XmlCertVault B4X (B4A / B4J) Reference Documentation

ChilkatXmlCertVault

Current Version: 11.6.0

Chilkat.XmlCertVault

Collect certificates, certificate chains, PEM data, and PFX private keys in an XML vault.

Chilkat.XmlCertVault stores certificates and private-key material in a portable XML-based certificate vault. It can add individual certificates, certificate chains, DER or encoded certificates, PEM files, certificate strings, and PFX/PKCS12 data from files, memory, encoded text, or existing Chilkat objects. The vault can then be exported as XML, loaded from XML, or saved to an XML file for later reuse by other Chilkat certificate and TLS workflows.

Add certificates

Add certificates from Cert objects, files, PEM strings, binary DER bytes, or encoded data such as Base64 or hex.

Add certificate chains

Import an entire CertChain when related issuer and intermediate certificates should be kept together in the vault.

Add PEM content

Load PEM files containing one or more certificates and/or private keys, including encrypted PEM content when a password is supplied.

Add PFX / PKCS12

Add PFX data from a Pfx object, file, byte array, or encoded string, using the PFX password to import private-key material.

Master password protection

Use MasterPassword to protect access to private keys stored in the vault.

Load and save XML

Export the vault with GetXml, load it with LoadXml or LoadXmlFile, and persist it with SaveXml.

Common pattern: Create an XmlCertVault, set MasterPassword when the vault will contain private keys, add certificates or PFX/PEM material, then save the vault with SaveXml or keep the XML string from GetXml. Later, reload the same vault with LoadXml or LoadXmlFile and provide the same master password before using private keys.
Security note: Certificates are stored unencrypted, but private keys are stored using 256-bit AES encryption. The individual PFX passwords are also stored encrypted with the vault's MasterPassword, which is required to access any private keys contained in the XML vault.

Declare / Initialize / Dispose

Sub Process_Globals
    Private obj As ChilkatXmlCertVault
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
Initialize  /  Initialize (EventName As String)

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.

IsInitialized As Boolean

True if Initialize has been called and the native object exists.

Dispose

Explicitly frees the underlying native object. Calling Dispose is optional — every ChilkatXmlCertVault 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
' read/write
DebugLogFilePath As String

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

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

Possible causes of hangs include:

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

More Information and Examples
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LastErrorHtml
' read-only
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.

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LastErrorText
' read-only
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.

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LastErrorXml
' read-only
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.

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LastMethodSuccess
' read/write
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.

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MasterPassword
' read/write
MasterPassword As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

The master password for the vault. Certificates are stored unencrypted, but private keys are stored 256-bit AES encrypted using the individual PFX passwords. The PFX passwords are stored 256-bit AES encrypted using the master password. The master password is required to acces any of the private keys stored within the XML vault.

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VerboseLogging
' read/write
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
' read-only
Version As String

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

More Information and Examples
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Methods

AddCert
AddCert (cert As ChilkatCert) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a certificate to the XML vault.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddCertChain
AddCertChain (certChain As ChilkatCertChain) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a chain of certificates to the XML vault.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddCertEncoded
AddCertEncoded (encodedBytes As String, encoding As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a certificate to the XML vault where certificate is passed directly from encoded bytes (such as Base64, Hex, etc.). The encoding is indicated by encoding.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddCertFile
AddCertFile (path As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a certificate to the XML vault.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddCertString
AddCertString (certData As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a certificate from any string representation format such as PEM.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddPemFile
AddPemFile (path As String, password As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds the contents of a PEM file to the XML vault. The PEM file may be encrypted, and it may contain one or more certificates and/or private keys. The password is optional and only required if the PEM file contains encrypted content that requires a password.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddPfx
AddPfx (pfx As ChilkatPfx) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a PFX (PKCS12) to the XML vault.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddPfxEncoded
AddPfxEncoded (encodedBytes As String, encoding As String, password As String) As Boolean

Adds a PFX to the XML vault where PFX is passed directly from encoded bytes (such as Base64, Hex, etc.). The encoding is indicated by encoding.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddPfxFile
AddPfxFile (path As String, password As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a PFX file to the XML vault.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetXml
GetXml As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Returns the contents of the cert vault as an XML string.

Returns Null on failure

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LoadXml
LoadXml (xml As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Loads from an XML string.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LoadXmlFile
LoadXmlFile (path As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Loads from an XML file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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SaveXml
SaveXml (path As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Saves the contents to an XML file.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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