XmlCertVault SQL Server Reference Documentation

XmlCertVault

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.

Object Creation

DECLARE @hr int
DECLARE @xmlCertVault int
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.XmlCertVault', @xmlCertVault OUT
IF @hr <> 0
BEGIN
    PRINT 'Failed to create ActiveX component'
    RETURN
END

-- ... use @xmlCertVault ...

EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @xmlCertVault

T-SQL uses the Chilkat ActiveX through the OLE Automation stored procedures. They must be enabled once on the server (EXEC sp_configure 'Ole Automation Procedures', 1; RECONFIGURE;), and the Chilkat ActiveX registered must match the bitness of the SQL Server instance (64-bit for a 64-bit SQL Server). To bind to a specific major version of Chilkat, append the major version number to the ProgID, such as sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.XmlCertVault.11' for Chilkat v11.*.*.

sp_OACreate returns an object token (an int) that is passed as the first argument of every sp_OAMethod, sp_OAGetProperty and sp_OASetProperty call, and released with sp_OADestroy. Objects returned by methods (such as an HttpResponse or JsonObject) are also tokens received through an int OUT parameter; they must likewise be destroyed, and the OUT parameter is NULL when the method fails to return an object. Objects passed as arguments are passed by their token. When an OLE Automation procedure itself fails (non-zero @hr), sp_OAGetErrorInfo describes the error.

Data types: strings are nvarchar(4000); integers, booleans (1 or 0) and object tokens are int; dates are datetime. In the signatures on this page, @success, @iResult, @sResult and the like are the OUT variables receiving a method's return value, @iValue / @sValue receive or supply a property value, and the remaining @ variables are the method's arguments in order.

A string returned through an OUT parameter is limited to 4000 characters. For longer values, retrieve the result as a result set into a table variable instead of an OUT parameter, for example DECLARE @tmp TABLE (outputLine ntext) followed by INSERT INTO @tmp EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastErrorText'. See string length limitations for strings returned by sp_OAMethod calls.

Methods that pass or return raw byte arrays are not shown on this page, because varbinary(max) values cannot be exchanged through sp_OAMethod (see varbinary(max) limitation). Use the BinData-based alternatives (methods ending in Bd) or the base64 / hex string-encoded variants instead. Binary properties (such as LastBinaryResult) can be retrieved as a result set into a table variable, as shown in their signatures. Asynchronous (*Async) methods and event callbacks are not available from SQL Server.

Properties

DebugLogFilePath
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'DebugLogFilePath', @sValue OUT
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'DebugLogFilePath', @sValue

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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LastBinaryResult
INSERT INTO @tmp EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastBinaryResult'

This property is mainly used in SQL Server stored procedures to retrieve binary data from the last method call that returned binary data. It is only accessible if Chilkat.Global.KeepBinaryResult is set to 1. This feature allows for the retrieval of large varbinary results in an SQL Server environment, which has restrictions on returning large data via method calls, though temp tables can handle binary properties.

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LastErrorHtml
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastErrorHtml', @sValue OUT

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
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastErrorText', @sValue OUT

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
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastErrorXml', @sValue OUT

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
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastMethodSuccess', @iValue OUT
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastMethodSuccess', @iValue

Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: 1 means success, 0 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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LastStringResult
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastStringResult', @sValue OUT

In SQL Server stored procedures, this property holds the string return value of the most recent method call that returns a string. It is accessible only when Chilkat.Global.KeepStringResult is set to TRUE. SQL Server has limitations on string lengths returned from methods and properties, but temp tables can be used to access large strings.

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LastStringResultLen
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'LastStringResultLen', @iValue OUT

The length, in characters, of the string contained in the LastStringResult property.

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MasterPassword
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'MasterPassword', @sValue OUT
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'MasterPassword', @sValue
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
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'VerboseLogging', @iValue OUT
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'VerboseLogging', @iValue

If set to 1, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is 0. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

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Version
EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @xmlCertVault, 'Version', @sValue OUT

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

More Information and Examples
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Methods

AddCert
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddCert', @success OUT, @cert
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a certificate to the XML vault.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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AddCertChain
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddCertChain', @success OUT, @certChain
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a chain of certificates to the XML vault.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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AddCertEncoded
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddCertEncoded', @success OUT, @encodedBytes, @encoding
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 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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AddCertFile
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddCertFile', @success OUT, @path
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a certificate to the XML vault.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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AddCertString
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddCertString', @success OUT, @certData
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

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

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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AddPemFile
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddPemFile', @success OUT, @path, @password
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 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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AddPfx
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddPfx', @success OUT, @pfx
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a PFX (PKCS12) to the XML vault.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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AddPfxEncoded
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddPfxEncoded', @success OUT, @encodedBytes, @encoding, @password

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 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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AddPfxFile
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'AddPfxFile', @success OUT, @path, @password
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a PFX file to the XML vault.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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GetXml
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'GetXml', @sResult OUT
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
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'LoadXml', @success OUT, @xml
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Loads from an XML string.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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LoadXmlFile
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'LoadXmlFile', @success OUT, @path
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Loads from an XML file.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SaveXml
EXEC sp_OAMethod @xmlCertVault, 'SaveXml', @success OUT, @path
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Saves the contents to an XML file.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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