SecureString B4X (B4A / B4J) Reference Documentation
ChilkatSecureString
Current Version: 11.6.0
Chilkat.SecureString
Store sensitive text in a form that is decrypted only when needed for
access, modification, comparison, or hashing.
Append clear-text strings,
Set
Set
Retrieve the current hash value in an encoding such as hex or Base64, or
verify a supplied encoded hash with
Compare two secure strings with Store, append, compare, hash, verify, and securely access sensitive string values.
Chilkat.SecureString holds sensitive text in an encrypted
in-memory form while still allowing controlled operations on the value. It
can append clear-text strings, append text from a
StringBuilder, append another SecureString, load
text from a file, return the clear-text value when needed, compare secure
strings, mark the value read-only, maintain a hash of the current value, and
verify a supplied hash against that maintained value.
Encrypted in-memory value
Append safely
StringBuilder content, or another
SecureString; the value is then re-encrypted.
Read-only protection
ReadOnly to prevent later modification of the secure
string.
Hash maintenance
MaintainHash to a supported hash algorithm such as
sha256, sha512, sha1, or
md5.
Hash output and verification
VerifyHash.
Compare and access
SecStrEquals, or call
Access when the clear-text value is required.
SecureString, load or append the sensitive text, set
MaintainHash if later verification is needed, and optionally set
ReadOnly after the final value is established. Use
Access only at the point where the clear-text string is actually
needed, and check LastErrorText if an append, file load, hash,
or verification operation fails.
VerifyHash depends on MaintainHash having already
been set so the object maintains an internal hash for the current secure
string value.
Declare / Initialize / Dispose
Sub Process_Globals
Private obj As ChilkatSecureString
End Sub
' Call Initialize before first use -- typically in AppStart (B4J)
' or Activity_Create (B4A):
obj.Initialize ' classes without events
obj.Initialize("evt") ' classes with events: "evt" becomes the
' prefix of event Subs such as evt_PercentDone
Creates the underlying native Chilkat object. Classes that support events take an EventName argument: it becomes the prefix of the event Subs (<EventName>_AbortCheck, <EventName>_PercentDone, <EventName>_ProgressInfo); classes without events take no arguments. The native Chilkat library loads automatically on the first Initialize — from the APK on Android, or extracted from ChilkatB4J.jar on Windows/Linux/macOS.
True if Initialize has been called and the native object exists.
Explicitly frees the underlying native object. Calling Dispose is optional — every ChilkatSecureString is also freed automatically when garbage-collected — but is recommended for long-lived objects holding sockets, sessions, or large buffers. A disposed object can be re-Initialized.
Properties
DebugLogFilePath
DebugLogFilePath As String
If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.
Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.
Possible causes of hangs include:
- A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
- A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
- An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.
LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String
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
LastErrorText As String
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
LastErrorXml As String
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
LastMethodSuccess As Boolean
Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: True means success, False means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. 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.
MaintainHash
MaintainHash As String
If set to the name of a hash algorithm, then a hash of the current string value is maintained. This allows for the hash to be verified via the VerifyHash method. Possible hash algorithm names are sha1, sha256, sha384, sha512, md5, md2, ripemd160, ripemd128,ripemd256, and ripemd320.
ReadOnly
ReadOnly As Boolean
Can be set to True to make this secure string read-only (cannot be modified).
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.
Version
Version As String
Methods
Access
Append
Appends a clear-text string to this secure string. The in-memory data will be decrypted, the string will be appended, and then it will be re-encrypted. Can return False if the string has been marked as read-only via the ReadOnly property.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAppendSb
Appends a clear-text string contained in a StringBuilder to this secure string. The in-memory data will be decrypted, the string will be appended, and then it will be re-encrypted. Can return False if the string has been marked as read-only via the ReadOnly property.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAppendSecure
Appends the contents of a secure string to this secure string. The in-memory data will be decrypted, the secure string will be appended, and then it will be re-encrypted. Can return False if this string has been marked as read-only via the ReadOnly property.
HashVal
Returns the hash value for the current value of this secure string. The encoding specifies the encoding to be used. It can be any of the binary encoding algorithms, such as base64, hex, and many more listed at Chilkat Binary Encodings
Returns Null on failure
LoadFile
Loads the contents of a file into this secure string. The current contents of this object are replaced with the new text from the file.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topSecStrEquals
Returns True if the secStr equals the contents of this secure string.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topVerifyHash
Verifies the hashVal against the hash value stored for the current value of this secure string. The MaintainHash property must've previously been set for this secure string to maintain an internal hash. The encoding specifies the encoding of the hashVal. It can be any of the binary encoding algorithms, such as base64, hex, and many more listed at Chilkat Binary Encodings
Returns True for success, False for failure.
top