SMIME Class

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The S/MIME class implements the S/MIME standard for encryption and decryption with public key cryptography and X.509 digital certificates.

Syntax

ipworkssmime.Smime

Remarks

The S/MIME class implements the S/MIME V3 standard for encryption and decryption using Public Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS). In addition, the class can be used to both generate and verify RSA digital signatures. Using this class for decrypting or signing requires a valid digital certificate with a private key.

Before performing an operation the input and output values should be specified.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

Signing

To sign the current data included in the input message with a certificate, the Certificate property must be set to a valid Certificate object for the signing certificate. The IncludeCertificate and DetachedSignature properties allow you to specify additional details about the signing process. By setting IncludeCertificate to True, digital certificates can be encoded and included in message signature when signing the document. Including a certificate is the preferred method of building signed messages. In addition the S/MIME class can also generate PKCS #7 formatted detached digital signatures and envelopes by specifying DetachedSignature.

Encrypting

To encrypt a message with the class in a PKCS envelope, you must first specify the Certificate for each recipient in the RecipientCerts collection to encrypt the message with. You can easily add these with the AddRecipientCert method. Once you have done this you can call the Encrypt method to encrypt the message with the recipient certificates.

In addition, the class allows you to sign and encrypt simultaneously with the SignAndEncrypt method. You must set all of the properties needed for both Sign and Encrypt

The result of the encrypted or signed data will be replaced in the OutputMessage property and the OutputMessageHeaders property will be filled with the appropriate mime headers if applicable.

Decrypting

Decrypting PKCS envelopes is handled with the Decrypt method. When this method is called, the class will attempt to find an appropriate certificate in the Certificate property that matches the encrypting certificate. If it cannot find an appropriate certificate, an exception will be thrown and the message will not be decrypted.

Verifying Signatures

In addition, the S/MIME class can be used to verify signatures included in signed messages or documents. After specifying the input, VerifySignature can then be used to verify the signature. If the message does not have a certificate attached, more then likely an exception will be thrown and the class will not be able to verify the signature. If VerifySignature is successful, the SignerCert and SignerCertChain properties will be filled with the certificate information of the message signer. This information can be used to verify the signing certificates.

Similar to SignAndEncrypt, DecryptAndVerifySignature can be used to both decrypt and verify the message in Message.

Property List

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The following is the full list of the properties of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Method List

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The following is the full list of the methods of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Event List

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The following is the full list of the events fired by the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Config Settings

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The following is a list of config settings for the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Certificate Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes the current selected certificate.

Syntax

public Certificate getCertificate();


public void setCertificate(Certificate certificate);

Remarks

This property is populated when a specified certificate is found or loaded by the class. This property is used to specify private keys. Set this property to a valid Certificate object to perform different operations, such as Sign, Decrypt, SignAndEncrypt, or DecryptAndVerifySignature.

Please refer to the Certificate type for a complete list of fields.

DetachedSignature Property (SMIME Class)

This property specifies whether to include a detached signature when signing a message.

Syntax

public boolean isDetachedSignature();


public void setDetachedSignature(boolean detachedSignature);

Default Value

True

Remarks

This property specifies whether to include a detached signature when signing a message. If the value of this property is True, Message will be encoded as a multipart/signed MIME message with a detached signature when calling Sign. This will create a message with two MIME parts, one with the contents of Message, and another with the detached signature.

If this property is False, the current contents of Message will be PKCS encoded and included with the signature in Message. This will create a single-part message with no MIME boundaries.

EncryptingAlgorithm Property (SMIME Class)

The property includes textual description of the encrypting algorithm.

Syntax

public String getEncryptingAlgorithm();


public void setEncryptingAlgorithm(String encryptingAlgorithm);

Default Value

"3DES"

Remarks

This property contains either the name of the algorithm (such as 3DES or AES), or an object identifier (OID) string representing the algorithm.

Possible values are as follows:

• "3DES"
• "DES"
• "RC2CBC40"
• "RC2CBC64"
• "RC2CBC128" or "RC2"
• "AESCBC128" or "AES"
• "AESCBC192"
• "AESCBC256"
• "AESGCM128" or "AESGCM"
• "AESGCM192"
• "AESGCM256"

IncludeCertificate Property (SMIME Class)

This property specifies whether to include the signer's certificate with the signed message.

Syntax

public boolean isIncludeCertificate();


public void setIncludeCertificate(boolean includeCertificate);

Default Value

True

Remarks

If this property is set to True, the certificate used to sign the message will be encoded and included in a message signature when calling Sign or SignAndEncrypt.

Including a certificate is the preferred method of building signed messages. If you do not include a certificate, the message recipient may not be able to verify the sender's signature.

IncludeChain Property (SMIME Class)

This property specifies whether to include the signer's certificate chain with the signed message.

Syntax

public boolean isIncludeChain();


public void setIncludeChain(boolean includeChain);

Default Value

False

Remarks

If this property is set to True, the entire certificate's chain that was used to sign the message will be encoded and included in the message signature when calling Sign or SignAndEncrypt.

Note: To include the chain, the IncludeCertificate property must also be set to true.

IncludeHeaders Property (SMIME Class)

This property tells the class whether to include the headers when encoding the message.

Syntax

public boolean isIncludeHeaders();


public void setIncludeHeaders(boolean includeHeaders);

Default Value

False

Remarks

If True, the class will include the headers when Sign, Encrypt, or SignAndEncrypt are called. If False, only the message will be encoded.

The default value for IncludeHeaders is False.

InputFile Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes the file to process.

Syntax

public String getInputFile();


public void setInputFile(String inputFile);

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property specifies the file to be processed. Set this property to the full or relative path to the file that will be processed.

Encrypt and/or Sign

When encrypting or signing, this may be set to a file containing content that will be encrypted and/or signed.

Decrypt and/or Verify

When decrypting or verifying a signature, this may be set to a file containing the fully encoded S/MIME message.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

InputMessage Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes the message to process.

Syntax

public byte[] getInputMessage();


public void setInputMessage(byte[] inputMessage);

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property specifies the message to be processed.

Encrypt and/or Sign

When encrypting or signing, this may be set to the content that will be encrypted and/or signed.

Decrypt and/or Verify

When decrypting or verifying a signature, this may be set to the fully encoded S/MIME message.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

InputMessageHeaders Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes a collection of headers from the S/MIME message.

Syntax

public HeaderList getInputMessageHeaders();


public void setInputMessageHeaders(HeaderList inputMessageHeaders);

Remarks

This property contains a collection of headers from the S/MIME message.

This property may be set to the headers of the message that will be decrypted/verified.

This property is not available at design time.

Please refer to the Header type for a complete list of fields.

InputMessageHeadersString Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes the string version of headers from the S/MIME message.

Syntax

public String getInputMessageHeadersString();


public void setInputMessageHeadersString(String inputMessageHeadersString);

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property contains the string version of headers from the S/MIME message.

This property may be set to the headers of the message that will be decrypted/verified.

InternalHeaders Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes the headers of the MIME entity inside the encrypted or signed message.

Syntax

public String getInternalHeaders();


public void setInternalHeaders(String internalHeaders);

Default Value

""

Remarks

After an encryption, decryption, signing, or verification operation is completed, this property shows the headers of the encrypted or signed message part.

This property is not available at design time.

MessageEncrypted Property (SMIME Class)

This property specifies whether or not the current message is encrypted.

Syntax

public boolean isMessageEncrypted();

Default Value

False

Remarks

This property indicates whether or not the current message is encrypted. This property will return True if the current message appears to be encrypted, according to the value of MessageHeaders.

This property is read-only.

MessageSigned Property (SMIME Class)

This property specifies whether or not the current message is signed.

Syntax

public boolean isMessageSigned();

Default Value

False

Remarks

This property indicates whether or not the current message is signed. This property will return True if the current message appears to be signed, according to the value of MessageHeaders.

Note: A message that is both signed and encrypted will not appear to be signed until after it is decrypted.

This property is read-only.

OutputFile Property (SMIME Class)

This property specifies the output file.

Syntax

public String getOutputFile();


public void setOutputFile(String outputFile);

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property specifies the file to which the output will be written. This may be set to an absolute or relative path.

Encrypt and/or Sign

When encrypting or signing, this specifies a file where the fully encoded S/MIME message will be written.

Decrypt and/or Verify

When decrypting or verifying a signature, this specifies a file where the decrypted/verified content will be written.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

OutputMessage Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes the output message after processing.

Syntax

public byte[] getOutputMessage();

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property will be populated with the output of the operation if OutputFile and SetOutputStream are not set.

Encrypt and/or Sign

When encrypting or signing, this will hold the fully encoded S/MIME message.

Decrypt and/or Verify

When decrypting or verifying a signature, this will hold the decrypted/verified content.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

This property is read-only.

OutputMessageHeaders Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes a collection of headers from the S/MIME message.

Syntax

public HeaderList getOutputMessageHeaders();

Remarks

The class will populate this property after signing and/or encrypting.

The user should use these additional headers when emailing or sending the OutputMessage. This can be done by including these headers in the OtherHeaders property of the class that you wish to send the message with.

After the decryption or verification, this property contains the headers of the verified or decrypted message.

This property is read-only and not available at design time.

Please refer to the Header type for a complete list of fields.

OutputMessageHeadersString Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes a string version of headers from the S/MIME message.

Syntax

public String getOutputMessageHeadersString();

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property contains the string version of headers from the S/MIME message. The class will populate this property after signing and/or encrypting.

The user should use these additional headers when emailing or sending the OutputMessage. This can be done by including these headers in the OtherHeaders property of the class that you wish to send the message with.

After the decryption or verification, this property contains the headers of the verified or decrypted message.

This property is read-only.

Overwrite Property (SMIME Class)

This property indicates whether or not the class should overwrite files.

Syntax

public boolean isOverwrite();


public void setOverwrite(boolean overwrite);

Default Value

True

Remarks

This property indicates whether or not the class will overwrite OutputFile. If Overwrite is False, an error will be thrown whenever OutputFile exists before an operation. The default value is False.

RecipientCerts Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes a collection of recipient certificates of the message.

Syntax

public CertificateList getRecipientCerts();


public void setRecipientCerts(CertificateList recipientCerts);

Remarks

This property is used to specify the certificates of the intended recipients of the encrypted message. This property must be set before calling Encrypt or SignAndEncrypt methods.

This property's collection must be filled out with valid public key Certificate type objects. To set a certificate, you may set the Encoded field to the encoded certificate. To select a certificate, use the Store and Subject fields.

This collection is indexed from 0 to size -1.

This property is not available at design time.

Please refer to the Certificate type for a complete list of fields.

SignerCert Property (SMIME Class)

This property contains the certificate of the message signer.

Syntax

public Certificate getSignerCert();


public void setSignerCert(Certificate signerCert);

Remarks

This property contains the certificate of the message signer. When calling VerifySignature or DecryptAndVerifySignature, this property will contain the certificate of the sender, if attached.

To verify messages without an attached certificate, set this property before calling VerifySignature or DecryptAndVerifySignature.

Please refer to the Certificate type for a complete list of fields.

SignerCertChain Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes the certificate chain of the signing certificate.

Syntax

public CertificateList getSignerCertChain();

Remarks

This property contains the certificate chain of the signing certificate. When calling VerifySignature or DecryptAndVerifySignature, this property will be populated with the certificate chain of the sender if attached.

Note: The SignerCert property will contain the signing certificate. The certificates in the signing certificate's chain will be placed in this property's collection.

This property is read-only and not available at design time.

Please refer to the Certificate type for a complete list of fields.

SigningAlgorithm Property (SMIME Class)

This property includes a textual description of the signature hash algorithm.

Syntax

public String getSigningAlgorithm();


public void setSigningAlgorithm(String signingAlgorithm);

Default Value

"SHA256"

Remarks

This property specifies the hash algorithm used to prepare the message digest for signature.

This property must contain either the name of the algorithm (such as MD5 or SHA1), or an object Id (OID) string representing the hash algorithm. Possible values are as follows:

• sha1
• md5
• sha-256 (default)
• sha-384
• sha-512
• sha-224

When read, the value of the property always contains the OID of the algorithm, or an empty string if the algorithm is unknown.

UseOAEP Property (SMIME Class)

This property specifies whether or not to use Optimal Asymmetric Encryption Padding (OAEP).

Syntax

public boolean isUseOAEP();


public void setUseOAEP(boolean useOAEP);

Default Value

False

Remarks

This property specifies whether or not to use Optimal Asymmetric Encryption Padding (OAEP). By default, this value is False and the class will use PKCS1.

To specify nondefault OAEP options, please see OAEPRSAHashAlgorithm, OAEPMGF1HashAlgorithm, and OAEPParams

UsePSS Property (SMIME Class)

This property specifies whether or not RSA-PSS will be used during signing and verification.

Syntax

public boolean isUsePSS();


public void setUsePSS(boolean usePSS);

Default Value

False

Remarks

This property specifies whether or not RSA-PSS will be used when signing and verifying messages. The default value is False.

AddRecipientCert Method (Smime Class)

This method is used to add recipient certificates used to encrypt messages.

Syntax

public void addRecipientCert(byte[] certEncoded);

Remarks

This method is used to add recipient certificates to the internal MessageRecipients collection used to encrypt the Message. The recipient certificate must be a valid PKCS-encoded certificate. If the certificate provided is Base64 encoded, it will be decoded first by the object.

The CertMgr class may be used to retrieve the appropriate certificate from the system.

CheckMessageEncrypted Method (Smime Class)

This method checks whether or not the current message is encrypted.

Syntax

public boolean checkMessageEncrypted();

Remarks

This method is used to check whether or not the current message is encrypted. This method will return True, if the current message appears to be encrypted, according to the value of OutputMessageHeaders.

CheckMessageSigned Method (Smime Class)

This method checks whether or not the current message is signed.

Syntax

public boolean checkMessageSigned();

Remarks

This method is used to check whether or not the current message is signed. This method will return True, if the current message appears to be signed, according to the value of OutputMessageHeaders.

Note: A message that is both signed and encrypted will not appear to be signed until after it is decrypted.

Config Method (Smime Class)

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

public String config(String configurationString);

Remarks

Config is a generic method available in every class. It is used to set and retrieve configuration settings for the class.

These settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

To set a configuration setting named PROPERTY, you must call Config("PROPERTY=VALUE"), where VALUE is the value of the setting expressed as a string. For boolean values, use the strings "True", "False", "0", "1", "Yes", or "No" (case does not matter).

To read (query) the value of a configuration setting, you must call Config("PROPERTY"). The value will be returned as a string.

Decrypt Method (Smime Class)

This method decrypts the current Message .

Syntax

public void decrypt();

Remarks

This method takes attempts to decrypt the encrypted message using the certificate in Certificate.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

DecryptAndVerifySignature Method (Smime Class)

This method decrypts and verifies the signature of the current message.

Syntax

public void decryptAndVerifySignature();

Remarks

This method attempts to both decrypt and verify the signature of the message. All of the properties affected by calling the Decrypt and VerifySignature methods are affected in the same manner.

Note: This function does not attempt to check the validity of the signing certificate.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

Encrypt Method (Smime Class)

This method encrypts the message.

Syntax

public void encrypt();

Remarks

This method encrypts the data specified in SetInputStream, InputFile or InputMessage in a PKCS-encoded envelope with all of the recipient certificates specified in the MessageRecipients collection.

The result of the encrypted data will be written to the stream specified by SetOutputStream, OutputFile, or OutputMessage. The OutputMessageHeaders property will be filled with the required S/MIME headers.

Note: The message headers, including the Sender, Recipient(s), and Subject, are not encrypted. If this is sensitive information, consider including these headers in the message body as a MIME entity and providing other headers for the S/MIME wrapper.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

GetRecipientInfo Method (Smime Class)

This method gets the recipient information for an encrypted message.

Syntax

public void getRecipientInfo();

Remarks

This method will fire a RecipientInfo event for every recipient certificate for which the Message has been encrypted. The event will contain information about the Issuer and the SerialNumber for each recipient of the message.

GetSignerCertInfo Method (Smime Class)

This method gets the signature information for an signed message.

Syntax

public void getSignerCertInfo();

Remarks

This method retrieves information about the certificate used to sign the message. This may be called before calling VerifySignature to determine which certificate should be loaded for verification.

When this method is called, the SignerCertInfo event fires once for each signer of the message. Use the parameters of the SignerCertInfo to determine which certificate to specify before calling VerifySignature.

Note: Use of this method is optional. If no certificate is specified before calling VerifySignature, the class will fire the SignerCertInfo and a certificate may be loaded from within the event at that time (if necessary).

Reset Method (Smime Class)

This method resets the class properties.

Syntax

public void reset();

Remarks

This method resets the values of all message and certificate properties. It is an easy way to reset the class properties before starting to populate with new values.

SetInputStream Method (Smime Class)

This method sets the stream from which the class will read data to encode or decode.

Syntax

public void setInputStream(java.io.InputStream inputStream);

Remarks

This method sets the stream from which the class will read data to encode or decode.

Encrypt and/or Sign

When encrypting or signing, this may be set to a stream with the content that will be encrypted and/or signed.

Decrypt and/or Verify

When decrypting or verifying a signature, this may be set to a stream with the fully encoded S/MIME message.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

SetOutputStream Method (Smime Class)

This method includes the stream to which the class will write the fully encoded or decoded S/MIME data.

Syntax

public void setOutputStream(java.io.OutputStream outputStream);

Remarks

This method contains the stream to which the class will write the fully encoded or decoded S/MIME data.

Encrypt and/or Sign

When encrypting or signing, this may be set to a stream where the fully encoded S/MIME message will be written.

Decrypt and/or Verify

When decrypting or verifying a signature, this may be set to a stream where the decrypted/verified content will be written.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

Sign Method (Smime Class)

This method signs the current message.

Syntax

public void sign();

Remarks

This method digitally signs the input data with the the certificate provided. Certificates are provided by specifying the Certificate property. The IncludeCertificate and DetachedSignature properties allow you to specify addition details about what to include when signing the message.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

SignAndEncrypt Method (Smime Class)

This method signs and encrypts the current message.

Syntax

public void signAndEncrypt();

Remarks

This method both signs and encrypts the input message into a single PKCS-encoded envelope. The value in DetachedSignature is ignored: the class will always generate an attached signature when calling this method. All other properties used by calling the Sign and Encrypt methods are used in the same manner.

Note: The message headers, including the Sender, Recipient(s), and Subject, are not encrypted. If this is sensitive information, consider including these headers in the message body as a MIME entity and providing other headers for the S/MIME wrapper.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

VerifySignature Method (Smime Class)

This method verifies the signature of the current message.

Syntax

public void verifySignature();

Remarks

This method attempts to verify the signature of the input message. If the message does not have a certificate attached, the class will attempt to verify the signature using the certificate supplied in SignerCert (if any). If no certificate is found, the class throws an exception.

If this method is successful, the SignerCert property will contain the certificate information of the message signer.

Note: This function does not attempt to check the validity of the signing certificate.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

• SetInputStream
• InputFile
• InputMessage

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

• SetOutputStream
• OutputFile
• OutputMessage: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

When using streams you may need to additionally set CloseInputStreamAfterProcessing or CloseOutputStreamAfterProcessing.

The headers of the input message (if any) will be read from InputMessageHeaders or InputMessageHeadersString.

The headers of the resulting message will be available in the OutputMessageHeaders and OutputMessageHeadersString properties.

Error Event (Smime Class)

Information about errors during data delivery.

Syntax

public class DefaultSmimeEventListener implements SmimeEventListener {
  ...
  public void error(SmimeErrorEvent e) {}
  ...
}

public class SmimeErrorEvent {
  public int errorCode;
  public String description;
}

Remarks

The Error event is fired in case of exceptional conditions during message processing. Normally the class throws an exception.

The ErrorCode parameter contains an error code, and the Description parameter contains a textual description of the error. For a list of valid error codes and their descriptions, please refer to the Error Codes section.

RecipientInfo Event (Smime Class)

This event is fired for each recipient certificate of the encrypted message.

Syntax

public class DefaultSmimeEventListener implements SmimeEventListener {
  ...
  public void recipientInfo(SmimeRecipientInfoEvent e) {}
  ...
}

public class SmimeRecipientInfoEvent {
  public String issuer;
  public String serialNumber;
  public String subjectKeyIdentifier;
  public String encryptionAlgorithm;
}

Remarks

When GetRecipientInfo is called on a valid encrypted message, this event will fire once for each recipient certificate that the message has been encrypted for. This may be used to identify the certificate to load.

Issuer is the subject of the issuer certificate.

SerialNumber is the serial number of the encryption certificate.

SubjectKeyIdentifier is the X.509 subjectKeyIdentifier extension value of the certificate used to sign the message encoded as a hex string.

EncryptionAlgorithm is the encryption algorithm used to encrypt the message. Possible values are as follows:

• "3DES"
• "DES"
• "RC2CBC40"
• "RC2CBC64"
• "RC2CBC128" or "RC2"
• "AESCBC128" or "AES"
• "AESCBC192"
• "AESCBC256"
• "AESGCM128" or "AESGCM"
• "AESGCM192"
• "AESGCM256"

SignerCertInfo Event (Smime Class)

This event is fired during verification of the signed message.

Syntax

public class DefaultSmimeEventListener implements SmimeEventListener {
  ...
  public void signerCertInfo(SmimeSignerCertInfoEvent e) {}
  ...
}

public class SmimeSignerCertInfoEvent {
  public String issuer;
  public String serialNumber;
  public String subjectKeyIdentifier;
  public byte[] certEncoded;
}

Remarks

During verification, this event will be raised while parsing the signer's certificate information. The parameters that are populated depend on the options used when the message was originally signed. This information may be used to select the correct certificate for SignerCert to verify the signature. The following parameters may be populated:

Issuer specifies the subject of the issuer of the certificate used to sign the message.

SerialNumber is the serial number of the certificate used to sign the message.

SubjectKeyIdentifier is the X.509 subjectKeyIdentifier extension value of the certificate used to sign the message encoded as a hex string.

CertEncoded is the PEM (Base64 encoded) public certificate needed to verify the signature.

Note: When this value is present, the class will automatically use this value to perform signature verification.

The SignerCert property may be set from within this event. In this manner, the decision of which signer certificate to load may be delayed until the parameters of this event are inspected and the correct certificate can be located and loaded.

Certificate Type

This is the digital certificate being used.

Remarks

This type describes the current digital certificate. The certificate may be a public or private key. The fields are used to identify or select certificates.

Fields

Constructors

public Certificate();

Creates a Certificate instance whose properties can be set. This is useful for use with CERTMGR when generating new certificates.

public Certificate( certificateFile);

Opens CertificateFile and reads out the contents as an X509 public key.

public Certificate( certificateData);

Parses CertificateData as an X509 public key.

public Certificate( certStoreType,  store,  storePassword,  subject);

CertStoreType identifies the type of certificate store to use. See StoreType for descriptions of the different certificate stores. Store is a file containing the certificate store. StorePassword is the password used to protect the store. After the store has been successfully opened, the class will attempt to find the certificate identified by Subject . This can be either a complete or a substring match of the X509 certificate's subject Distinguished Name (DN).

public Certificate( certStoreType,  store,  storePassword,  subject,  configurationString);

CertStoreType identifies the type of certificate store to use. See StoreType for descriptions of the different certificate stores. Store is a file containing the certificate store. StorePassword is the password used to protect the store. ConfigurationString is a newline separated list of name-value pairs that may be used to modify the default behavior. Possible values include "PersistPFXKey", which shows whether or not the PFX key is persisted after performing operations with the private key. This correlates to the PKCS12_NO_PERSIST_KEY CyrptoAPI option. The default value is True (the key is persisted). "Thumbprint" - a MD5, SHA1, or SHA256 thumbprint of the certificate to load. When specified, this value is used to select the certificate in the store. This is applicable to cstUser, cstMachine, cstPublicKeyFile, and cstPFXFile store types. "UseInternalSecurityAPI" shows whether the platform (default) or the internal security API is used when performing certificate-related operations. After the store has been successfully opened, the class will attempt to find the certificate identified by Subject . This can be either a complete or a substring match of the X509 certificate's subject Distinguished Name (DN).

public Certificate( certStoreType,  store,  storePassword,  encoded);

CertStoreType identifies the type of certificate store to use. See StoreType for descriptions of the different certificate stores. Store is a file containing the certificate store. StorePassword is the password used to protect the store. After the store has been successfully opened, the class will load Encoded as an X509 certificate and search the opened store for a corresponding private key.

public Certificate( certStoreType,  storeBlob,  storePassword,  subject);

CertStoreType identifies the type of certificate store to use. See StoreType for descriptions of the different certificate stores. StoreBlob is a string (binary- or base64-encoded) containing the certificate data. StorePassword is the password used to protect the store. After the store has been successfully opened, the class will attempt to find the certificate identified by Subject . This can be either a complete or a substring match of the X509 certificate's subject Distinguished Name (DN).

public Certificate( certStoreType,  storeBlob,  storePassword,  subject,  configurationString);

CertStoreType identifies the type of certificate store to use. See StoreType for descriptions of the different certificate stores. StoreBlob is a string (binary- or base64-encoded) containing the certificate data. StorePassword is the password used to protect the store. After the store has been successfully opened, the class will attempt to find the certificate identified by Subject . This can be either a complete or a substring match of the X509 certificate's subject Distinguished Name (DN).

public Certificate( certStoreType,  storeBlob,  storePassword,  encoded);

CertStoreType identifies the type of certificate store to use. See StoreType for descriptions of the different certificate stores. Store is a string (binary- or base64-encoded) containing the certificate store. StorePassword is the password used to protect the store. After the store has been successfully opened, the class will load Encoded as an X509 certificate and search the opened store for a corresponding private key.

Header Type

This is an HTTP header as it is received from the server.

Remarks

When a header is received through a Header event, it is parsed into a Header type. This type contains a Field, and its corresponding Value.

Fields

Constructors

public Header();

public Header( field,  value);

Config Settings (Smime Class)

The class accepts one or more of the following configuration settings. Configuration settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

SMIME Config Settings

Base Config Settings

Trappable Errors (Smime Class)

SMIME Errors

	10191   Invalid index (RecipientIndex).
	10192   Message decoding error (code).
	10193   Unexpected message type.
	10194   Unsupported hashing/signing algorithm.
	10195   The message does not have any signers.
	10196   The message signature could not be verified.
	10197   Could not locate a suitable decryption certificate.
	10198   The signer certificate could not be found.
	10199   No signing certificate was supplied for signing the message.
	10201   The specified certificate was not the one required.
	10202   The specified certificate could not be found.
	10221   Could not acquire CSP.
	10222   Type validation error.
	10223   Unsupported key size.
	10224   Unrecognized Content-Type object identifier.
	10225   Unrecognized public key format.
	10226   No choices specified.
	10228   Must specify output stream.
	10280   Invalid part index.
	10281   Unknown MIME type.
	10283   No MIME-boundary found.
	10280   Error decoding certificate.