XmlCertVault VB.NET Reference Documentation

XmlCertVault

Current Version: 11.5.0

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

Dim obj As New Chilkat.XmlCertVault()

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.

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. 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
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
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

AddCert
Function AddCert(ByVal cert As Cert) 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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AddCertBinary
Function AddCertBinary(ByVal certBytes As Byte()) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a certificate to the XML vault from any binary format, such as DER.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddCertChain
Function AddCertChain(ByVal certChain As CertChain) 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
Function AddCertEncoded(ByVal encodedBytes As String, ByVal 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
Function AddCertFile(ByVal 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
Function AddCertString(ByVal 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
Function AddPemFile(ByVal path As String, ByVal 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
Function AddPfx(ByVal pfx As Pfx) 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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AddPfxBinary
Function AddPfxBinary(ByVal pfxBytes As Byte(), ByVal password As String) As Boolean
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

Adds a PFX to the XML vault where PFX is passed directly from in-memory binary bytes.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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AddPfxEncoded
Function AddPfxEncoded(ByVal encodedBytes As String, ByVal encoding As String, ByVal 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
Function AddPfxFile(ByVal path As String, ByVal 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
Function GetXml() As String
Introduced in version 9.5.0.40

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

Returns Nothing on failure

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LoadXml
Function LoadXml(ByVal 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
Function LoadXmlFile(ByVal 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
Function SaveXml(ByVal 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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