PrivateKey Lianja Reference Documentation

PrivateKey

Current Version: 10.1.0

Contains an RSA, DSA, or ECC private key. Provides methods for importing and exporting to/from PEM, DER, PKCS8, PKCS1, PVK, and XML formats. Private keys can be imported/exported to both memory and files.

Object Creation

loObject = createobject("CkPrivateKey")

Properties

BitLength
BitLength As Numeric (read-only)
Introduced in version 9.5.0.49

The bit length (strength) of the private key.

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DebugLogFilePath
DebugLogFilePath As Character

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.

More Information and Examples
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KeyType
KeyType As Character (read-only)
Introduced in version 9.5.0.52

The type of private key. Can be "empty", "rsa", "dsa", "ecc" (i.e. ECDSA), or "ed25519".

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LastErrorHtml
LastErrorHtml As Character (read-only)

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 Character (read-only)

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 Character (read-only)

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

Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of .T. indicates success, a value of .F. 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 = .T. and failure = .F..
  • 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 .T.. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.

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Pkcs8EncryptAlg
Pkcs8EncryptAlg As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.49

The encryption algorithm to be used when exporting the key to encrypted PKCS8. The default value is "3des". Possible choices also include "aes128", "aes192", and "aes256". All of the encryption algorithm choices use CBC mode.

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UncommonOptions
UncommonOptions As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

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 .T., then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is .F.. 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 Character (read-only)

Version of the component/library, such as "9.5.0.94"

More Information and Examples
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Methods

GetJwk
GetJwk() As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.66

Gets the private key in JWK (JSON Web Key) format.

RSA keys have this JWK format:

         {"kty":"RSA",
          "n":"0vx7agoebGcQ ... JzKnqDKgw",
          "e":"AQAB",
          "d":"X4cTteJY_gn4F ... 4jfcKoAC8Q",
          "p":"83i-7IvMGXoMX ... vn7O0nVbfs",
          "q":"3dfOR9cuYq-0S ... 4vIcb6yelxk",
          "dp":"G4sPXkc6Ya9 ... 8YeiKkTiBj0",
          "dq":"s9lAH9fggBso ... w494Q_cgk",
          "qi":"GyM_p6JrXySi ... zTKhAVRU"}

ECC keys have this JWK format.

         {"kty":"EC",
          "crv":"P-256",
          "x":"MKBCTNIcKUSDii11ySs3526iDZ8AiTo7Tu6KPAqv7D4",
          "y":"4Etl6SRW2YiLUrN5vfvVHuhp7x8PxltmWWlbbM4IFyM",
          "d":"870MB6gfuTJ4HtUnUvYMyJpr5eUZNP4Bk43bVdj3eAE"}

Ed25519 keys (added in v9.5.0.83) have this JWK format.

         {"kty": "OKP",
         "crv": "Ed25519",
         "x": "SE2Kne5xt51z1eciMH2T2ftDQp96Gl6FhY6zSQujiP0",
         "d": "O-eRXewadF0sNyB0U9omcnt8Qg2ZmeK3WSXPYgqe570",
         "use": "sig"}

Returns .F. on failure

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GetJwkThumbprint
GetJwkThumbprint(hashAlg As Character) As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.66

Returns the JWK thumbprint for the private key. This is the thumbprint of the JSON Web Key (JWK) as per RFC 7638.

Returns .F. on failure

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GetPkcs1ENC
GetPkcs1ENC(encoding As Character) As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.52

Gets the private key in unencrypted binary DER format, preferring PKCS1 if possible, and returns in an encoded string, as specified by the encoding argument.

RSA keys are returned in PKCS1 ASN.1 DER format:

RSAPrivateKey ::= SEQUENCE {
    version           Version,
    modulus           INTEGER,  -- n
    publicExponent    INTEGER,  -- e
    privateExponent   INTEGER,  -- d
    prime1            INTEGER,  -- p
    prime2            INTEGER,  -- q
    exponent1         INTEGER,  -- d mod (p-1)
    exponent2         INTEGER,  -- d mod (q-1)
    coefficient       INTEGER,  -- (inverse of q) mod p
    otherPrimeInfos   OtherPrimeInfos OPTIONAL
}

DSA keys are returned in this ASN.1 DER format:

SEQUENCE(6 elem)
    INTEGER 0
    INTEGER(2048 bit) (p) 
    INTEGER(160 bit) (q) 
    INTEGER(2044 bit) (g) 
    INTEGER(2040 bit) (y - public key) 
    INTEGER(156 bit) (x - private key) 

ECC keys are returned in this ASN.1 DER format:

(from RFC 5915)
ECPrivateKey ::= SEQUENCE {
    version        INTEGER { ecPrivkeyVer1(1) } (ecPrivkeyVer1),
    privateKey     OCTET STRING,
    parameters [0] ECParameters {{ NamedCurve }} OPTIONAL,
    publicKey  [1] BIT STRING OPTIONAL (This is the ANSI X9.63 public key format.)

Returns .F. on failure

More Information and Examples
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GetPkcs1Pem
GetPkcs1Pem() As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.58

Gets the private key in non-encrypted PEM format, preferring PKCS1 over PKCS8 if possible for the key type.

Returns .F. on failure

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GetPkcs8ENC
GetPkcs8ENC(encoding As Character) As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.52

Gets the private key in unencrypted PKCS8 format and returned in an encoded string, as specified by the encoding argument.

Returns .F. on failure

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GetPkcs8EncryptedENC
GetPkcs8EncryptedENC(encoding As Character, password As Character) As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.52

Writes the private key to password-protected PKCS8 format and returns as an encoded string as specified by the encoding argument. The Pkcs8EncryptAlg property controls the encryption algorithm used to encrypt.

Returns .F. on failure

More Information and Examples
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GetPkcs8EncryptedPem
GetPkcs8EncryptedPem(password As Character) As Character

Writes the private key to password-protected PKCS8 PEM format. The Pkcs8EncryptAlg property controls the encryption algorithm used to encrypt.

Returns .F. on failure

More Information and Examples
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GetPkcs8Pem
GetPkcs8Pem() As Character

Gets the private key in PKCS8 PEM format.

Returns .F. on failure

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GetPublicKey
GetPublicKey() As CkPublicKey
Introduced in version 9.5.0.52

Returns the public key portion of the private key as a public key object.

Returns .F. on failure

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GetRawHex
GetRawHex(pubKey As CkStringBuilder) As Character
Introduced in version 9.5.0.83

Returns the private key in raw hex format (lowercase). The public key is written to pubKey.

Ed25519 private and public keys are 32-byte each (64 chars in hex format).

The length of an EC key depends on the curve. The private key is a single hex string. The public key is a hex string composed of the "x" and "y" parts of the public key like this:

    04||HEX(x)||HEX(y)

Note: This method is only applicable to Ed25519 and ECDSA keys. An RSA key cannot be returned in such as simple raw format because it is composed of multiple parts (modulus, exponent, and more).

Returns .F. on failure

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GetXml
GetXml() As Character

Returns the private key in XML format. The private key is returned unencrypted and the parts are base64 encoded.

RSA keys have this XML format:

<RSAKeyValue>
  <Modulus>...</Modulus>
  <Exponent>...</Exponent>
  <P>...</P>
  <Q>...</Q>
  <DP>...</DP>
  <DQ>...</DQ>
  <InverseQ>...</InverseQ>
  <D>...</D>
</RSAKeyValue>

DSA keys have this XML format:

<DSAKeyValue>
	<P>...</P>
	<Q>...</Q>
	<G>...</G>
	<Y>...</Y>
	<X>...</X>
</DSAKeyValue>

ECC keys have this XML format. The CURVE_NAME could be one of secp256r1, secp384r1, secp521r1, secp256k1 (or others as new curves are supported.)

<ECCKeyValue curve="CURVE_NAME">...</ECCKeyValue>

Returns .F. on failure

More Information and Examples
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LoadAnyFormat
LoadAnyFormat(privKeyData As CkBinData, password As Character) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.75

Loads a private key from any format (PKCS1, PKCS8, PEM, JWK, PVK, etc.). The contents of the key (binary or text) is passed in privKeyData. The password is optional and should be specified if needed.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadAnyFormatFile
LoadAnyFormatFile(path As Character, password As Character) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.83

Loads a private key from a file in any format (PKCS1, PKCS8, PEM, JWK, PVK, etc.). The password is optional and should be specified if needed.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadEd25519
LoadEd25519(privKey As Character, pubKey As Character) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.83

Loads the private key object with an ed25519 key pair. The privKey is the 32-byte private key as a hex string. The pubKey is the 32-byte public key as a hex string. pubKey may be an empty string, in which case the public key is automatically computed from the private key.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

More Information and Examples
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LoadEncryptedPem
LoadEncryptedPem(pemStr As Character, password As Character) As Boolean

Loads the private key from an in-memory encrypted PEM string. An encrypted PEM contains the private key in encrypted PKCS#8 format, where the data begins and ends with the following tags:

-----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----
BASE64 ENCODED DATA
-----END ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----

For those requiring a deeper understanding: The base64 data contains ASN.1 DER with the following structure:

EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo ::= SEQUENCE {
  encryptionAlgorithm  EncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier,
  encryptedData        EncryptedData
}

EncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier ::= AlgorithmIdentifier

EncryptedData ::= OCTET STRING

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadEncryptedPemFile
LoadEncryptedPemFile(path As Character, password As Character) As Boolean

Loads a private key from an encrypted PEM file.

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

More Information and Examples
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LoadJwk
LoadJwk(jsonStr As Character) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.66

Loads a private key from an JWK (JSON Web Key) string.

RSA keys have this JWK format:

         {"kty":"RSA",
          "n":"0vx7agoebGcQ ... JzKnqDKgw",
          "e":"AQAB",
          "d":"X4cTteJY_gn4F ... 4jfcKoAC8Q",
          "p":"83i-7IvMGXoMX ... vn7O0nVbfs",
          "q":"3dfOR9cuYq-0S ... 4vIcb6yelxk",
          "dp":"G4sPXkc6Ya9 ... 8YeiKkTiBj0",
          "dq":"s9lAH9fggBso ... w494Q_cgk",
          "qi":"GyM_p6JrXySi ... zTKhAVRU"}

ECC keys have this JWK format.

         {"kty":"EC",
          "crv":"P-256",
          "x":"MKBCTNIcKUSDii11ySs3526iDZ8AiTo7Tu6KPAqv7D4",
          "y":"4Etl6SRW2YiLUrN5vfvVHuhp7x8PxltmWWlbbM4IFyM",
          "d":"870MB6gfuTJ4HtUnUvYMyJpr5eUZNP4Bk43bVdj3eAE"}

Ed25519 keys (added in v9.5.0.83) have this JWK format.

         {"kty": "OKP",
         "crv": "Ed25519",
         "x": "SE2Kne5xt51z1eciMH2T2ftDQp96Gl6FhY6zSQujiP0",
         "d": "O-eRXewadF0sNyB0U9omcnt8Qg2ZmeK3WSXPYgqe570",
         "use": "sig"}

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadPem
LoadPem(str As Character) As Boolean

Loads the private key from an in-memory PEM string. If the PEM contains an encrypted private key, then the LoadEncryptedPem method should instead be called. This method is for loading an unencrypted private key stored in PEM using PKCS#1 or PKCS#8.

A private key stored in PKCS#1 format begins and ends with the tags:

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
BASE64 ENCODED DATA
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

For those requiring a deeper understanding, the PKCS1 base64 contains ASN.1 in DER encoding with the following structure:

RSAPrivateKey ::= SEQUENCE {
  version           Version,
  modulus           INTEGER,  -- n
  publicExponent    INTEGER,  -- e
  privateExponent   INTEGER,  -- d
  prime1            INTEGER,  -- p
  prime2            INTEGER,  -- q
  exponent1         INTEGER,  -- d mod (p-1)
  exponent2         INTEGER,  -- d mod (q-1)
  coefficient       INTEGER,  -- (inverse of q) mod p
  otherPrimeInfos   OtherPrimeInfos OPTIONAL
}

A private key stored in PKCS#8 format begins and ends with the tags:

-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
BASE64 ENCODED DATA
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----

For those requiring a deeper understanding, the PKCS8 base64 contains ASN.1 in DER encoding with the following structure:

PrivateKeyInfo ::= SEQUENCE {
  version         Version,
  algorithm       AlgorithmIdentifier,
  PrivateKey      BIT STRING
}

AlgorithmIdentifier ::= SEQUENCE {
  algorithm       OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
  parameters      ANY DEFINED BY algorithm OPTIONAL
}

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadPemFile
LoadPemFile(path As Character) As Boolean

Loads a private key from a PEM file.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadPkcs1File
LoadPkcs1File(path As Character) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.58

Loads a private key from a PKCS1 file.

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadPkcs8EncryptedFile
LoadPkcs8EncryptedFile(path As Character, password As Character) As Boolean

Loads a private key from an encrypted PKCS8 file.

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

More Information and Examples
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LoadPkcs8File
LoadPkcs8File(path As Character) As Boolean

Loads a private key from a PKCS8 file.

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadPvkFile
LoadPvkFile(path As Character, password As Character) As Boolean

Loads a private key from a PVK format file.

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadXml
LoadXml(xml As Character) As Boolean

Loads a private key from an XML string.

RSA keys have this XML format:

<RSAKeyValue>
  <Modulus>...</Modulus>
  <Exponent>...</Exponent>
  <P>...</P>
  <Q>...</Q>
  <DP>...</DP>
  <DQ>...</DQ>
  <InverseQ>...</InverseQ>
  <D>...</D>
</RSAKeyValue>

DSA keys have this XML format:

<DSAKeyValue>
	<P>...</P>
	<Q>...</Q>
	<G>...</G>
	<Y>...</Y>
	<X>...</X>
</DSAKeyValue>

ECC keys have this XML format. The CURVE_NAME could be one of secp256r1, secp384r1, secp521r1, secp256k1 (or others as new curves are supported.)

<ECCKeyValue curve="CURVE_NAME">...</ECCKeyValue>

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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LoadXmlFile
LoadXmlFile(path As Character) As Boolean

Loads a private key from an XML file.

Note: Each of the private key Load* methods willl auto-recognize the content and will parse appropriately. The private key should be successfully loaded even when the wrong format data is passed to the wrong method.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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SavePemFile
SavePemFile(path As Character) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.58

Saves the private key to an unencrypted PKCS1 PEM format file.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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SavePkcs1File
SavePkcs1File(path As Character) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.58

Saves the private key to an unencrypted binary PKCS1 format file.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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SavePkcs8EncryptedFile
SavePkcs8EncryptedFile(password As Character, path As Character) As Boolean

Saves the private key to a password-protected PKCS8 format file. The Pkcs8EncryptAlg property controls the encryption algorithm used to encrypt.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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SavePkcs8EncryptedPemFile
SavePkcs8EncryptedPemFile(password As Character, path As Character) As Boolean

Saves the private key to a password-protected PKCS8 PEM format file. The Pkcs8EncryptAlg property controls the encryption algorithm used to encrypt.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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SavePkcs8File
SavePkcs8File(path As Character) As Boolean

Saves the private key to an unencrypted binary PKCS8 format file.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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SavePkcs8PemFile
SavePkcs8PemFile(path As Character) As Boolean

Saves the private key to a PKCS8 PEM format file.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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SaveXmlFile
SaveXmlFile(path As Character) As Boolean

Saves the private key to an XML file.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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UploadToCloud
UploadToCloud(jsonIn As CkJsonObject, jsonOut As CkJsonObject) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

This is an open-ended method to accomodate uploading the private key to a cloud service, such as AWS KMS, or Azure Key Vault. For details, see the examples below.

Returns .T. for success, .F. for failure.

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UploadToCloudAsync (1)
UploadToCloudAsync(jsonIn As CkJsonObject, jsonOut As CkJsonObject) As CkTask
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

Creates an asynchronous task to call the UploadToCloud method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)

Returns .F. on failure

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