeName
SubjectAlternativeName As String (ReadOnly)
Introduced in version 9.5.0.85

The subject alternative name (SAN) name of the certificate returned as XML. See the examples linked below.

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SubjectC
SubjectC As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate subject's country.

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SubjectCN
SubjectCN As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate subject's common name.

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SubjectDN
SubjectDN As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate subject's full distinguished name.

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SubjectE
SubjectE As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate subject's email address.

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SubjectKeyId
SubjectKeyId As String (ReadOnly)
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

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.

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SubjectL
SubjectL As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate subject's locality, which could be a city, count, township, or other geographic region.

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SubjectO
SubjectO As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate subject's organization, which is typically the company name.

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SubjectOU
SubjectOU As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate subject's organizational unit, which is the unit within the organization.

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SubjectS
SubjectS As String (ReadOnly)

The certificate subject's state or province.

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TrustedRoot
TrustedRoot As Boolean (ReadOnly)

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.

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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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ValidFromStr
ValidFromStr As String (ReadOnly)

The date (in RFC822 string format) that this certificate becomes (or became) valid. It is a GMT/UTC date that is returned.

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ValidToStr
ValidToStr As String (ReadOnly)

The date (in RFC822 string format) that this certificate becomes (or became) invalid. It is a GMT/UTC date that is returned.

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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 "9.5.0.63"

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Methods

CheckRevoked
Function CheckRevoked() As Integer

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.)

Non-Windows (and Windows) applications can send an OCSP request as shown in the example below.

More Information and Examples
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CheckSmartCardPin
Function CheckSmartCardPin() As Integer
Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

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.

More Information and Examples
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ExportCertDer
Function ExportCertDer() As Byte()

Exports the digital certificate to ASN.1 DER format.

Returns an empty byte array on failure

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ExportCertDerBd
Function ExportCertDerBd(ByVal cerData As BinData) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.70

Exports the digital certificate in ASN.1 DER format to a BinData object.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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ExportCertDerFile
Function ExportCertDerFile(ByVal path As String) As Boolean

Exports the digital certificate to ASN.1 DER format binary file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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ExportCertPem
Function ExportCertPem() As String

Exports the digital certificate to an unencrypted PEM formatted string.

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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ExportCertPemFile
Function ExportCertPemFile(ByVal path As String) As Boolean

Exports the digital certificate to an unencrypted PEM formatted file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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ExportCertXml
Function ExportCertXml() As String

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.)

Returns Nothing on failure

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ExportPrivateKey
Function ExportPrivateKey() As PrivateKey

Exports the certificate's private key.

Returns Nothing on failure

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ExportPublicKey
Function ExportPublicKey() As PublicKey

Exports the certificate's public key.

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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ExportToPfxBd
Function ExportToPfxBd(ByVal password As String, ByVal includeCertChain As Boolean, ByVal pfxData As BinData) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.70

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 for success, False for failure.

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ExportToPfxData
Function ExportToPfxData(ByVal password As String, ByVal includeCertChain As Boolean) As Byte()
Introduced in version 9.5.0.31

Exports the certificate and private key (if available) to an in-memory PFX image. 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 an empty byte array on failure

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ExportToPfxFile
Function ExportToPfxFile(ByVal pfxFilename As String, ByVal pfxPassword As String, ByVal bIncludeCertChain As Boolean) As Boolean

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 for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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FindIssuer
Function FindIssuer() As Cert

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 Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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GetCertChain
Function GetCertChain() As CertChain
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Returns a certficate chain object 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: Prior to v9.5.0.50, this method would fail if the certificate chain could not be completed to the root. Starting in v9.5.0.50, the incomplete certificate chain will be returned. 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.

  1. Current-User "CA" Certificate Store
  2. Local-Machine "CA" Certificate Store
  3. Current-User "Root" Certificate Store
  4. Local-Machine "Root" Certificate Store
  5. Current-User "MY" Certificate Store
  6. Local-Machine "MY" Certificate Store
  7. Current-User "ADDRESSBOOK" Certificate Store (if it exists)
  8. Local-Machine "ADDRESSBOOK" Certificate Store (if it exists)

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetEncoded
Function GetEncoded() As String

Returns a base64 encoded string representation of the certificate's binary DER format, which can be passed to SetFromEncoded to recreate the certificate object.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetExtensionAsText
Function GetExtensionAsText(ByVal oid As String) As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.89

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..

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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GetExtensionAsXml
Function GetExtensionAsXml(ByVal oid As String) As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.49

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.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetPrivateKeyPem
Function GetPrivateKeyPem() As String

Exports the certificate's private key to a PEM string (if the private key is available).

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSpkiFingerprint
Function GetSpkiFingerprint(ByVal hashAlg As String, ByVal encoding As String) As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.55

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.

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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GetSubjectPart
Function GetSubjectPart(ByVal partNameOrOid As String) As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.85

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".

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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GetValidFromDt
Function GetValidFromDt() As CkDateTime

Returns the date/time this certificate becomes (or became) valid.

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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GetValidToDt
Function GetValidToDt() As CkDateTime

Returns the date/time this certificate becomes (or became) invalid.

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples
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HashOf
Function HashOf(ByVal part As String, ByVal hashAlg As String, ByVal encoding As String) As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.75

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.

Returns Nothing on failure

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HasPrivateKey
Function HasPrivateKey() As Boolean

Returns True if a private key associated with the certificate is available.

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LoadByCommonName
Function LoadByCommonName(ByVal cn As String) As Boolean

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) Searches the Windows Local Machine and Current User registry-based certificate stores for a certificate having the common name specified. If found, the certificate is loaded and ready for use.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadByEmailAddress
Function LoadByEmailAddress(ByVal emailAddress As String) As Boolean

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) Searches the Windows Local Machine and Current User registry-based certificate stores for a certificate containing the email address specified. If found, the certificate is loaded and ready for use.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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LoadByIssuerAndSerialNumber
Function LoadByIssuerAndSerialNumber(ByVal issuerCN As String, ByVal serialNumber As String) As Boolean

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) Searches the Windows Local Machine and Current User registry-based certificate stores for a certificate matching the issuerCN and having an issuer matching the serialNumber. If found, the certificate is loaded and ready for use.

Note: The hex serial number should be uppercase. Starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.88, the hex serial number is case-insensitive.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadBySubjectOid
Function LoadBySubjectOid(ByVal oid As String, ByVal value As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.85

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) Searches the Windows Local Machine and Current User registry-based certificate stores for a certificate containing a subject part matching the oid and value.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadByThumbprint
Function LoadByThumbprint(ByVal thumbprint As String, ByVal encoding As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.83

(Relevant only when running on a Microsoft Windows operating system.) Searches the Windows Local Machine and Current User registry-based certificate stores for a certificate having an MD5 or SHA1 thumbprint equal to the thumbprint. The hash (i.e. thumbprint) is passed as a string using the encoding specified by encoding (such as "base64", "hex", etc.).

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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LoadFromBase64
Function LoadFromBase64(ByVal encodedCert As String) As Boolean

Loads an ASN.1 or DER encoded certificate represented in a Base64 string.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadFromBd
Function LoadFromBd(ByVal certBytes As BinData) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.70

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 for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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LoadFromBinary
Function LoadFromBinary(ByVal data As Byte()) As Boolean

Loads an X.509 certificate from ASN.1 DER encoded bytes.

Note: The data 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 for success, False for failure.

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LoadFromFile
Function LoadFromFile(ByVal path As String) As Boolean

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 for success, False for failure.

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LoadFromSmartcard
Function LoadFromSmartcard(ByVal csp As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

Starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.87, the csp can be a string that specifies the certificate to be loaded by either Subject Common Name (CN) or hex serial number. For example, instead of passing a CSP name, your application would pass a string such as "CN=The cert subject common name" or "serial=01020304". See the linked examples below. If a certificate is specified by CN or Serial, then each connected smartcard and USB token is searched for the matching certificate. If the certificate is found, it is loaded and this method returns True.

Otherwise, this method loads the X.509 certificate from the smartcard currently in the reader, or from a USB token.

If the smartcard contains multiple certificates, this method arbitrarily picks one.

If the csp does not begin with "CN=" or "serial=", then 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"

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadPem
Function LoadPem(ByVal strPem As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.49

Loads the certificate from a PEM string.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadPfxBd
Function LoadPfxBd(ByVal pfxData As BinData, ByVal password As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.70

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 for success, False for failure.

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LoadPfxData
Function LoadPfxData(ByVal pfxData As Byte(), ByVal password As String) As Boolean

Loads a PFX from an in-memory image of a PFX file. Note: If the PFX contains multiple certificates, the 1st certificate in the PFX is loaded.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadPfxFile
Function LoadPfxFile(ByVal pfxPath As String, ByVal password As String) As Boolean

Loads a PFX file. Note: If the PFX contains multiple certificates, the 1st certificate in the PFX is loaded.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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PemFileToDerFile
Function PemFileToDerFile(ByVal fromPath As String, ByVal toPath As String) As Boolean

Converts a PEM file to a DER file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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SaveToFile
Function SaveToFile(ByVal path As String) As Boolean

Saves a certificate object to a .cer file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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SetFromEncoded
Function SetFromEncoded(ByVal encodedCert As String) As Boolean

Initializes the certificate object from a base64 encoded string representation of the certificate's binary DER format.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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SetPrivateKey
Function SetPrivateKey(ByVal privKey As PrivateKey) As Boolean

Used to associate a private key with the certificate for subsequent (PKCS7) signature creation or decryption.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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SetPrivateKeyPem
Function SetPrivateKeyPem(ByVal privKeyPem As String) As Boolean

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 for success, False for failure.

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UseCertVault
Function UseCertVault(ByVal vault As XmlCertVault) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

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 for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
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VerifySignature
Function VerifySignature() As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

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.

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X509PKIPathv1
Function X509PKIPathv1() As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

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.)

Returns Nothing on failure

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