PasswordVault Class

Properties   Methods   Events   Config Settings   Errors  

The PasswordVault class implements a vault for keeping passwords and other sensitive properties.

Syntax

secureblackbox.PasswordVault

Remarks

Use this component to keep passwords and other settings in secure manner.

Property List

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

Method List

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

Event List

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

Config Settings

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

Description Property (PasswordVault Class)

The description of the vault.

Syntax

public String getDescription();
public void setDescription(String description);

Default Value

""

Remarks

Use this property to provide a textual description (comment) for the vault. This value is not encrypted even if the vault is.

EntryKey Property (PasswordVault Class)

Provides an encryption key for the current entry.

Syntax

public byte[] getEntryKey();
public void setEntryKey(byte[] entryKey);

Remarks

Use this property to provide the encryption/decryption key for the current entry. This property is typically assigned from the EntryKeyNeeded event handler.

This property is automatically generated when a non-empty password is assigned to the EntryPassword property. This is because all entries, and the vault itself, are always encrypted with cryptographically strong keys, and if the user decides to use a password, it is converted to such key using a secure PBKDF function.

This property is not available at design time.

EntryPassword Property (PasswordVault Class)

Provides an encryption password for the current entry.

Syntax

public String getEntryPassword();
public void setEntryPassword(String entryPassword);

Default Value

""

Remarks

Use this property to provide the encryption/decryption password for the current entry. This property is typically assigned from the EntryKeyNeeded event handler.

See a comment in the EntryKey topic to find out how the passwords are used when encrypting entries.

FIPSMode Property (PasswordVault Class)

Reserved.

Syntax

public boolean isFIPSMode();
public void setFIPSMode(boolean FIPSMode);

Default Value

False

Remarks

This property is reserved for future use.

Key Property (PasswordVault Class)

Provides an encryption key for the vault.

Syntax

public byte[] getKey();
public void setKey(byte[] key);

Remarks

Use this property to provide the 'master' key for the vault file. This property can be assigned from the KeyNeeded event handler.

The content of this property is automatically generated when a non-empty password is assigned to the Password property. This is because the vault file are always encrypted with a cryptographically strong key, and if the user decides to use a password, it is converted to such key using a secure PBKDF function first.

This property is not available at design time.

Password Property (PasswordVault Class)

Provides an encryption password for the vault file.

Syntax

public String getPassword();
public void setPassword(String password);

Default Value

""

Remarks

Use this property to provide the master password for the vault file. This property can be assigned from the KeyNeeded event handler.

See a comment in the Key topic to learn how the passwords are used when encrypting the vault file.

PlatformProtection Property (PasswordVault Class)

Enables platform-based protection of the master key.

Syntax

public boolean isPlatformProtection();
public void setPlatformProtection(boolean platformProtection);

Default Value

False

Remarks

Use this property to enable the platform-based protection for the main encryption key. The platform protection is currently only available on Windows, in the form of DPAPI in unmanaged editions, or ProtectedData in .NET Framework.

Title Property (PasswordVault Class)

The title of the vault.

Syntax

public String getTitle();
public void setTitle(String title);

Default Value

""

Remarks

Use this property to provide a title for your vault storage. This value is not encrypted event if the vault itself is.

AddEntry Method (PasswordVault Class)

Adds an entry to the vault.

Syntax

public void addEntry(String entryName);

Remarks

Use this method to add a new entry to the vault. Use SetEntryValue or SetEntryValueStr to assign a value to the new entry.

ChangeEntryKey Method (PasswordVault Class)

Changes the entry's encryption key.

Syntax

public void changeEntryKey(String entryName, byte[] newKey);

Remarks

Use this method to change the entry's encryption key. This method may invoke the EntryKeyNeeded event to request the existing key if the entry was previously encrypted.

ChangeEntryPassword Method (PasswordVault Class)

Changes the entry's encryption password.

Syntax

public void changeEntryPassword(String entryName, String newPassword);

Remarks

Use this method to change the entry's encryption password. This method may invoke the EntryKeyNeeded event to request the existing key if the entry was previously encrypted.

Note that all entries, and the vault itself, are encrypted with cryptographic keys, rather than passwords. When you change an entry's encryption password, you are implicitly changing its encryption key, which is derived from the password using a cryptographically secure key derivation function.

Close Method (PasswordVault Class)

Closes the vault file.

Syntax

public void close();

Remarks

Use this method to close the vault file.

Config Method (PasswordVault Class)

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

public String config(String configurationString);

Remarks

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

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

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

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

CreateNew Method (PasswordVault Class)

Creates a new password vault.

Syntax

public void createNew();

Remarks

This method resets the component state and initializes a fresh password vault object.

DoAction Method (PasswordVault Class)

Performs an additional action.

Syntax

public String doAction(String actionID, String actionParams);

Remarks

DoAction is a generic method available in every class. 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;....

Common ActionIDs:

GetEntryValue Method (PasswordVault Class)

Returns the content stored in one of the entry fields as a byte array.

Syntax

public byte[] getEntryValue(String entryName, String fieldName);

Remarks

Use this method to obtain the content stored in the FieldName field of the EntryName entry in the form of a byte array. Use GetEntryValueStr to retrieve the content as a string.

GetEntryValueStr Method (PasswordVault Class)

Returns the content stored in a field of the entry as a string.

Syntax

public String getEntryValueStr(String entryName, String fieldName);

Remarks

Call this method to obtain the data associated with the FieldName field of the EntryName entry in the string form.

ListEntries Method (PasswordVault Class)

Returns a list of entries stored in the vault.

Syntax

public String listEntries();

Remarks

Use this method to retrieve a list of entries stored in the currently opened vault file.

ListFields Method (PasswordVault Class)

Returns a list of fields contained in the entry.

Syntax

public String listFields(String entryName, boolean includeEncrypted);

Remarks

Use this method to obtain a list of fields contained in the EntryName entry. The IncludeEncrypted parameter specifies whether to include encrypted entries in the list.

OpenBytes Method (PasswordVault Class)

Loads vault content from a byte array.

Syntax

public void openBytes(byte[] vaultBytes);

Remarks

Use this method to load the vault from a byte array.

OpenFile Method (PasswordVault Class)

Opens a vault file.

Syntax

public void openFile(String fileName);

Remarks

Use this method to open a vault file.

OpenStream Method (PasswordVault Class)

Loads vault data from a stream.

Syntax

public void openStream(java.io.InputStream vaultStream);

Remarks

Use this method to load vault data from a stream.

RemoveAllEntries Method (PasswordVault Class)

Removes all entries from a vault.

Syntax

public void removeAllEntries();

Remarks

Use this method to remove all entries from the currently opened vault.

RemoveEntry Method (PasswordVault Class)

Removes an entry from the vault.

Syntax

public void removeEntry(String entryName);

Remarks

Use this method to remove (delete) the EntryName entry from the vault.

RemoveField Method (PasswordVault Class)

Removes an entry field.

Syntax

public void removeField(String entryName, String fieldName);

Remarks

Use this method to remove an entry field FieldName from the entry EntryName.

Reset Method (PasswordVault Class)

Resets the class settings.

Syntax

public void reset();

Remarks

Reset is a generic method available in every class.

SaveBytes Method (PasswordVault Class)

Saves the vault contents to a byte array.

Syntax

public byte[] saveBytes();

Remarks

Use this method to save the vault contents to a byte array.

SaveFile Method (PasswordVault Class)

Saves the vault contents to a file.

Syntax

public void saveFile(String fileName);

Remarks

Use this method to save the contents of the password vault to a file.

SaveStream Method (PasswordVault Class)

Saves the vault contents to a stream.

Syntax

public void saveStream(java.io.OutputStream vaultStream);

Remarks

Use this method to save the contents of the password vault to a stream.

SetEntryValue Method (PasswordVault Class)

Assigns a value to an entry field.

Syntax

public void setEntryValue(String entryName, String fieldName, byte[] fieldValue, boolean encrypted);

Remarks

Use this method to assign a value to a field of a vault entry. Use EntryName to identify the entry, and provide the field's name and value via FieldName and FieldValue parameters respectively. Set Encrypted to true to indicate that the field should be encrypted.

SetEntryValueStr Method (PasswordVault Class)

Assigns a value to an entry field.

Syntax

public void setEntryValueStr(String entryName, String fieldName, String fieldValueStr, boolean encrypted);

Remarks

Use this method to assign a string value to a field of a vault entry. Use EntryName to identify the entry, and provide the field's name and value via FieldName and FieldValueStr parameters respectively. Set Encrypted to true to indicate that the field should be encrypted.

EntryKeyNeeded Event (PasswordVault Class)

This event is fired to request an entry encryption/decryption key from the application.

Syntax

public class DefaultPasswordVaultEventListener implements PasswordVaultEventListener {
  ...
  public void entryKeyNeeded(PasswordVaultEntryKeyNeededEvent e) {}
  ...
}

public class PasswordVaultEntryKeyNeededEvent {
  public String entryName;
  public boolean cancel; //read-write
}

Remarks

The class fires this event when a key is needed to encrypt or decrypt an entry. The EntryName parameter provides the name of the entry.

The handler of this event should assign the password or key to be used to EntryPassword or EntryKey property respectively. Set Cancel to true to abort the operation.

Error Event (PasswordVault Class)

Informs about errors during cryptographic operations.

Syntax

public class DefaultPasswordVaultEventListener implements PasswordVaultEventListener {
  ...
  public void error(PasswordVaultErrorEvent e) {}
  ...
}

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

Remarks

Class 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.

KeyNeeded Event (PasswordVault Class)

This event is fired to request a vault encryption/decryption key from the application.

Syntax

public class DefaultPasswordVaultEventListener implements PasswordVaultEventListener {
  ...
  public void keyNeeded(PasswordVaultKeyNeededEvent e) {}
  ...
}

public class PasswordVaultKeyNeededEvent {
  public boolean cancel; //read-write
}

Remarks

Class fires this event to request a vault encryption key from the application. Note that this is not the same as entry encryption key, which is requested by EntryKeyNeeded. The key requested by this event is used to encrypt or decrypt the whole vault.

The handler of this event should assign the password or key to be used to Password or Key property respectively. Set Cancel to true to abort the operation.

Notification Event (PasswordVault Class)

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

Syntax

public class DefaultPasswordVaultEventListener implements PasswordVaultEventListener {
  ...
  public void notification(PasswordVaultNotificationEvent e) {}
  ...
}

public class PasswordVaultNotificationEvent {
  public String eventID;
  public String eventParam;
}

Remarks

The class fires this event to let the application know about some event, occurrence, or milestone in the class. 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 class, the exact action it is performing, or the document being processed, one or both may be omitted.

Config Settings (PasswordVault Class)

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

PasswordVault Config Settings

Base Config Settings

Trappable Errors (PasswordVault Class)

PasswordVault Errors