CAdESSigner Component

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The CAdESSigner component creates CAdES- and CMS-compliant electronic signatures.

Syntax

TsbxCAdESSigner

Remarks

CAdESSigner can sign documents and files in compliance with CMS Advanced Electronic Signatures (CAdES) specification. Originally developed by ETSI on the basis of PKCS#7 format and initially adopted in the European Union, CAdES has quickly become a recognized international standard for signing all sorts of electronic documents.

Besides being a signature standard in its own right, CAdES is used as part of other higher-level signature standards, such as PAdES or S/MIME. It provides a convenient framework for creating short-lived and long-term signatures over any kind of documents, and is now used by governments, healthcare providers, banks, and independent service providers all across the globe.

Standards and technologies supported

CAdESSigner offers the following signing capabilities:

• Create and upgrade CAdES signatures in accordance with the most recent CAdES specification (ETSI EN 319 122). Some features from older versions are also supported.
• All profiles are supported (BES, EPES, T, C, X, XL, A, including Baseline and Extended variants).
• Timestamping using external TSAs.
• All industry-standard cryptographic algorithms (RSA, ECDSA, SHA256-512, and many others).

Configuring the signature parameters

Configuring CAdESSigner to make it produce a signature of the right type is the main task you would need to perform in your code. Normally the service or software you will be communicating your signed documents to will provide you with the list of requirements that your signatures should match.

Typically, those will dictate the following key aspects of the signatures:

• The signature Level (such BES, T, XL, A, or XLong). This can be passed as the Level parameter of the Sign method.
• Whether the signature should be detached or enveloping: this can be adjusted via the Detached parameter of the Sign method.
• When creating a timestamped signature (such as T or A), provide the address of your online TSA service via TimestampServer property.
• When creating long-term signatures that include the signing chain and validation material, tune up validation parameters via RevocationCheck, OfflineMode, and IgnoreChainValidationErrors properties.

In some circumstances you will also need to adjust the following lower-level settings:

• Set ClaimedSigningTime to include the local signature creation time (not timestamped by a TTP).
• Specify EPES signature parameters via PolicyHash, PolicyHashAlgorithm, PolicyID, and PolicyURI properties.
• Provide the hash algorithm via the HashAlgorithm property.

Signing certificates

CAdESSigner can use certificates residing on different media. Besides generic certificates stored in PFX or PEM files (A1), it can operate with non-exportable certificates residing on hardware media (A3) or in the cloud.

Non-exportable certificates can be accessed transparently via a Windows CSP or a PKCS#11 driver, if supplied by the certificate issuer. Proprietary interfaces can be plugged in with the external signing feature (see below).

You can use CertificateManager and CertificateStorage components to access the signing certificate. Assign the certificate to SigningCertificate property, and optionally provide the remainder of its chain via SigningChain property.

Note: If signing with a non-exportable key (such as residing on a hardware device or in the cloud), please make sure you keep the original CertificateStorage object open until the signing is completed. This is because the storage component provides a 'bridge' to the private key. If the storage is closed prematurely, this bridge is destroyed, and the private key can't be used.

You don't need to provide a signing certificate or chain when timestamping and upgrading signatures, since this type of operation does not involve the signing private key.

Signing a file

Now that you have set up all signature properties and attached the signing certificate, it is time to proceed to signing. You can provide the input document in one of the following forms: as a file (assign the path to InputFile property), as a stream (assign to InputStream property), or as a byte array (assign to InputBytes). Similarly, the output can be collected in one of the same forms, either by passing the destination path or stream via OutputFile and OutputStream respectively, or by reading the resulting document bytes from the OutputBytes property after the signing completes.

Having set up the input and output (unless using OutputBytes, which should be read later), call the component's Sign method, passing the desired signature level and type as parameters. This will initiate the signing process. Depending on the settings, the signing may be as straightforward as calculating the document hash and signing it with the private key (e.g. in CAdES-BES or B-B variant), or it may involve advanced chain validation routines (CAdES-XL or -A). During the latter the component may contact a number of external revocation information sources (CRL and OCSP servers) to establish the validity of the signing certificate.

If a TSA server was provided via the TimestampServer property, the component will contact it too to timestamp the new signature.

During the signing CAdESSigner may fire events to let your code know of certain conditions. It may fire TLSCertValidate if one of the HTTP endpoints involved in the operation (which may be a CRL, OCSP, or TSA service) works over TLS and needs its certificate to be validated.

Apart from signing, CAdESSigner can perform operations on signatures of other kinds. Use Upgrade method to upgrade an existing CAdES signature to a higher level (e.g. BES to XL). Use Timestamp to add a generic or validation timestamp to an existing signature. Use the Countersign method to add a countersignature to an existing signature. For any of these operations the input should constitute a valid CAdES signature.

External signing and DCAuth

CAdESSigner, like many other components offered by the product, supports two methods of signing with external keys. These methods are fully independent of each other: you can choose the one that suits your usage scenario best.

Synchronous method: ExternalSign

This is a simpler method that basically lets you infiltrate into the heart of the signing routine by taking care of the hash signing operation. The component does the rest of the job (hash calculation, preparation of signature objects, CRL/OCSP retrieval).

To initiate this method, call SignExternal instead of Sign. When the hash is ready, it will be passed back to your code with ExternalSign event. Your event handler needs to sign the hash with the private key and return the created signature back to the component - which will embed it into the document.

You don't need your signing certificate to contain an associated private key when using this method. The certificate itself (its public copy) may be needed though, as it is often included in the hash calculation.

This method is synchronous, meaning SignExternal provides you the results immediately upon its completion.

Asynchronous method: DCAuth

DCAuth is a SecureBlackbox-own know-how technology. This protocol was designed to allow sharing of private keys across environments, allowing the signer and the private key to reside on different systems. It works in the following way:

• The signing party - such as CAdESSigner - initiates the operation using SignAsyncBegin call. This produces two outcomes: a pre-signed document (a document with a blank signature placeholder), and a request state (an object containing a hash that needs to be signed). At this point the CAdESSigner instance can be released, and the process itself terminated (which may be useful when run as part of a web page).
• The request state is passed to the private key holder party. The private key holder passes the request state to a DCAuth object, which parses the request state, extracts the hash, and signs it. The output of DCAuth processing is another object, response state, which contains the signature. The private key holder then sends the response state back to the signing party.
• The signing party re-creates the controls, and passes the response state, together with the pre-signed version of the document, to the signer's SignAsyncEnd method. SignAsyncEnd extracts the signature from the response state and incorporates it into the pre-signed document.

This method is asynchronous in that sense that, from the signing party's viewpoint, it splits the signing operation into the pre-signing and completion stages which can be performed independently from each other and in different execution contexts. This makes this method particularly helpful for use in web pages and other scenarios where the signing key is not available in real time.

Fine-grained chain validation setup

Chain validation is a sophisticated, multi-faceted procedure that involves a lot of variables. Depending on the configuration of your operating environment, the specifics of the PKI framework being used, and the validation policy you need to follow, you may want to tune up your chain validation parameters so they fit them best. A summary of such parameters is given below.

• RevocationCheck lets you choose between and/or prioritize revocation origins. OCSP sources are often preferred to CRL because of their real-time capability and the smaller size of validation tokens they produce.
• OfflineMode is a master switch that stops the component from looking for any validation tokens online. If this property is switched on, the component will only use the KnownCertificates, TrustedCertificates, KnownCRLs, and KnownOCSPs collections to look for the missing validation material.
• IgnoreChainValidationErrors makes the component ignore any major validation issues it encounters (such us an untrusted chain or missing CRL). This option is handy for debugging and for creating signatures in the environments where the signing certificate is not trusted.
• KnownCertificates, KnownCRLs, and KnownOCSPs let you provide your own validation material. This may be useful when working in OfflineMode, where the signer has no access to the validation sources, or where the validation material has already been collected.
• TrustedCertificates lets you provide a list of trust anchors, either as a complement to the system's or as an alternative to it.
• BlockedCertificates lets you provide a list of blocked/distrusted certificates. Any CA certificate contained in it will be deemed untrusted/invalid.

The following parameters are not directly related to chain validation, but may have an implicit effect on it.

• Proxy, SocketSettings, and TLSSettings let you tune up the connectivity and TLS options in accordance with local preferences.
• TLSClientChain lets you provide the client certificate and its chain for TLS client authentication.
• Subscribe to TLSCertValidate to validate any TLS certificates of the services involved in chain validation.

The results of the chain validation procedure, upon its completion, are published in the following properties:

• ChainValidationResult contains the primary result of the chain validation routine: valid, valid but untrusted, invalid, or undefined.
• ChainValidationDetails provides the details of the factors that contributed to the chain validation result, such as an outdated certificate, a missing CRL, or a missing CA certificate.
• ValidationLog contains the detailed chain validation log. The log can often be very helpful in nailing down various validation issues.

Property List

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

BlockedCertificates Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The certificates that must be rejected as trust anchors.

Syntax

property BlockedCertificates: TsbxCertificateList read get_BlockedCertificates write set_BlockedCertificates;

Remarks

Use this property to provide a list of compromised or blocked certificates. Any chain containing a blocked certificate will fail validation.

This property is not available at design time.

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

ChainValidationDetails Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The details of a certificate chain validation outcome.

Syntax

property ChainValidationDetails: Integer read get_ChainValidationDetails;

Default Value

0

Remarks

Use the value(s) returned by this property to identify the reasons that contributed to the overall validation result.

Returns a bit mask of the following options:

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

ChainValidationResult Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The general outcome of a certificate chain validation routine. Use ChainValidationDetails to get information about the reasons that contributed to the validation result.

Syntax

property ChainValidationResult: TsbxChainValidities read get_ChainValidationResult;

TsbxChainValidities = (
  cvtValid,
  cvtValidButUntrusted,
  cvtInvalid,
  cvtCantBeEstablished
);

Default Value

cvtValid

Remarks

Available options:

Use the ValidationLog property to access the detailed validation log.

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

ClaimedSigningTime Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The signing time from the signer's computer.

Syntax

property ClaimedSigningTime: String read get_ClaimedSigningTime write set_ClaimedSigningTime;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to provide the signature production time. The claimed time is not supported by a trusted source; it may be inaccurate, forfeited, or wrong, and as such is usually taken for informational purposes only by verifiers. Use timestamp servers to embed verifiable trusted timestamps. The time is in UTC.

DataBytes Property (CAdESSigner Component)

A byte array containing the external data source.

Syntax

property DataBytes: TBytes read get_DataBytes write set_DataBytes;

Remarks

Use this property to provide external data source for detached signatures in the form of a byte array.

This property is not available at design time.

DataFile Property (CAdESSigner Component)

A path to a file containing an external data source.

Syntax

property DataFile: String read get_DataFile write set_DataFile;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to provide an external data source for detached signatures. This property should only be assigned when countersigning or timestamping existing detached signatures. In this case the detached signature should be provided via InputFile, and the corresponding detached data via this property.

ExternalCrypto Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Provides access to external signing and DC parameters.

Syntax

property ExternalCrypto: TsbxExternalCrypto read get_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.

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

FIPSMode Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Reserved.

Syntax

property FIPSMode: Boolean read get_FIPSMode write set_FIPSMode;

Default Value

false

Remarks

This property is reserved for future use.

HashAlgorithm Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Specifies the hash algorithm to be used.

Syntax

property HashAlgorithm: String read get_HashAlgorithm write set_HashAlgorithm;

Default Value

'SHA256'

Remarks

The hash algorithm provided will be used to compute the main message digest, as well as for obtaining auxiliary digests, such as a timestamp digest.

IgnoreChainValidationErrors Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Makes the component tolerant to chain validation errors.

Syntax

property IgnoreChainValidationErrors: Boolean read get_IgnoreChainValidationErrors write set_IgnoreChainValidationErrors;

Default Value

false

Remarks

If this property is set to True, any errors emerging during certificate chain validation will be ignored. This setting may be handy if the purpose of validation is the creation of an LTV signature, and the validation is performed in an environment that doesn't trust the signer's certificate chain.

InputBytes Property (CAdESSigner Component)

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

Syntax

property InputBytes: TBytes read get_InputBytes write set_InputBytes;

Remarks

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

This property is not available at design time.

InputFile Property (CAdESSigner Component)

A path to a file containing the data to be signed or updated.

Syntax

property InputFile: String read get_InputFile write set_InputFile;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to provide the data to work on. In case of the first-time signing, point this property to your data file. If countersigning, upgrading, or timestamping an existing signature, provide your existing signature file.

If updating a detached signature, you might need to provide the original data via DataFile property.

The data provided via this property can alternatively be provided from memory via InputStream property.

InputIsHash Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Specifies whether the input source contains the hash of the data or the actual data.

Syntax

property InputIsHash: Boolean read get_InputIsHash write set_InputIsHash;

Default Value

false

Remarks

Use this property to tell the component whether the input source contains the actual data or its hash.

This property is not available at design time.

KnownCertificates Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Additional certificates for chain validation.

Syntax

property KnownCertificates: TsbxCertificateList read get_KnownCertificates write set_KnownCertificates;

Remarks

Use this property to supply a list of additional certificates that might be needed for chain validation. An example of a scenario where you might want to do that is when intermediary CA certificates are absent from the standard system locations (or when there are no standard system locations), and therefore should be supplied to the component manually.

The purpose of the certificates to be added to this collection is roughly equivalent to that of the Intermediate Certification Authorities system store in Windows.

Do not add trust anchors or root certificates to this collection: add them to TrustedCertificates instead.

This property is not available at design time.

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

KnownCRLs Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Additional CRLs for chain validation.

Syntax

property KnownCRLs: TsbxCRLList read get_KnownCRLs write set_KnownCRLs;

Remarks

Use this property to supply additional CRLs that might be needed for chain validation. This property may be helpful when a chain is validated in offline mode, and the associated CRLs are stored separately from the signed message or document.

This property is not available at design time.

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

KnownOCSPs Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Additional OCSP responses for chain validation.

Syntax

property KnownOCSPs: TsbxOCSPResponseList read get_KnownOCSPs write set_KnownOCSPs;

Remarks

Use this property to supply additional OCSP responses that might be needed for chain validation. This property may be helpful when a chain is validated in offline mode, and the associated OCSP responses are stored separately from the signed message or document.

This property is not available at design time.

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

OfflineMode Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Switches the component to offline mode.

Syntax

property OfflineMode: Boolean read get_OfflineMode write set_OfflineMode;

Default Value

false

Remarks

When working in offline mode, the component restricts itself from using any online revocation information sources, such as CRL or OCSP responders.

Offline mode may be useful if there is a need to verify the completeness of the validation information included within the signature or provided via KnownCertificates, KnownCRLs, and other related properties.

OutputBytes Property (CAdESSigner Component)

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

Syntax

property OutputBytes: TBytes read get_OutputBytes;

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 (CAdESSigner Component)

A file where the signed data is to be saved.

Syntax

property OutputFile: String read get_OutputFile write set_OutputFile;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to provide a path to the file where to save the resulting signed message.

PolicyHash Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The signature policy hash value.

Syntax

property PolicyHash: String read get_PolicyHash write set_PolicyHash;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to set the signature policy hash for EPES signatures

PolicyHashAlgorithm Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The algorithm that was used to calculate the signature policy hash.

Syntax

property PolicyHashAlgorithm: String read get_PolicyHashAlgorithm write set_PolicyHashAlgorithm;

Default Value

'SHA256'

Remarks

Use this property to specify the hash algorithm that was used to calculate the signature policy hash. Assign the actual hash value to PolicyHash.

PolicyID Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The policy ID to be included into the signature.

Syntax

property PolicyID: String read get_PolicyID write set_PolicyID;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to specify the signature policy identifier for EPES signatures.

PolicyURI Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The signature policy URI to be included in the signature.

Syntax

property PolicyURI: String read get_PolicyURI write set_PolicyURI;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to specify the URI of the signature policy for EPES signatures.

Profile Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Specifies a pre-defined profile to apply when creating the signature.

Syntax

property Profile: String read get_Profile write set_Profile;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Advanced signatures come in many variants, which are often defined by parties that needs to process them or by local standards. SecureBlackbox profiles are sets of pre-defined configurations which correspond to particular signature variants. By specifying a profile, you are pre-configuring the component to make it produce the signature that matches the configuration corresponding to that profile.

Proxy Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The proxy server settings.

Syntax

property Proxy: TsbxProxySettings read get_Proxy;

Remarks

Use this property to tune up the proxy server settings.

This property is read-only.

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

RevocationCheck Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Specifies the kind(s) of revocation check to perform for all chain certificates.

Syntax

property RevocationCheck: TsbxRevocationCheckKinds read get_RevocationCheck write set_RevocationCheck;

TsbxRevocationCheckKinds = (
  crcNone,
  crcAuto,
  crcAllCRL,
  crcAllOCSP,
  crcAllCRLAndOCSP,
  crcAnyCRL,
  crcAnyOCSP,
  crcAnyCRLOrOCSP,
  crcAnyOCSPOrCRL
);

Default Value

crcAuto

Remarks

Revocation checking is necessary to ensure the integrity of the chain and obtain up-to-date certificate validity and trustworthiness information.

Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs) and Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responses serve the same purpose of ensuring that the certificate had not been revoked by the Certificate Authority (CA) at the time of use. Depending on your circumstances and security policy requirements, you may want to use either one or both of the revocation information source types.

This setting controls the way the revocation checks are performed for every certificate in the chain. Typically certificates come with two types of revocation information sources: CRL (certificate revocation lists) and OCSP responders. CRLs are static objects periodically published by the CA at some online location. OCSP responders are active online services maintained by the CA that can provide up-to-date information on certificate statuses in near real time.

There are some conceptual differences between the two. CRLs are normally larger in size. Their use involves some latency because there is normally some delay between the time when a certificate was revoked and the time the subsequent CRL mentioning that is published. The benefits of CRL is that the same object can provide statuses for all certificates issued by a particular CA, and that the whole technology is much simpler than OCSP (and thus is supported by more CAs).

This setting lets you adjust the validation course by including or excluding certain types of revocation sources from the validation process. The crcAnyOCSPOrCRL setting (give preference to the faster OCSP route and only demand one source to succeed) is a good choice for most typical validation environments. The 'crcAll*' modes are much stricter, and may be used in scenarios where bulletproof validity information is essential.

Note: If no CRL or OCSP endpoints are provided by the CA, the revocation check will be considered successful. This is because the CA chose not to supply revocation information for its certificates, meaning they are considered irrevocable.

Note: Within each of the above settings, if any retrieved CRL or OCSP response indicates that the certificate has been revoked, the revocation check fails.

SignatureIndex Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The index of the signature to update.

Syntax

property SignatureIndex: Integer read get_SignatureIndex write set_SignatureIndex;

Default Value

0

Remarks

Use this property to specify the index of the existing signature before timestamping or countersigning it.

SignedAttributes Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Custom signature attributes to be covered by the electronic signature.

Syntax

property SignedAttributes: TsbxSignatureAttributeList read get_SignedAttributes;

Remarks

Signature attributes are used to store auxiliary information in the signature. Values included as signed attributes are covered by the signature.

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

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

SigningCertificate Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The certificate to be used for signing.

Syntax

property SigningCertificate: TsbxCertificate read get_SigningCertificate write set_SigningCertificate;

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.

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

SigningChain Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The signing certificate chain.

Syntax

property SigningChain: TsbxCertificateList read get_SigningChain write set_SigningChain;

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.

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

SocketSettings Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Manages network connection settings.

Syntax

property SocketSettings: TsbxSocketSettings read get_SocketSettings;

Remarks

Use this property to tune up network connection parameters.

This property is read-only.

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

TimestampServer Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The address of the timestamping server.

Syntax

property TimestampServer: String read get_TimestampServer write set_TimestampServer;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to provide the address of the Time Stamping Authority (TSA) server to be used for timestamping the signature.

SecureBlackbox supports RFC3161-compliant timestamping servers, available via HTTP or HTTPS.

If your timestamping service enforces credential-based user authentication (basic or digest), you can provide the credentials in the same URL:

http://user:password@timestamp.server.com/TsaService

For TSAs using certificate-based TLS authentication, provide the client certificate via the TLSClientChain property.

If this property is left empty, no timestamp will be added to the signature.

Starting from summer 2021 update (Vol. 2), the virtual timestamping service is supported, which allows you to intervene in the timestamping routine and provide your own handling for the TSA exchange. This may be handy if the service that you are requesting timestamps from uses a non-standard TSP protocol or requires special authentication option.

To employ the virtual service, assign an URI of the following format to this property:

virtual://localhost?hashonly=true&includecerts=true&reqpolicy=1.2.3.4.5&halg=SHA256

Subscribe to Notification event to get notified about the virtualized timestamping event. The EventID of the timestamping event is TimestampRequest. Inside the event handler, read the base16-encoded request from the EventParam parameter and forward it to the timestamping authority. Upon receiving the response, pass it back to the component, encoded in base16, via the TimestampResponse config property:

component.Config("TimestampResponse=308208ab...");

Note that all the exchange with your custom TSA should take place within the same invocation of the Notification event.

The hashonly parameter of the virtual URI tells the component to only return the timestamp message imprint via the EventParam parameter. If set to false, EventParam will contain the complete RFC3161 timestamping request.

The includecerts parameter specifies that the requestCertificates parameter of the timestamping request should be set to true.

The reqpolicy parameter lets you specify the request policy, and the halg parameter specifies the hash algorithm to use for timestamping.

All the parameters are optional.

TLSClientChain Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The TLS client certificate chain.

Syntax

property TLSClientChain: TsbxCertificateList read get_TLSClientChain write set_TLSClientChain;

Remarks

Assign a certificate chain to this property to enable TLS client authentication in the component. Note that the client's end-entity certificate should have a private key associated with it.

Use the CertificateStorage or CertificateManager components to import the certificate from a file, system store, or PKCS11 device.

This property is not available at design time.

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

TLSServerChain Property (CAdESSigner Component)

The TLS server's certificate chain.

Syntax

property TLSServerChain: TsbxCertificateList read get_TLSServerChain;

Remarks

Use this property to access the certificate chain sent by the TLS server. This property is ready to read when the TLSCertValidate event is fired by the client component.

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

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

TLSSettings Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Manages TLS layer settings.

Syntax

property TLSSettings: TsbxTLSSettings read get_TLSSettings;

Remarks

Use this property to tune up the TLS layer parameters.

This property is read-only.

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

TrustedCertificates Property (CAdESSigner Component)

A list of trusted certificates for chain validation.

Syntax

property TrustedCertificates: TsbxCertificateList read get_TrustedCertificates write set_TrustedCertificates;

Remarks

Use this property to supply a list of trusted certificates that might be needed for chain validation. An example of a scenario where you might want to do that is when root CA certificates are absent from the standard system locations (or when there are no standard system locations), and therefore should be supplied to the component manually.

The purpose of this certificate collection is largely the same as that of the Windows Trusted Root Certification Authorities system store.

Use this property with extreme care as it directly affects chain verifiability; a wrong certificate added to the trusted list may result in bad chains being accepted, and forfeited signatures being recognized as genuine. Only add certificates that originate from the parties that you know and trust.

This property is not available at design time.

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

UnsignedAttributes Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Custom unsigned attributes to be included in the electronic signature.

Syntax

property UnsignedAttributes: TsbxSignatureAttributeList read get_UnsignedAttributes;

Remarks

Signature attributes are used to store auxiliary information in the signature. Values included as unsigned attributes are not covered by the signature and can be changed or removed without affecting the signature.

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

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

ValidationLog Property (CAdESSigner Component)

Contains the complete log of the certificate validation routine.

Syntax

property ValidationLog: String read get_ValidationLog;

Default Value

''

Remarks

Use this property to access the chain validation log produced by the component. The log can be very useful when investigating issues with chain validation, as it contains a step-by-step trace of the entire validation procedure.

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

Archive Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Archives the signature.

Syntax

procedure Archive(Baseline: Boolean);

Remarks

Call this method to produce an archival signature. Archival signature (CAdES-A) is built on top of CAdES-XL by certifying it with an archival timestamp.

Set Baseline to True to produce a baseline CAdES-A.

Config Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

function Config(ConfigurationString: String): 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.

Countersign Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Countersigns the existing signature.

Syntax

procedure Countersign(Level: Integer; SerialSignature: Boolean);

Remarks

Use this method to countersign a signature. Use the Level parameter to provide the desired CAdES level (see below).

SerialSignature specifies whether the new countersignature should be added on the same level of hierarchy as the original signature (signature-over-data, True), or as a true countersignature (signature-over-signature, False).

CAdES defines a number of different 'levels' of signatures. Supported signature levels:

CountersignAsyncBegin Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Initiates asynchronous (DC) countersigning.

Syntax

function CountersignAsyncBegin(Level: Integer; SerialSignature: Boolean): String;

Remarks

Call this method to initiate an asynchronous signing process. Pass the obtained async state to the DC processor for signing. To finalize the signing, pass the async state received from the DC processor to SignAsyncEnd.

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.

Set Detached to true to generate a detached signature (stored as a separate file).

CAdES defines a number of different 'levels' of signatures. Supported signature levels:

CountersignAsyncEnd Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Completes the asynchronous countersigning operation.

Syntax

procedure CountersignAsyncEnd(AsyncReply: 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 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.

CountersignExternal Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Countersigns the existing signature using an external signing facility.

Syntax

procedure CountersignExternal(Level: Integer; SerialSignature: Boolean);

Remarks

Use this method to countersign a signature. Use the Level parameter to provide the desired CAdES level (see below). SerialSignature specifies whether the new countersignature should be added on the same level of hierarchy as the original signature (signature-over-data, True), or as a true countersignature (signature-over-signature, False).

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 the hash is computed, the component fires ExternalSign event which allows to pass the hash value to the external engine for signing.

CAdES defines a number of different 'levels' of signatures. Supported signature levels:

DoAction Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Performs an additional action.

Syntax

function DoAction(ActionID: String; ActionParams: String): 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 (CAdESSigner Component)

Extracts user data from the DC signing service response.

Syntax

function ExtractAsyncData(AsyncReply: String): 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 (CAdESSigner Component)

Creates a new CAdES signature over the provided data.

Syntax

procedure Sign(Level: Integer; Detached: Boolean);

Remarks

Call this method to produce a new signature of the needed Level over the provided data. Set Detached to true to generate a detached signature (stored as a separate file and not including the data).

CAdES standard defines a number of different 'levels' of signatures. Supported signature levels:

SignAsyncBegin Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Initiates asynchronous (DC) signing.

Syntax

function SignAsyncBegin(Level: Integer; Detached: Boolean): String;

Remarks

Call this method to initiate an asynchronous signing process. Pass the obtained async state to the DC processor for signing. To finalize the signing, pass the async state received from the DC processor to SignAsyncEnd.

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.

Set Detached to true to generate a detached signature (stored as a separate file).

CAdES defines a number of different 'levels' of signatures. Supported signature levels:

SignAsyncEnd Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Completes the asynchronous signing operation.

Syntax

procedure SignAsyncEnd(AsyncReply: 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 (CAdESSigner Component)

Signs the document using an external signing facility.

Syntax

procedure SignExternal(Level: Integer; Detached: Boolean);

Remarks

Use this method to create a CAdES signature using an external signing facility for the cryptographic computations. SignRemote delegates 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.

Set Detached to True to generate a detached (stored in a separate message) signature.

CAdES defines a number of different 'levels' of signatures. Supported signature levels:

Timestamp Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Adds a timestamp to the signature.

Syntax

procedure Timestamp(TimestampType: Integer);

Remarks

Call this method to add a timestamp to the signature.

Supported values:

Upgrade Method (CAdESSigner Component)

Upgrades existing CAdES to a new level.

Syntax

procedure Upgrade(ToLevel: Integer);

Remarks

CMS Advanced Electronic Signatures (CAdES) standard defines a number of different 'levels' of signatures which can be used for different purposes. Use this method to upgrade CAdES to a new level specified by ToLevel. Signatures can normally be upgraded from less sophisticated levels (BES, EPES) to more sophisticated (T, XL, A).

Supported levels:

ChainElementDownload Event (CAdESSigner Component)

Fires when there is a need to download a chain element from an online source.

Syntax

type TChainElementDownloadEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  Kind: Integer;
  const CertRDN: String;
  const CACertRDN: String;
  const Location: String;
  var Action: Integer
) of Object;

property OnChainElementDownload: TChainElementDownloadEvent read FOnChainElementDownload write FOnChainElementDownload;

Remarks

Subscribe to this event to be notified about validation element retrievals. Use the Action parameter to suppress the download if required.

ChainElementNeeded Event (CAdESSigner Component)

Fires when an element required to validate the chain was not located.

Syntax

type TChainElementNeededEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  Kind: Integer;
  const CertRDN: String;
  const CACertRDN: String
) of Object;

property OnChainElementNeeded: TChainElementNeededEvent read FOnChainElementNeeded write FOnChainElementNeeded;

Remarks

Subscribe to this event to be notified about missing validation elements. Use the KnownCRLs, KnownCertificates, and KnownOCSPs properties in the event handler to provide the missing piece.

ChainValidationProgress Event (CAdESSigner Component)

This event is fired multiple times during chain validation to report various stages of the validation procedure.

Syntax

type TChainValidationProgressEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const EventKind: String;
  const CertRDN: String;
  const CACertRDN: String;
  var Action: Integer
) of Object;

property OnChainValidationProgress: TChainValidationProgressEvent read FOnChainValidationProgress write FOnChainValidationProgress;

Remarks

Subscribe to this event to be notified about chain validation progress. Use the Action parameter to alter the validation flow.

The EventKind parameter reports the nature of the event being reported. The CertRDN and CACertRDN parameters report the distinguished names of the certificates that are relevant for the event invocation (one or both can be empty, depending on EventKind). Use the Action parameter to adjust the validation flow.

Error Event (CAdESSigner Component)

Information about errors during CAdES signing.

Syntax

type TErrorEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  ErrorCode: Integer;
  const Description: String
) of Object;

property OnError: TErrorEvent read FOnError write FOnError;

Remarks

The event is fired in case of exceptional conditions during message processing.

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

ExternalSign Event (CAdESSigner Component)

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

Syntax

type TExternalSignEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const OperationId: String;
  const HashAlgorithm: String;
  const Pars: String;
  const Data: String;
  var SignedData: String
) of Object;

property OnExternalSign: TExternalSignEvent read FOnExternalSign write FOnExternalSign;

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 (CAdESSigner Component)

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

Syntax

type TNotificationEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const EventID: String;
  const EventParam: String
) of Object;

property OnNotification: TNotificationEvent read FOnNotification write FOnNotification;

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:

TimestampRequest Event (CAdESSigner Component)

Fires when the component is ready to request a timestamp from an external TSA.

Syntax

type TTimestampRequestEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const TSA: String;
  const TimestampRequest: String;
  var TimestampResponse: String;
  var SuppressDefault: Boolean
) of Object;

property OnTimestampRequest: TTimestampRequestEvent read FOnTimestampRequest write FOnTimestampRequest;

Remarks

Subscribe to this event to intercept timestamp requests. You can use it to override timestamping requests and perform them in your code.

The TSA parameter indicates the timestamping service being used. It matches the value passed to the TimestampServer property. Set the SuppressDefault parameter to false if you would like to stop the built-in TSA request from going ahead. The built-in TSA request is also not performed if the returned TimestampResponse parameter is not empty.

TLSCertNeeded Event (CAdESSigner Component)

Fires when a remote TLS party requests a client certificate.

Syntax

type TTLSCertNeededEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const Host: String;
  const CANames: String
) of Object;

property OnTLSCertNeeded: TTLSCertNeededEvent read FOnTLSCertNeeded write FOnTLSCertNeeded;

Remarks

This event fires to notify the implementation that a remote TLS server has requested a client certificate. The Host parameter identifies the host that makes a request, and the CANames parameter (optional, according to the TLS spec) advises on the accepted issuing CAs.

Use the TLSClientChain property in response to this event to provide the requested certificate. Please make sure the client certificate includes the associated private key. Note that you may set the certificates before the connection without waiting for this event to fire.

This event is preceded by the TLSHandshake event for the given host and, if the certificate was accepted, succeeded by the TLSEstablished event.

TLSCertValidate Event (CAdESSigner Component)

This event is fired upon receipt of the TLS server's certificate, allowing the user to control its acceptance.

Syntax

type TTLSCertValidateEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const ServerHost: String;
  const ServerIP: String;
  var Accept: Boolean
) of Object;

property OnTLSCertValidate: TTLSCertValidateEvent read FOnTLSCertValidate write FOnTLSCertValidate;

Remarks

This event is fired during a TLS handshake. Use the TLSServerChain property to access the certificate chain. In general, components may contact a number of TLS endpoints during their work, depending on their configuration.

Accept is assigned in accordance with the outcome of the internal validation check performed by the component, and can be adjusted if needed.

TLSEstablished Event (CAdESSigner Component)

Fires when a TLS handshake with Host successfully completes.

Syntax

type TTLSEstablishedEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const Host: String;
  const Version: String;
  const Ciphersuite: String;
  ConnectionId: TBytes;
  var Abort: Boolean
) of Object;

property OnTLSEstablished: TTLSEstablishedEvent read FOnTLSEstablished write FOnTLSEstablished;

Remarks

The component uses this event to notify the application about a successful completion of a TLS handshake.

The Version, Ciphersuite, and ConnectionId parameters indicate the security parameters of the new connection. Use the Abort parameter if you need to terminate the connection at this stage.

TLSHandshake Event (CAdESSigner Component)

Fires when a new TLS handshake is initiated, before the handshake commences.

Syntax

type TTLSHandshakeEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const Host: String;
  var Abort: Boolean
) of Object;

property OnTLSHandshake: TTLSHandshakeEvent read FOnTLSHandshake write FOnTLSHandshake;

Remarks

The component uses this event to notify the application about the start of a new TLS handshake to Host. If the handshake is successful, this event will be followed by the TLSEstablished event. If the server chooses to request a client certificate, the TLSCertNeeded event will also be fired.

TLSShutdown Event (CAdESSigner Component)

Reports the graceful closure of a TLS connection.

Syntax

type TTLSShutdownEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  const Host: String
) of Object;

property OnTLSShutdown: TTLSShutdownEvent read FOnTLSShutdown write FOnTLSShutdown;

Remarks

This event notifies the application about the closure of an earlier established TLS connection. Note that only graceful connection closures are reported.

Certificate Type

Provides details of an individual X.509 certificate.

Remarks

This type provides access to X.509 certificate details.

Fields

Constructors

>

constructor Create();

Creates a new object with default field values.

CRL Type

Represents a Certificate Revocation List.

Remarks

CRLs store information about revoked certificates, i.e., certificates that have been identified as invalid by their issuing certificate authority (CA) for any number of reasons.

Each CRL object lists certificates from a single CA and identifies them by their serial numbers. A CA may or may not publish a CRL, may publish several CRLs, or may publish the same CRL in multiple locations.

Unlike OCSP responses, CRLs only list certificates that have been revoked. They do not list certificates that are still valid.

Fields

Constructors

>

constructor Create();

Creates an empty CRL object.

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

>

constructor Create();

Creates a new ExternalCrypto object with default field values.

OCSPResponse Type

Represents a single OCSP response originating from an OCSP responder.

Remarks

OCSP is a protocol that allows verification of certificate status in real-time, and is an alternative to Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs).

An OCSP response is a snapshot of the certificate status at a given time.

Fields

Constructors

>

constructor Create();

Creates an empty OCSP response object.

ProxySettings Type

A container for proxy server settings.

Remarks

This type exposes a collection of properties for tuning up the proxy server configuration.

Fields

Constructors

>

constructor Create();

Creates a new ProxySettings object.

SignatureAttribute Type

Represents an attribute of a digital PKCS#7/CMS signature.

Remarks

Attributes store auxiliary information about the signed message, the signature, or the owner. Each attribute is a OID=Value pair.

Common attributes are signing time, a content type, a policy identifier, and a signature timestamp.

Fields

Constructors

>

constructor Create();

Creates a new, empty, signature attribute.

SocketSettings Type

A container for the socket settings.

Remarks

This type is a container for socket-layer parameters.

Fields

Constructors

>

constructor Create();

Creates a new SocketSettings object.

TLSSettings Type

A container for TLS connection settings.

Remarks

The TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol provides security for information exchanged over insecure connections such as TCP/IP.

Fields

Constructors

>

constructor Create();

Creates a new TLSSettings object.

Config Settings (CAdESSigner 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.

CAdESSigner Config Settings

Base Config Settings

Trappable Errors (CAdESSigner Component)

CAdESSigner 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)