OfficeQuickSigner Component

Properties   Methods   Events   Config Settings   Errors  

The OfficeQuickSigner component signs Office documents in a quick-and-easy manner.

Syntax

nsoftware.SecureBlackbox.Officequicksigner

Remarks

OfficeQuickSigner provides digital signing capabilities of Office documents.

Property List

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

Method List

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

Event List

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

Config Settings

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

DocumentFormat Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Defines the format of the Office document.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public OfficequicksignerDocumentFormats DocumentFormat { get; }

enum OfficequicksignerDocumentFormats {
  odfUnknown,
  odfBinary,
  odfOpenXML,
  odfOpenXPS,
  odfOpenDocument
}

Public ReadOnly Property DocumentFormat As OfficequicksignerDocumentFormats

Enum OfficequicksignerDocumentFormats
  odfUnknown
  odfBinary
  odfOpenXML
  odfOpenXPS
  odfOpenDocument
End Enum

Default Value

0

Remarks

This property contains the Office document format.

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

DocumentType Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Defines the type of the Office document.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public string DocumentType { get; }

Public ReadOnly Property DocumentType As String

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property contains the Office document type.

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

ExternalCrypto Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Provides access to external signing and DC parameters.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public ExternalCrypto ExternalCrypto { get; }

Public ReadOnly Property ExternalCrypto As ExternalCrypto

Remarks

Use this property to tune-up remote cryptography settings. SecureBlackbox supports two independent types of external cryptography: synchronous (based on the ExternalSign event) and asynchronous (based on the DC protocol and the DCAuth signing component).

This property is read-only.

FIPSMode Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Reserved.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public bool FIPSMode { get; set; }

Public Property FIPSMode As Boolean

Default Value

False

Remarks

This property is reserved for future use.

HashAlgorithm Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Specifies the hash algorithm to be used.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public string HashAlgorithm { get; set; }

Public Property HashAlgorithm As String

Default Value

"SHA256"

Remarks

Use this property to set the hash algorithm for signature calculation.

Supported values:

InputBytes Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Use this property to pass the input to component in byte array form.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public byte[] InputBytes { get; set; }

Public Property InputBytes As Byte()

Remarks

Assign a byte array containing the data to be processed to this property.

This property is not available at design time.

InputFile Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

The file to be signed.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public string InputFile { get; set; }

Public Property InputFile As String

Default Value

""

Remarks

Provide the path to the Office document to be signed.

InputStream Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Stream containing the Office document.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public System.IO.Stream InputStream { get; set; }

Public Property InputStream As System.IO.Stream

Default Value

null

Remarks

Use this property to feed the document to the component via a stream.

This property is not available at design time.

OutputBytes Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Use this property to read the output the component object has produced.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public byte[] OutputBytes { get; }

Public ReadOnly Property OutputBytes As Byte()

Remarks

Read the contents of this property after the operation has completed to read the produced output. This property will only be set if the OutputFile and OutputStream properties had not been assigned.

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

OutputFile Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Defines where to save the signed document.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public string OutputFile { get; set; }

Public Property OutputFile As String

Default Value

""

Remarks

Specifies the path where the signed Office document should be saved.

OutputStream Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

The stream where the signed document would be saved.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public System.IO.Stream OutputStream { get; set; }

Public Property OutputStream As System.IO.Stream

Default Value

null

Remarks

Use this property to save the signed document to the stream.

This property is not available at design time.

SignatureType Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Specifies the type of the signature to be made.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public OfficequicksignerSignatureTypes SignatureType { get; set; }

enum OfficequicksignerSignatureTypes {
  ostDefault,
  ostBinaryCryptoAPI,
  ostBinaryXML,
  ostOpenXML,
  ostOpenXPS,
  ostOpenDocument
}

Public Property SignatureType As OfficequicksignerSignatureTypes

Enum OfficequicksignerSignatureTypes
  ostDefault
  ostBinaryCryptoAPI
  ostBinaryXML
  ostOpenXML
  ostOpenXPS
  ostOpenDocument
End Enum

Default Value

0

Remarks

Use this property to define what kind of signature should be made over the document.

SignCoreProperties Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Whether to sign the core properties of the document.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public bool SignCoreProperties { get; set; }

Public Property SignCoreProperties As Boolean

Default Value

False

Remarks

The core properties are a set of elements that describe common and well-known properties of the Office document package such as creator, version, revision, etc.

SignDocument Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Whether to sign the document itself.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public bool SignDocument { get; set; }

Public Property SignDocument As Boolean

Default Value

True

Remarks

Use this property to specify whether the signature should be computed over the document itself.

SigningCertificate Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

The certificate to be used for signing.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate SigningCertificate { get; set; }

Public Property SigningCertificate As Certificate

Remarks

Use this property to specify the certificate that shall be used for signing the data. Note that this certificate should have a private key associated with it. Use SigningChain to supply the rest of the certificate chain for inclusion into the signature.

This property is not available at design time.

SigningChain Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

The signing certificate chain.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public CertificateList SigningChain { get; }

Public Property SigningChain As CertificateList

Remarks

Use this property to provide the chain for the signing certificate. Use the SigningCertificate property, if it is available, to provide the signing certificate itself.

This property is not available at design time.

SignSignatureOrigin Property (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Whether to sign the signature origin.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public bool SignSignatureOrigin { get; set; }

Public Property SignSignatureOrigin As Boolean

Default Value

False

Remarks

Specifies whether to sign the XPS document's signature origin.

Config Method (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public string Config(string configurationString);

Public Function Config(ByVal ConfigurationString As String) As String

Remarks

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

These settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the component, 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.

DoAction Method (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Performs an additional action.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public string DoAction(string actionID, string actionParams);

Public Function DoAction(ByVal ActionID As String, ByVal ActionParams As String) As String

Remarks

DoAction is a generic method available in every component. It is used to perform an additional action introduced after the product major release. The list of actions is not fixed, and may be flexibly extended over time.

The unique identifier (case insensitive) of the action is provided in the ActionID parameter.

ActionParams contains the value of a single parameter, or a list of multiple parameters for the action in the form of PARAM1=VALUE1;PARAM2=VALUE2;....

ExtractAsyncData Method (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Extracts user data from the DC signing service response.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public string ExtractAsyncData(string asyncReply);

Public Function ExtractAsyncData(ByVal AsyncReply As String) As String

Remarks

Call this method before finalizing the asynchronous signing process to extract the data passed to the ExternalCrypto.Data property on the pre-signing stage.

The Data parameter can be used to pass some state or document identifier along with the signing request from the pre-signing to the completion async stage.

Sign Method (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Calculates the signature value.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public void Sign();

Public Sub Sign()

Remarks

Call this method to generate a signature over the document.

SignAsyncBegin Method (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Initiates the asynchronous signing operation.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public string SignAsyncBegin();

Public Function SignAsyncBegin() As String

Remarks

When using the DC framework, call this method to initiate the asynchronous signing process. Upon completion, a pre-signed copy of the document will be saved in OutputFile (or OutputStream). Keep the pre-signed copy somewhere local, and pass the returned string ('the request state') to the DC processor for handling.

Upon receiving the response state from the DC processor, assign the path to the pre-signed copy to InputFile (or InputStream), and call SignAsyncEnd to finalize the signing.

Note that depending on the signing method and DC configuration used, you may still need to provide the public part of the signing certificate via the SigningCertificate property.

Use the ExternalCrypto.AsyncDocumentID property to supply a unique document ID to include in the request. This is helpful when creating batches of multiple async requests, as it allows you to pass the whole response batch to SignAsyncEnd and expect it to recover the correct response from the batch automatically.

AsyncState is a message of the distributed cryptography (DC) protocol. The DC protocol is based on the exchange of async states between a DC client (an application that wants to sign a PDF, XML, or Office document) and a DC server (an application that controls access to the private key). An async state can carry one or more signing requests, comprised of document hashes, or one or more signatures produced over those hashes.

In a typical scenario you get a client-side async state from the SignAsyncBegin method. This state contains document hashes to be signed on the DC server side. You then send the async state to the DC server (often represented by the DCAuth component), which processes it and produces a matching signature state. The async state produced by the server is then passed to the SignAsyncEnd method.

SignAsyncEnd Method (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Completes the asynchronous signing operation.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public void SignAsyncEnd(string asyncReply);

Public Sub SignAsyncEnd(ByVal AsyncReply As String)

Remarks

When using the DC framework, call this method upon receiving the response state from the DC processor to complete the asynchronous signing process.

Before calling this method, assign the path to the pre-signed copy of the document obtained from the prior SignAsyncBegin call to InputFile (or InputStream). The method will embed the signature into the pre-signed document, and save the complete signed document to OutputFile (or OutputStream).

Note that depending on the signing method and DC configuration used, you may still need to provide the public part of the signing certificate via the SigningCertificate property.

Use the ExternalCrypto.AsyncDocumentID parameter to pass a specific document ID if using batched AsyncReply. If used, it should match the value provided on the pre-signing (SignAsyncBegin) stage.

AsyncState is a message of the distributed cryptography (DC) protocol. The DC protocol is based on the exchange of async states between a DC client (an application that wants to sign a PDF, XML, or Office document) and a DC server (an application that controls access to the private key). An async state can carry one or more signing requests, comprised of document hashes, or one or more signatures produced over those hashes.

In a typical scenario you get a client-side async state from the SignAsyncBegin method. This state contains document hashes to be signed on the DC server side. You then send the async state to the DC server (often represented by the DCAuth component), which processes it and produces a matching signature state. The async state produced by the server is then passed to the SignAsyncEnd method.

SignExternal Method (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Signs the document using an external signing facility.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public void SignExternal();

Public Sub SignExternal()

Remarks

Call this method to delegate the low-level signing operation to an external, remote, or custom signing engine. This method is useful if the signature has to be made by a device accessible through a custom or non-standard signing interface.

When all preparations are done and hash is computed, the component fires ExternalSign event which allows to pass the hash value for signing.

Error Event (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Information about errors during signing.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public event OnErrorHandler OnError;

public delegate void OnErrorHandler(object sender, OfficequicksignerErrorEventArgs e);

public class OfficequicksignerErrorEventArgs : EventArgs {
  public int ErrorCode { get; }
  public string Description { get; }
}

Public Event OnError As OnErrorHandler

Public Delegate Sub OnErrorHandler(sender As Object, e As OfficequicksignerErrorEventArgs)

Public Class OfficequicksignerErrorEventArgs Inherits EventArgs
  Public ReadOnly Property ErrorCode As Integer
  Public ReadOnly Property Description As String
End Class

Remarks

This event is fired in case of exceptional conditions during the office document processing.

ErrorCode contains an error code and Description contains a textual description of the error.

ExternalSign Event (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

Handles remote or external signing initiated by the SignExternal method or other source.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public event OnExternalSignHandler OnExternalSign;

public delegate void OnExternalSignHandler(object sender, OfficequicksignerExternalSignEventArgs e);

public class OfficequicksignerExternalSignEventArgs : EventArgs {
  public string OperationId { get; }
  public string HashAlgorithm { get; }
  public string Pars { get; }
  public string Data { get; }
  public string SignedData { get; set; }
}

Public Event OnExternalSign As OnExternalSignHandler

Public Delegate Sub OnExternalSignHandler(sender As Object, e As OfficequicksignerExternalSignEventArgs)

Public Class OfficequicksignerExternalSignEventArgs Inherits EventArgs
  Public ReadOnly Property OperationId As String
  Public ReadOnly Property HashAlgorithm As String
  Public ReadOnly Property Pars As String
  Public ReadOnly Property Data As String
  Public Property SignedData As String
End Class

Remarks

Assign a handler to this event if you need to delegate a low-level signing operation to an external, remote, or custom signing engine. Depending on the settings, the handler will receive a hashed or unhashed value to be signed.

The event handler must pass the value of Data to the signer, obtain the signature, and pass it back to the component via the SignedData parameter.

OperationId provides a comment about the operation and its origin. It depends on the exact component being used, and may be empty. HashAlgorithm specifies the hash algorithm being used for the operation, and Pars contains algorithm-dependent parameters.

The component uses base16 (hex) encoding for the Data, SignedData, and Pars parameters. If your signing engine uses a different input and output encoding, you may need to decode and/or encode the data before and/or after the signing.

A sample MD5 hash encoded in base16: a0dee2a0382afbb09120ffa7ccd8a152 - lower case base16 A0DEE2A0382AFBB09120FFA7CCD8A152 - upper case base16

A sample event handler that uses the .NET RSACryptoServiceProvider class may look like the following: signer.OnExternalSign += (s, e) => { var cert = new X509Certificate2("cert.pfx", "", X509KeyStorageFlags.Exportable); var key = (RSACryptoServiceProvider)cert.PrivateKey; var dataToSign = e.Data.FromBase16String(); var signedData = key.SignHash(dataToSign, "2.16.840.1.101.3.4.2.1"); e.SignedData = signedData.ToBase16String(); };

Notification Event (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

This event notifies the application about an underlying control flow event.

Syntax

• C#
• VB.NET

public event OnNotificationHandler OnNotification;

public delegate void OnNotificationHandler(object sender, OfficequicksignerNotificationEventArgs e);

public class OfficequicksignerNotificationEventArgs : EventArgs {
  public string EventID { get; }
  public string EventParam { get; }
}

Public Event OnNotification As OnNotificationHandler

Public Delegate Sub OnNotificationHandler(sender As Object, e As OfficequicksignerNotificationEventArgs)

Public Class OfficequicksignerNotificationEventArgs Inherits EventArgs
  Public ReadOnly Property EventID As String
  Public ReadOnly Property EventParam As String
End Class

Remarks

The component fires this event to let the application know about some event, occurrence, or milestone in the component. For example, it may fire to report completion of the document processing. The list of events being reported is not fixed, and may be flexibly extended over time.

The unique identifier of the event is provided in the EventID parameter. EventParam contains any parameters accompanying the occurrence. Depending on the type of the component, the exact action it is performing, or the document being processed, one or both may be omitted.

This component can fire this event with the following EventID values:

Certificate Type

Provides details of an individual X.509 certificate.

Remarks

This type provides access to X.509 certificate details.

Fields

Constructors

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(byte[] bytes, int startIndex, int count, string password);

Public Certificate(ByVal Bytes As Byte(), ByVal StartIndex As Integer, ByVal Count As Integer, ByVal Password As String)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a memory buffer. Bytes is a buffer containing the raw certificate data. StartIndex and Count specify the starting position and number of bytes to be read from the buffer, respectively. Password is a password encrypting the certificate.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(byte[] certBytes, int certStartIndex, int certCount, byte[] keyBytes, int keyStartIndex, int keyCount, string password);

Public Certificate(ByVal CertBytes As Byte(), ByVal CertStartIndex As Integer, ByVal CertCount As Integer, ByVal KeyBytes As Byte(), ByVal KeyStartIndex As Integer, ByVal KeyCount As Integer, ByVal Password As String)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a memory buffer. CertBytes is a buffer containing the raw certificate data. CertStartIndex and CertCount specify the number of bytes to be read from the buffer, respectively. KeyBytes is a buffer containing the private key data. KeyStartIndex and KeyCount specify the starting position and number of bytes to be read from the buffer, respectively. Password is a password encrypting the certificate.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(byte[] bytes, int startIndex, int count);

Public Certificate(ByVal Bytes As Byte(), ByVal StartIndex As Integer, ByVal Count As Integer)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a memory buffer. Bytes is a buffer containing the raw certificate data. StartIndex and Count specify the starting position and number of bytes to be read from the buffer, respectively.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(string path, string password);

Public Certificate(ByVal Path As String, ByVal Password As String)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a file. Path specifies the full path to the file containing the certificate data. Password is a password encrypting the certificate.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(string certPath, string keyPath, string password);

Public Certificate(ByVal CertPath As String, ByVal KeyPath As String, ByVal Password As String)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a file. CertPath specifies the full path to the file containing the certificate data. KeyPath specifies the full path to the file containing the private key. Password is a password encrypting the certificate.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(string path);

Public Certificate(ByVal Path As String)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a file. Path specifies the full path to the file containing the certificate data.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(System.IO.Stream stream);

Public Certificate(ByVal Stream As System.IO.Stream)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a stream. Stream is a stream containing the certificate data.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(System.IO.Stream stream, string password);

Public Certificate(ByVal Stream As System.IO.Stream, ByVal Password As String)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a stream. Stream is a stream containing the certificate data. Password is a password encrypting the certificate.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate(System.IO.Stream certStream, System.IO.Stream keyStream, string password);

Public Certificate(ByVal CertStream As System.IO.Stream, ByVal KeyStream As System.IO.Stream, ByVal Password As String)

Loads the X.509 certificate from a stream. CertStream is a stream containing the certificate data. KeyStream is a stream containing the private key. Password is a password encrypting the certificate.

• C#
• VB.NET

public Certificate();

Public Certificate()

Creates a new object with default field values.

ExternalCrypto Type

Specifies the parameters of external cryptographic calls.

Remarks

External cryptocalls are used in a Distributed Cryptography (DC) subsystem, which allows the delegation of security operations to the remote agent. For instance, it can be used to compute the signature value on the server, while retaining the client's private key locally.

Fields

Constructors

• C#
• VB.NET

public ExternalCrypto();

Public ExternalCrypto()

Creates a new ExternalCrypto object with default field values.

Config Settings (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

OfficeQuickSigner Config Settings

Base Config Settings

Trappable Errors (OfficeQuickSigner Component)

OfficeQuickSigner Errors