Secrets VB.NET Reference Documentation

Secrets

Current Version: 10.1.0

Provides a unified API for managing secrets stored in the following locations:

  • Windows Credentials Manager
  • Apple Keychain
  • AWS Secrets Manager
  • Azure Key Vault
  • IBM Cloud Secrets Manager
  • Oracle Cloud Secrets
  • Doppler Secrets
  • In-Memory Secrets

Object Creation

Dim obj As New Chilkat.Secrets()

Properties

AutoSplit
AutoSplit As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

The AutoSplit property is specific to "local_manager" secrets on Windows. The Windows Credentials Manager supports a maximum of 2560 bytes per secret. If a secret exceeds this size, it will be automatically compressed and split when created or updated, and automatically recomposed when retrieved.

A secret can be split into a maximum of 10 parts.

The default value is True.

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Compression
Compression As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

If set to True, then the contents of the secret will be stored compressed. The default value of this property is False.

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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.

More Information and Examples
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LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As String (ReadOnly)

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
LastErrorText As String (ReadOnly)

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
LastErrorXml As String (ReadOnly)

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
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.

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Location
Location As String
Introduced in version 10.1.0

The location of the secrets. Possible values are:

  • "local_manager" - On Windows this is the Credentials Manager. On MacOS and iOS it is the Keychain. This is not yet an option on Linux or Android.
  • "aws_secrets_manager" - AWS Secrets Manager
  • "azure_key_vault" - Azure Key Vault
  • "ibm_cloud" - IBM Cloud Secrets Manager
  • "oracle_cloud" - Oracle Cloud Secrets
  • "doppler" - Doppler Secrets
  • "memory" - In-Memory Secrets

The default location is the "local_manager". On Linux and Android, "local_manager" will behave the same as "memory".

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UncommonOptions
UncommonOptions As String
Introduced in version 10.1.0

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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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 "10.1.0"

More Information and Examples
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Methods

DeleteSecret
Function DeleteSecret(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Deletes a secret. Cloud secrets managers will typically disable the secret and schedule the secret for deletion after some number of days.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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DeleteSecretAsync (1)
Function DeleteSecretAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the DeleteSecret method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretBd
Function GetSecretBd(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal bd As BinData) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Fetches a binary secret and returns the content in bd.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetSecretBdAsync (1)
Function GetSecretBdAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal bd As BinData) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the GetSecretBd method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretJson
Function GetSecretJson(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal jsonOut As JsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Fetches a JSON secret and returns the content in jsonOut.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetSecretJsonAsync (1)
Function GetSecretJsonAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal jsonOut As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the GetSecretJson method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretSb
Function GetSecretSb(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Fetches a string secret and returns the content in sb.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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GetSecretSbAsync (1)
Function GetSecretSbAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the GetSecretSb method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretStr
Function GetSecretStr(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject) As String
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Fetches a string secret and returns the content of the secret.

Returns Nothing on failure

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GetSecretStrAsync (1)
Function GetSecretStrAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the GetSecretStr method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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ListSecrets
Function ListSecrets(ByVal json As JsonObject, ByVal jsonOut As JsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Lists secrets matching the wildcarded or exact values passed in json. The results of the query are returned in jsonOut.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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ListSecretsAsync (1)
Function ListSecretsAsync(ByVal json As JsonObject, ByVal jsonOut As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the ListSecrets method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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SetBootstrapSecret
Function SetBootstrapSecret(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secretContent As Secrets) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Accessing a cloud-based secrets manager requires authentication credentials, which cannot be stored in the manager itself. Instead, they must be securely stored locally.

One solution is to store the authentication credentials as a secret in the Windows Credentials Manager or Apple Keychain. These credentials serve as the "bootstrap secret" for authenticating with the cloud-based secrets manager.

jsonId contains the name of the bootstrap secret. secretContent contains the bootstrap's secret content.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretBd
Function UpdateSecretBd(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As BinData) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates a binary secret if it does not yet exist, or updates an existing secret. The name of the secret is specified in jsonId, and the binary content of the secret in secret.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretBdAsync (1)
Function UpdateSecretBdAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As BinData) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UpdateSecretBd method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UpdateSecretJson
Function UpdateSecretJson(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As JsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates a JSON secret if it does not yet exist, or updates an existing secret. The name of the secret is specified in jsonId, and the JSON content of the secret in secret.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretJsonAsync (1)
Function UpdateSecretJsonAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As JsonObject) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UpdateSecretJson method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UpdateSecretSb
Function UpdateSecretSb(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates a string secret if it does not yet exist, or updates an existing secret. The name of the secret is specified in jsonId, and the string content of the secret in sb.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretSbAsync (1)
Function UpdateSecretSbAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal sb As StringBuilder) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UpdateSecretSb method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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UpdateSecretStr
Function UpdateSecretStr(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates a string secret if it does not yet exist, or updates an existing secret. The name of the secret is specified in jsonId, and the string content of the secret in secret.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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UpdateSecretStrAsync (1)
Function UpdateSecretStrAsync(ByVal jsonId As JsonObject, ByVal secret As String) As Task
Introduced in version 10.1.0

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UpdateSecretStr method with the arguments provided.

Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.

Returns Nothing on failure

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Events

AbortCheck
Event OnAbortCheck

Provides the opportunity for a method call to be aborted. The AbortCheck event is fired periodically based on the value of the HeartbeatMs property. If HeartbeatMs is 0, then no AbortCheck events will fire. As an example, to fire 5 AbortCheck events per second, set the HeartbeatMs property equal to 200.

Args are passed using Chilkat.AbortCheckEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents secrets As Chilkat.Secrets

Private Sub secrets_OnAbortCheck(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.AbortCheckEventArgs) Handles secrets.OnAbortCheck

    ...

End Sub
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PercentDone
Event OnPercentDone

Provides the percentage completed for any method that involves network communications or time-consuming processing (assuming it is a method where a percentage completion can be measured). This event is only fired when it is possible to know a percentage completion, and when it makes sense to express the operation as a percentage completed. The pctDone argument will have a value from 1 to 100. For operations (Chilkat method calls) that complete very quickly, the number of PercentDone callbacks will vary, but the final callback should have a value of 100. For long running operations, no more than one callback per percentage point will occur (for example: 1, 2, 3, ... 98, 99, 100).

The PercentDone callback counts as an AbortCheck event. For method calls that complete quickly such that PercentDone events fire, it may be that AbortCheck events don't fire because the opportunity to abort is already provided in the PercentDone callback. For time consuming operations, where the amount of time between PercentDone callbacks are long, AbortCheck callbacks may be used to allow for the operation to be aborted in a more responsive manner.

The abort output argument provides a means for aborting the operation. Setting it to True will cause the method to abort and return a failed status (or whatever return value indicates failure).

Args are passed using Chilkat.PercentDoneEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents secrets As Chilkat.Secrets

Private Sub secrets_OnPercentDone(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.PercentDoneEventArgs) Handles secrets.OnPercentDone

    ...

End Sub
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ProgressInfo
Event OnProgressInfo

A general name/value event that provides information about what is happening during a method call. To find out what information is available, write code to handle this event and log the name/value pairs. Most are self-explanatory.

Args are passed using Chilkat.ProgressInfoEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents secrets As Chilkat.Secrets

Private Sub secrets_OnProgressInfo(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.ProgressInfoEventArgs) Handles secrets.OnProgressInfo

    ...

End Sub
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TaskCompleted
Event OnTaskCompleted

Called in the background thread when an asynchronous task completes.

More Information and Examples

Args are passed using Chilkat.TaskCompletedEventArgs

Event callback implementation:

Dim WithEvents secrets As Chilkat.Secrets

Private Sub secrets_OnTaskCompleted(sender As Object, args As Chilkat.TaskCompletedEventArgs) Handles secrets.OnTaskCompleted

    ...

End Sub
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