Utils Component

Properties Methods Events Config Settings Errors

The Utils component offers a selection of popular helper methods that may be of use in a variety of scenarios.

Syntax

nsoftware.SecureBlackbox.Utils

Remarks

If you need to resolve a hostname to an IP address, encode a string using a specific character encoding, or compose a multipart message, look no further. This is exactly what Utils is intended for.

Property List

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


MultipartMessage	Lists the content of the multipart message.
NameValuePairs	A current list of (name, value) pairs.

Method List

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


AddPartFromBytes	Adds a new part to MultipartMessage from the specified byte array.
AddPartFromFile	Adds a new part to MultipartMessage from the specified file.
AddPartFromStream	Adds a new part to MultipartMessage from the provided stream.
Base64Decode	Decodes a base64 string to a byte array.
Base64Encode	Encodes a byte array in base64.
Base64EncodeLines	Encodes the Bytes array containing binary data to a multi-line Base64.
Config	Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.
DateToString	Converts a variable of Date type to the respective string representation.
DoAction	Performs an additional action.
GetLocalDNSName	Returns the DNS name of the local system.
GetLocalIP	Returns the primary IP address of the local system.
GetLocalIPs	Returns a list of local IP addresses.
GetPartToBytes	Saves the data from the specified part to a byte array.
GetPartToFile	Saves the data from the specified part to a file.
GetPartToStream	Saves the data from the specified part to a stream.
GetRemoteIP	Gets the IP address of a remote host.
GetRemoteIPs	Resolves IP addresses available for a hostname.
GetValueByName	Returns the value from the (name, value) pair list for the requested name.
HexDecode	Decodes a hex-encoded string into a byte array.
HexEncode	Encodes a byte array to hex string.
IndexOfName	Returns the index of the (name, value) pair in the list for the requested Name.
LoadMultipartFromBytes	Loads a multipart message from the specified byte array to MultipartMessage .
LoadMultipartFromFile	Loads a multipart message from the specified file to MultipartMessage .
LoadMultipartFromStream	Loads a multipart message from the specified stream to MultipartMessage .
LoadNameValuePairs	Loads a list of (name, value) pairs from a string.
OidToString	Converts a binary-encoded ASN.1 OID to its string representation.
RemoveNameValuePair	Remove a (name, value) pair by name.
SaveMultipartContentType	Returns the value for Content-Type field.
SaveMultipartToBytes	Saves the parts contained in MultipartMessage to a byte array.
SaveMultipartToFile	Saves the parts contained in MultipartMessage to the file.
SaveMultipartToStream	Saves the parts contained in MultipartMessage to the stream.
SaveNameValuePairs	Serializes the (name, value) pair list to a string.
SetValueByName	Adds or updates the (name, value) pair by a name.
StringDecode	Converts a byte array to a string using a chosen encoding.
StringEncode	Encodes a string to a byte array using a chosen character encoding.
StringToDate	Converts a date represented by a string to a respective Date object.
StringToOid	Converts string OID representation to an ASN.1 byte array
UrlDecode	Decodes a URLEncoded string back into its original form.
UrlEncode	Encodes the provided string using URLEncode.

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.


Error	Informs about errors during cryptographic operations.
Notification	This event notifies the application about an underlying control flow event.

Config Settings

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


MultipartBoundary	Returns the boundary string used to save the last multipart message.
MultipartCharset	Specifies the charset to be used to encode the field names and the filenames of the multipart message.
RelatedStart	Identifies the starting body part or root.
RelatedStartInfo	Contains additional information required for unpacking or processing of the content.
RelatedType	Contains media type/subtype of message's content.
TempPath	Path for storing temporary files.
CheckKeyIntegrityBeforeUse	Enables or disable private key integrity check before use.
CookieCaching	Specifies whether a cookie cache should be used for HTTP(S) transports.
Cookies	Gets or sets local cookies for the component.
DefDeriveKeyIterations	Specifies the default key derivation algorithm iteration count.
EnableClientSideSSLFFDHE	Enables or disables finite field DHE key exchange support in TLS clients.
GlobalCookies	Gets or sets global cookies for all the HTTP transports.
HttpUserAgent	Specifies the user agent name to be used by all HTTP clients.
LogDestination	Specifies the debug log destination.
LogDetails	Specifies the debug log details to dump.
LogFile	Specifies the debug log filename.
LogFilters	Specifies the debug log filters.
LogFlushMode	Specifies the log flush mode.
LogLevel	Specifies the debug log level.
LogMaxEventCount	Specifies the maximum number of events to cache before further action is taken.
LogRotationMode	Specifies the log rotation mode.
MaxASN1BufferLength	Specifies the maximal allowed length for ASN.1 primitive tag data.
MaxASN1TreeDepth	Specifies the maximal depth for processed ASN.1 trees.
OCSPHashAlgorithm	Specifies the hash algorithm to be used to identify certificates in OCSP requests.
StaticDNS	Specifies whether static DNS rules should be used.
StaticIPAddress[domain]	Gets or sets an IP address for the specified domain name.
StaticIPAddresses	Gets or sets all the static DNS rules.
Tag	Allows to store any custom data.
TLSSessionGroup	Specifies the group name of TLS sessions to be used for session resumption.
TLSSessionLifetime	Specifies lifetime in seconds of the cached TLS session.
TLSSessionPurgeInterval	Specifies how often the session cache should remove the expired TLS sessions.
UseOwnDNSResolver	Specifies whether the client components should use own DNS resolver.
UseSharedSystemStorages	Specifies whether the validation engine should use a global per-process copy of the system certificate stores.
UseSystemOAEPAndPSS	Enforces or disables the use of system-driven RSA OAEP and PSS computations.
UseSystemRandom	Enables or disables the use of the OS PRNG.

MultipartMessage Property (Utils Component)

Lists the content of the multipart message.

public MultipartMessagePartList MultipartMessage { get; }

Public Property MultipartMessage As MultipartMessagePartList

Remarks

This property provides access to all parts contained in or to be added to the multipart message.

This property is not available at design time.

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

NameValuePairs Property (Utils Component)

A current list of (name, value) pairs.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public StringNameValuePairList NameValuePairs { get; }

Public ReadOnly Property NameValuePairs As StringNameValuePairList

Remarks

Use this property to access the elements of the (name, value) pair list. Use LoadNameValuePairs and SaveNameValuePairs methods to serialize and deserialize the list to a string, and methods such as SetValueByName or RemoveNameValuePair to manage the list.

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

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

AddPartFromBytes Method (Utils Component)

Adds a new part to MultipartMessage from the specified byte array.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public int AddPartFromBytes(byte[] data);

Public Function AddPartFromBytes(ByVal Data As Byte()) As Integer

Remarks

The method adds a new part to MultipartMessage list with the specified data as the part's content.

Returns the index of the added part.

AddPartFromFile Method (Utils Component)

Adds a new part to MultipartMessage from the specified file.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public int AddPartFromFile(string filename);

Public Function AddPartFromFile(ByVal Filename As String) As Integer

Remarks

The method adds a new part to MultipartMessage list with the specified file data as the part's content.

Returns the index of the added part.

AddPartFromStream Method (Utils Component)

Adds a new part to MultipartMessage from the provided stream.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public int AddPartFromStream(System.IO.Stream stream, bool closeStream);

Public Function AddPartFromStream(ByVal Stream As System.IO.Stream, ByVal CloseStream As Boolean) As Integer

Remarks

The method adds a new part to MultipartMessage with the provided stream data as the part's content. CloseStream specifies if the stream should be closed when the part is deleted or the multipart message is cleared.

Returns the index of the added part.

Base64Decode Method (Utils Component)

Decodes a base64 string to a byte array.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public byte[] Base64Decode(string value, bool useURLEncoding);

Public Function Base64Decode(ByVal Value As String, ByVal UseURLEncoding As Boolean) As Byte()

Remarks

Use this method to decode a base64-encoded string to a byte array. The UseURLEncoding parameter specifies whether the URL-Base64 modification should be used when decoding the string. byte[] arr = utils.Base64Decode("SGVsbG8sIHdvcmxkIQ==", false);

Base64Encode Method (Utils Component)

Encodes a byte array in base64.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string Base64Encode(byte[] bytes, bool useURLEncoding);

Public Function Base64Encode(ByVal Bytes As Byte(), ByVal UseURLEncoding As Boolean) As String

Remarks

Use this method to encode binary data contained in Bytes to a base64 string. The UseURLEncoding parameter specifies whether additional URL encoding should be applied to the resulting string (with + and / characters replaced with - and _, respectively). string encoded = utils.Base64Encode(buf, false);

Base64EncodeLines Method (Utils Component)

Encodes the Bytes array containing binary data to a multi-line Base64.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string Base64EncodeLines(byte[] bytes, int lineLen);

Public Function Base64EncodeLines(ByVal Bytes As Byte(), ByVal LineLen As Integer) As String

Remarks

Use this method to encode large amounts of binary data to multi-line base64 strings. Use LineLen parameter to provide the maximal length of each base64 line.

Config Method (Utils 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.

DateToString Method (Utils Component)

Converts a variable of Date type to the respective string representation.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string DateToString(DateTime value);

Public Function DateToString(ByVal Value As DateTime) As String

Remarks

Use this method to convert a value of a platform date type to a string representation accepted by various SecureBlackbox methods and properties.

DoAction Method (Utils 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 insencitive) 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;....

GetLocalDNSName Method (Utils Component)

Returns the DNS name of the local system.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string GetLocalDNSName();

Public Function GetLocalDNSName() As String

Remarks

Use this property to get the registered DNS or network name of the local system.

GetLocalIP Method (Utils Component)

Returns the primary IP address of the local system.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string GetLocalIP(bool IPv6);

Public Function GetLocalIP(ByVal IPv6 As Boolean) As String

Remarks

Use this method to obtain the default IP address of the local system.

GetLocalIPs Method (Utils Component)

Returns a list of local IP addresses.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string GetLocalIPs(bool IPv4, bool IPv6);

Public Function GetLocalIPs(ByVal IPv4 As Boolean, ByVal IPv6 As Boolean) As String

Remarks

Use this method to request a list of all local IP addresses available in the system. Set IPv4 and IPv6 as required to filter IPv4 and IPv6 interfaces in or out respectively.

GetPartToBytes Method (Utils Component)

Saves the data from the specified part to a byte array.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public byte[] GetPartToBytes(int index);

Public Function GetPartToBytes(ByVal Index As Integer) As Byte()

Remarks

Use this method to store the data of the specified part to a byte array.

Index must be greater than or equal to 0, and less than the part count.

GetPartToFile Method (Utils Component)

Saves the data from the specified part to a file.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public void GetPartToFile(int index, string filename);

Public Sub GetPartToFile(ByVal Index As Integer, ByVal Filename As String)

Remarks

Use this method to store the data of the specified part to a file.

Index must be greater than or equal to 0, and less than the part count.

GetPartToStream Method (Utils Component)

Saves the data from the specified part to a stream.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public void GetPartToStream(int index, System.IO.Stream stream);

Public Sub GetPartToStream(ByVal Index As Integer, ByVal Stream As System.IO.Stream)

Remarks

Use this method to store the data of the specified part to a stream.

Index must be greater than or equal to 0, and less than the part count.

GetRemoteIP Method (Utils Component)

Gets the IP address of a remote host.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string GetRemoteIP(string hostName, bool IPv6, int DNSMode, string DNSServers, int timeout);

Public Function GetRemoteIP(ByVal HostName As String, ByVal IPv6 As Boolean, ByVal DNSMode As Integer, ByVal DNSServers As String, ByVal Timeout As Integer) As String

Remarks

Use this property to resolve the address of a remote host using the provided DNS settings. Set IPv6 to true to force resolution of both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

Use the Timeout setting to specify maximal resolution time, and the DNSServer parameter to list the addresses of DNS servers to use for address resolution. Separate individual servers in the list with commas or semicolons. If an empty server list is provided, the component will use the list of servers configured in the system.

Use one of the below DNS modes:


dmAuto	`0`
dmPlatform	`1`
dmOwn	`2`
dmOwnSecure	`3`

GetRemoteIPs Method (Utils Component)

Resolves IP addresses available for a hostname.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string GetRemoteIPs(string hostName, bool IPv4, bool IPv6, int DNSMode, string DNSServers, int timeout);

Public Function GetRemoteIPs(ByVal HostName As String, ByVal IPv4 As Boolean, ByVal IPv6 As Boolean, ByVal DNSMode As Integer, ByVal DNSServers As String, ByVal Timeout As Integer) As String

Remarks

Use this method to resolve all IP addresses available for the chosen hostname using the provided DNS settings. Use the Timeout setting to specify maximal resolution time. The DNSServer parameter lists the addresses of DNS servers to use for address resolution, separated with commas or semicolons. If an empty server list is provided, the component will use the list of servers configured in the system.

Use one of the below DNS modes:


dmAuto	`0`
dmPlatform	`1`
dmOwn	`2`
dmOwnSecure	`3`

GetValueByName Method (Utils Component)

Returns the value from the (name, value) pair list for the requested name.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string GetValueByName(string name);

Public Function GetValueByName(ByVal Name As String) As String

Remarks

Use this method to obtain a matching value for the requested Name in the NameValuePairs list.

HexDecode Method (Utils Component)

Decodes a hex-encoded string into a byte array.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public byte[] HexDecode(string value);

Public Function HexDecode(ByVal Value As String) As Byte()

Remarks

Use this method to decode hex- (base16-) encoded strings to byte arrays. byte[] buf = utils.HexDecode("48656C6C6F2C20776F726C6421");

HexEncode Method (Utils Component)

Encodes a byte array to hex string.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string HexEncode(byte[] bytes);

Public Function HexEncode(ByVal Bytes As Byte()) As String

Remarks

Use this method to encode a byte array, passed as Bytes, to a hex (base16) string.

IndexOfName Method (Utils Component)

Returns the index of the (name, value) pair in the list for the requested Name.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public int IndexOfName(string name);

Public Function IndexOfName(ByVal Name As String) As Integer

Remarks

Use this method to obtain the index of the (Name, Value) object in NameValuePairs list.

LoadMultipartFromBytes Method (Utils Component)

Loads a multipart message from the specified byte array to MultipartMessage .

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public void LoadMultipartFromBytes(string contentType, byte[] data);

Public Sub LoadMultipartFromBytes(ByVal ContentType As String, ByVal Data As Byte())

Remarks

Use this method to load a multipart message from a byte array to MultipartMessage. You need to provide the content of the Content-Type header field together with the multipart body stored in the byte array.

After the data is loaded, you can get the data of each part by calling GetPartToBytes/GetPartToFile/GetPartToStream methods.

While loading data, the parts data is stored in temporary files/streams. If the TempPath config property is not empty, the parts data is stored to temporary files in that folder, otherwise the data is stored in memory streams.

LoadMultipartFromFile Method (Utils Component)

Loads a multipart message from the specified file to MultipartMessage .

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public void LoadMultipartFromFile(string contentType, string filename);

Public Sub LoadMultipartFromFile(ByVal ContentType As String, ByVal Filename As String)

Remarks

Use this method to load a multipart message from a file to MultipartMessage. You need to provide the content of the Content-Type header field together with the multipart body stored in the file.

After the file is loaded, you can get the data of each part by calling GetPartToBytes/GetPartToFile/GetPartToStream methods.

LoadMultipartFromStream Method (Utils Component)

Loads a multipart message from the specified stream to MultipartMessage .

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public void LoadMultipartFromStream(string contentType, System.IO.Stream stream);

Public Sub LoadMultipartFromStream(ByVal ContentType As String, ByVal Stream As System.IO.Stream)

Remarks

Use this method to load a multipart message from a stream to MultipartMessage. You need to provide the content of the Content-Type header field together with the multipart body stored in the stream.

After the stream is loaded, you can get the data of each part by calling GetPartToBytes/GetPartToFile/GetPartToStream methods.

LoadNameValuePairs Method (Utils Component)

Loads a list of (name, value) pairs from a string.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public void LoadNameValuePairs(string data, string format, string nameValueSeparator, string pairSeparator, bool trimValues);

Public Sub LoadNameValuePairs(ByVal Data As String, ByVal Format As String, ByVal NameValueSeparator As String, ByVal PairSeparator As String, ByVal TrimValues As Boolean)

Remarks

Use this method to load a list of (name, value) pairs to NameValuePairs from a string. Provide one of the known formats via Format, and optionally pass the separators using NameValueSeparator and PairSeparator parameters.

The following pre-defined pair list formats are currently supported:

rdn: a textual distinguished name encoding (/C=US/S=NC/O=Big Company)
rdnbinary: a hex-encoded DER encoding of the ASN.1 RelativeDistinguishedName object

If one of these formats is used, the separator parameters are ignored.

OidToString Method (Utils Component)

Converts a binary-encoded ASN.1 OID to its string representation.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string OidToString(byte[] bytes);

Public Function OidToString(ByVal Bytes As Byte()) As String

Remarks

Use this method to convert binary-encoded OIDs (object identifiers) to their dotted string representations. byte[] oid_bin = new byte[] { 0x60, 0x86, 0x48, 0x01, 0x65, 0x03, 0x04, 0x01, 0x06 }; string oid_str = utils.OidToString(oid_bin); Console.WriteLine(oid_str); // prints 2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.6

RemoveNameValuePair Method (Utils Component)

Remove a (name, value) pair by name.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public bool RemoveNameValuePair(string name);

Public Function RemoveNameValuePair(ByVal Name As String) As Boolean

Remarks

Use this method to remove the (Name, Value) pair from the NameValuePairs list.

SaveMultipartContentType Method (Utils Component)

Returns the value for Content-Type field.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string SaveMultipartContentType();

Public Function SaveMultipartContentType() As String

Remarks

Call this method to get a value for Content-Type field after calling SaveMultipartToBytes or SaveMultipartToFile or SaveMultipartToStream.

SaveMultipartToBytes Method (Utils Component)

Saves the parts contained in MultipartMessage to a byte array.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public byte[] SaveMultipartToBytes(int multipartMode);

Public Function SaveMultipartToBytes(ByVal MultipartMode As Integer) As Byte()

Remarks

Use this method to store MultipartMessage to a temporary byte array.

Supported values for MultipartMode are:


hmmFormData	`0`	The multipart message contains form data (content type is multipart/form-data)
hmmRelated	`1`	The multipart message contains related parts (content type is multipart/related)

To send the stored data to an HTTP server, follow the steps below:

Call SaveMultipartContentType method and assign the returned value to ContentType field of RequestParameters> property
Call PostBytes> method and pass the array to it

SaveMultipartToFile Method (Utils Component)

Saves the parts contained in MultipartMessage to the file.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public void SaveMultipartToFile(int multipartMode, string filename);

Public Sub SaveMultipartToFile(ByVal MultipartMode As Integer, ByVal Filename As String)

Remarks

Use this method to store MultipartMessage to a temporary file.

Supported values for MultipartMode are:


hmmFormData	`0`	The multipart message contains form data (content type is multipart/form-data)
hmmRelated	`1`	The multipart message contains related parts (content type is multipart/related)

Filename is the name of the target file for the multipart message.

To send the stored data to an HTTP server, follow the steps below:

Call SaveMultipartContentType method and assign the returned value to ContentType field of RequestParameters> property
Call PostFile> method and pass the filename to it

SaveMultipartToStream Method (Utils Component)

Saves the parts contained in MultipartMessage to the stream.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public void SaveMultipartToStream(int multipartMode, System.IO.Stream stream);

Public Sub SaveMultipartToStream(ByVal MultipartMode As Integer, ByVal Stream As System.IO.Stream)

Remarks

Use this method to store MultipartMessage to a temporary stream.

Supported values for MultipartMode are:


hmmFormData	`0`	The multipart message contains form data (content type is multipart/form-data)
hmmRelated	`1`	The multipart message contains related parts (content type is multipart/related)

Stream is the target stream for the multipart message.

To send the stored data to an HTTP server, follow the steps below:

Call SaveMultipartContentType method and assign the returned value to ContentType field of RequestParameters> property
Call PostStream> method and pass the stream to it

SaveNameValuePairs Method (Utils Component)

Serializes the (name, value) pair list to a string.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string SaveNameValuePairs(string format, string nameValueSeparator, string pairSeparator);

Public Function SaveNameValuePairs(ByVal Format As String, ByVal NameValueSeparator As String, ByVal PairSeparator As String) As String

Remarks

Use this method to save the contents of NameValuePairs to a string. Provide the desired format through the Format parameter, and entry separators (if required) via NameValueSeparator and PairSeparator parameters.

The following pre-defined pair list formats are currently supported:

rdn: a textual distinguished name encoding (/C=US/S=NC/O=Big Company)
rdnbinary: a hex-encoded DER encoding of the ASN.1 RelativeDistinguishedName object

If one of these formats is used, the separator parameters are ignored.

SetValueByName Method (Utils Component)

Adds or updates the (name, value) pair by a name.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public int SetValueByName(string name, string value);

Public Function SetValueByName(ByVal Name As String, ByVal Value As String) As Integer

Remarks

This method updates the existing (Name, Value) pair with a new value, or adds a new pair if no such pair existed in NameValuePairs list.

StringDecode Method (Utils Component)

Converts a byte array to a string using a chosen encoding.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string StringDecode(byte[] bytes, string encoding);

Public Function StringDecode(ByVal Bytes As Byte(), ByVal Encoding As String) As String

Remarks

Use this method to convert a byte array to a string using the required text encoding. The following encodings are currently supported: utf-8, utf16.

Leave Encoding empty to use the default code page configured in the system.

StringEncode Method (Utils Component)

Encodes a string to a byte array using a chosen character encoding.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public byte[] StringEncode(string value, string encoding);

Public Function StringEncode(ByVal Value As String, ByVal Encoding As String) As Byte()

Remarks

Use this method to convert a string to a byte array using the provided text encoding. The following encodings are currently supported: utf-8, utf16.

Leave Encoding empty to use the default code page configured in the system.

StringToDate Method (Utils Component)

Converts a date represented by a string to a respective Date object.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public DateTime StringToDate(string value);

Public Function StringToDate(ByVal Value As String) As DateTime

Remarks

Use this method to convert a date string that you obtained from a SecureBlackbox component property or method to a platform date object.

StringToOid Method (Utils Component)

Converts string OID representation to an ASN.1 byte array

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public byte[] StringToOid(string value);

Public Function StringToOid(ByVal Value As String) As Byte()

Remarks

Use this method to convert an OID represented with a dotted string to the respective ASN.1 representation. string oid_str = "2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.6"; byte[] oid_buf = utils.StringToOid(oid_str);

UrlDecode Method (Utils Component)

Decodes a URLEncoded string back into its original form.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string UrlDecode(string value);

Public Function UrlDecode(ByVal Value As String) As String

Remarks

Use this method to decode the URLEncoded Value back to its original representation.

UrlEncode Method (Utils Component)

Encodes the provided string using URLEncode.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public string UrlEncode(string value);

Public Function UrlEncode(ByVal Value As String) As String

Remarks

Use this method to encode Value using URL Encoding (percent encoding), as defined in RFC 3986.

Error Event (Utils Component)

Informs about errors during cryptographic operations.

Syntax

C#
VB.NET

public event OnErrorHandler OnError;

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

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

Public Event OnError As OnErrorHandler

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

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

Remarks

Component fires this event if an error happens during a cryptographic operation.

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

Notification Event (Utils 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, UtilsNotificationEventArgs e);

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

Public Event OnNotification As OnNotificationHandler

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

Public Class UtilsNotificationEventArgs 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 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.

MultipartMessagePart Type

Represents a part of a multipart message transferred over HTTP.

Remarks

This type contains all information about a single part in a multipart message.

Fields

ContentDescription
string
Default Value: ""

Provides a description for the part (Content-Description header field)

ContentDisposition
string
Default Value: ""

Specifies the disposition of the part (Content-Disposition header field)

ContentID
string
Default Value: ""

Specifies the ID of the part (Content-ID header field)

ContentTransferEncoding
string
Default Value: ""

Specifies the transfer encoding for the part (Content-Transfer-Encoding header field)

ContentType
string
Default Value: ""

Specifies the content type of the part (Content-Type header field)

CustomHeaders
string
Default Value: ""

Assign any custom HTTP headers to be added to the part header.

FieldName
string
Default Value: ""

Specifies the field name of the form part (name parameter in Content-Disposition header field).

FieldValue
string
Default Value: ""

Specifies the field value of the form part (the part's content).

Filename
string
Default Value: ""

Specifies the filename for the form part (filename parameter in Content-Disposition header field).

Constructors

C#
VB.NET

public MultipartMessagePart();

Public MultipartMessagePart()

Creates a new part of multipart message.

StringNameValuePair Type

A simple name-value pair object.

Remarks

The component represents a name-value string pair used in a variety of network components.

Fields

Category
string
Default Value: ""

Specifies the string category of the contained value.

This property allows to check or set the category (or type) associated with the contained value. Depending on the format used to load or save the string, the category parameter may or may not be used.

For example, for ASN.1 property lists the category contains the ASN.1 tag of the contained data (OCTETSTRING, UTF8STRING, INTEGER, ...). For basic (name, value) pairs, such as HTTP headers, the category parameter is not used.

Format
int
Default Value: 0

Specifies the format (encoding) of the value contained in the Value property.

Use this property to check or set the format of the contained value. Remember to provide the actual value in the appropriate format that matches this setting: utils.NameValuePairs[0].Name = "key"; utils.NameValuePairs[0].Format = svfBinary; utils.NameValuePairs[0].Name = "0a1b2c3d4e5f6071";

The following formats are currently supported:


svfText	`0`	The property contains text
svfBinary	`1`	The property contains binary data. The Value property contains a hex encoding of it.

Name
string
Default Value: ""

The name element in a (name, value) pair.

Value
string
Default Value: ""

The value element in a (name, value) pair.

Constructors

C#
VB.NET

public StringNameValuePair(string name, string value);

Public StringNameValuePair(ByVal Name As String, ByVal Value As String)

Creates a name-value pair from a name and a value.

C#
VB.NET

public StringNameValuePair();

Public StringNameValuePair()

Creates an empty name-value object.

Config Settings (Utils Component)

The component 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 component, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

Utils Config Settings

MultipartBoundary: Returns the boundary string used to save the last multipart message.

MultipartCharset: Specifies the charset to be used to encode the field names and the filenames of the multipart message.

RelatedStart: Identifies the starting body part or root.

Provides the starting body part or root for multipart messages transferred over HTTP.

RelatedStartInfo: Contains additional information required for unpacking or processing of the content.

Provides additional information for unpacking or processing of the content in multipart messages transferred over HTTP.

RelatedType: Contains media type/subtype of message's content.

Provides the media type/subtype of message's content in multipart messages transferred over HTTP.

TempPath: Path for storing temporary files.

This setting specifies an absolute path to the location on disk where temporary files are stored.

Base Config Settings

CheckKeyIntegrityBeforeUse: Enables or disable private key integrity check before use.

This global property enables or disables private key material check before each signing operation. This slows down performance a bit, but prevents a selection of attacks on RSA keys where keys with unknown origins are used.

You can switch this property off to improve performance if your project only uses known, good private keys.

CookieCaching: Specifies whether a cookie cache should be used for HTTP(S) transports.

Set this property to enable or disable cookies caching for the component.

Supported values are:


off		No caching (default)
local		Local caching
global		Global caching

Cookies: Gets or sets local cookies for the component.

Use this property to get cookies from the internal cookie storage of the component and/or restore them back between application sessions.

DefDeriveKeyIterations: Specifies the default key derivation algorithm iteration count.

This global property sets the default number of iterations for all supported key derivation algorithms. Note that you can provide the required number of iterations by using properties of the relevant key generation component; this global setting is used in scenarios where specific iteration count is not or cannot be provided.

EnableClientSideSSLFFDHE: Enables or disables finite field DHE key exchange support in TLS clients.

This global property enables or disables support for finite field DHE key exchange methods in TLS clients. FF DHE is a slower algorithm if compared to EC DHE; enabling it may result in slower connections.

This setting only applies to sessions negotiated with TLS version 1.3.

GlobalCookies: Gets or sets global cookies for all the HTTP transports.

Use this property to get cookies from the GLOBAL cookie storage or restore them back between application sessions. These cookies will be used by all the components that have its CookieCaching property set to "global".

HttpUserAgent: Specifies the user agent name to be used by all HTTP clients.

This global setting defines the User-Agent field of the HTTP request provides information about the software that initiates the request. This value will be used by all the HTTP clients including the ones used internally in other components.

LogDestination: Specifies the debug log destination.

Contains a comma-separated list of values that specifies where debug log should be dumped.

Supported values are:


file		File
console		Console
systemlog		System Log (supported for Android only)
debugger		Debugger (supported for VCL for Windows and .Net)

LogDetails: Specifies the debug log details to dump.

Contains a comma-separated list of values that specifies which debug log details to dump.

Supported values are:


time		Current time
level		Level
package		Package name
module		Module name
class		Class name
method		Method name
threadid		Thread Id
contenttype		Content type
content		Content
all		All details

LogFile: Specifies the debug log filename.

Use this property to provide a path to the log file.

LogFilters: Specifies the debug log filters.

Contains a comma-separated list of value pairs ("name:value") that describe filters.

Supported filter names are:


exclude-package		Exclude a package specified in the value
exclude-module		Exclude a module specified in the value
exclude-class		Exclude a class specified in the value
exclude-method		Exclude a method specified in the value
include-package		Include a package specified in the value
include-module		Include a module specified in the value
include-class		Include a class specified in the value
include-method		Include a method specified in the value

LogFlushMode: Specifies the log flush mode.

Use this property to set the log flush mode. The following values are defined:


none		No flush (caching only)
immediate		Immediate flush (real-time logging)
maxcount		Flush cached entries upon reaching LogMaxEventCount entries in the cache.

LogLevel: Specifies the debug log level.

Use this property to provide the desired debug log level.

Supported values are:


none		None (by default)
fatal		Severe errors that cause premature termination.
error		Other runtime errors or unexpected conditions.
warning		Use of deprecated APIs, poor use of API, 'almost' errors, other runtime situations that are undesirable or unexpected, but not necessarily "wrong".
info		Interesting runtime events (startup/shutdown).
debug		Detailed information on flow of through the system.
trace		More detailed information.

LogMaxEventCount: Specifies the maximum number of events to cache before further action is taken.

Use this property to specify the log event number threshold. This threshold may have different effects, depending on the rotation setting and/or the flush mode.

The default value of this setting is 100.

LogRotationMode: Specifies the log rotation mode.

Use this property to set the log rotation mode. The following values are defined:


none		No rotation
deleteolder		Delete older entries from the cache upon reaching LogMaxEventCount
keepolder		Keep older entries in the cache upon reaching LogMaxEventCount (newer entries are discarded)

MaxASN1BufferLength: Specifies the maximal allowed length for ASN.1 primitive tag data.

This global property limits the maximal allowed length for ASN.1 tag data for non-content-carrying structures, such as certificates, CRLs, or timestamps. It does not affect structures that can carry content, such as CMS/CAdES messages. This is a security property aiming at preventing DoS attacks.

MaxASN1TreeDepth: Specifies the maximal depth for processed ASN.1 trees.

This global property limits the maximal depth of ASN.1 trees that the component can handle without throwing an error. This is a security property aiming at preventing DoS attacks.

OCSPHashAlgorithm: Specifies the hash algorithm to be used to identify certificates in OCSP requests.

This global setting defines the hash algorithm to use in OCSP requests during chain validation. Some OCSP responders can only use older algorithms, in which case setting this property to SHA1 may be helpful.

StaticDNS: Specifies whether static DNS rules should be used.

Set this property to enable or disable static DNS rules for the component. Works only if UseOwnDNSResolver is set to true.

Supported values are:


none		No static DNS rules (default)
local		Local static DNS rules
global		Global static DNS rules

StaticIPAddress[domain]: Gets or sets an IP address for the specified domain name.

Use this property to get or set an IP address for the specified domain name in the internal (of the component) or global DNS rules storage depending on the StaticDNS value. The type of the IP address (IPv4 or IPv6) is determined automatically. If both addresses are available, they are devided by the | (pipe) character.

StaticIPAddresses: Gets or sets all the static DNS rules.

Use this property to get static DNS rules from the current rules storage or restore them back between application sessions. If StaticDNS of the component is set to "local", the property returns/restores the rules from/to the internal storage of the component. If StaticDNS of the component is set to "global", the property returns/restores the rules from/to the GLOBAL storage. The rules list is returned and accepted in JSON format.

Tag: Allows to store any custom data.

Use this config property to store any custom data.

TLSSessionGroup: Specifies the group name of TLS sessions to be used for session resumption.

Use this property to limit the search of chached TLS sessions to the specified group. Sessions from other groups will be ignored. By default, all sessions are cached with an empty group name and available to all the components.

TLSSessionLifetime: Specifies lifetime in seconds of the cached TLS session.

Use this property to specify how much time the TLS session should be kept in the session cache. After this time, the session expires and will be automatically removed from the cache. Default value is 300 seconds (5 minutes).

TLSSessionPurgeInterval: Specifies how often the session cache should remove the expired TLS sessions.

Use this property to specify the time interval of purging the expired TLS sessions from the session cache. Default value is 60 seconds (1 minute).

UseOwnDNSResolver: Specifies whether the client components should use own DNS resolver.

Set this global property to false to force all the client components to use the DNS resolver provided by the target OS instead of using own one.

UseSharedSystemStorages: Specifies whether the validation engine should use a global per-process copy of the system certificate stores.

Set this global property to false to make each validation run use its own copy of system certificate stores.

UseSystemOAEPAndPSS: Enforces or disables the use of system-driven RSA OAEP and PSS computations.

This global setting defines who is responsible for performing RSA-OAEP and RSA-PSS computations where the private key is stored in a Windows system store and is exportable. If set to true, SBB will delegate the computations to Windows via a CryptoAPI call. Otherwise, it will export the key material and perform the computations using its own OAEP/PSS implementation.

This setting only applies to certificates originating from a Windows system store.

UseSystemRandom: Enables or disables the use of the OS PRNG.

Use this global property to enable or disable the use of operating system-driven pseudorandom number generation.

Trappable Errors (Utils Component)

Utils Errors


	1048577 Invalid parameter value (`SB_ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER`)
	1048578 Component is configured incorrectly (`SB_ERROR_INVALID_SETUP`)
	1048579 Operation cannot be executed in the current state (`SB_ERROR_INVALID_STATE`)
	1048580 Attempt to set an invalid value to a property (`SB_ERROR_INVALID_VALUE`)
	1048581 Certificate does not have its private key loaded (`SB_ERROR_NO_PRIVATE_KEY`)
	1048581 Cancelled by the user (`SB_ERROR_CANCELLED_BY_USER`)