Java Doc for CertificateFactory.java in  » 6.0-JDK-Core » security » java » security » cert » Java Source Code / Java DocumentationJava Source Code and Java Documentation

For encodings consisting of multiple certificates, use generateCertificates when you want to parse a collection of possibly unrelated certificates. Otherwise, use generateCertPath when you want to generate a CertPath (a certificate chain) and subsequently validate it with a CertPathValidator.

A certificate factory for X.509 must return certificates that are an instance of java.security.cert.X509Certificate, and CRLs that are an instance of java.security.cert.X509CRL.

The following example reads a file with Base64 encoded certificates, which are each bounded at the beginning by -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----, and bounded at the end by -----END CERTIFICATE-----. We convert the FileInputStream (which does not support mark and reset) to a BufferedInputStream (which supports those methods), so that each call to generateCertificate consumes only one certificate, and the read position of the input stream is positioned to the next certificate in the file:

 FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(filename);
 BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream(fis);
 CertificateFactory cf = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");
 while (bis.available() > 0) {
 Certificate cert = cf.generateCertificate(bis);
 System.out.println(cert.toString());
 }
 

The following example parses a PKCS#7-formatted certificate reply stored in a file and extracts all the certificates from it:

 FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(filename);
 CertificateFactory cf = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");
 Collection c = cf.generateCertificates(fis);
 Iterator i = c.iterator();
 while (i.hasNext()) {
 Certificate cert = (Certificate)i.next();
 System.out.println(cert);
 }
 

In order to take advantage of the specialized CRL format supported by this certificate factory, the returned CRL object can be typecast to the corresponding CRL class.

In order to take advantage of the specialized CRL format supported by this certificate factory, each element in the returned collection view can be typecast to the corresponding CRL class.

The certificates supplied must be of a type supported by the CertificateFactory.

In order to take advantage of the specialized certificate format supported by this certificate factory, the returned certificate object can be typecast to the corresponding certificate class.

In order to take advantage of the specialized certificate format supported by this certificate factory, each element in the returned collection view can be typecast to the corresponding certificate class.

This method traverses the list of registered security Providers, starting with the most preferred Provider. A new CertificateFactory object encapsulating the CertificateFactorySpi implementation from the first Provider that supports the specified type is returned.

Note that the list of registered providers may be retrieved via the Security.getProviders Security.getProviders() method.
Parameters:
  type - the name of the requested certificate type.See Appendix A in the Java Cryptography Architecture API Specification & Reference for information about standard certificate types.

A new CertificateFactory object encapsulating the CertificateFactorySpi implementation from the specified provider is returned.

A new CertificateFactory object encapsulating the CertificateFactorySpi implementation from the specified Provider object is returned.

In order to take advantage of the specialized CRL format supported by this certificate factory, the returned CRL object can be typecast to the corresponding CRL class. For example, if this certificate factory implements X.509 CRLs, the returned CRL object can be typecast to the X509CRL class.

Note that if the given input stream does not support java.io.InputStream.mark(int) mark and java.io.InputStream.reset reset , this method will consume the entire input stream. Otherwise, each call to this method consumes one CRL and the read position of the input stream is positioned to the next available byte after the the inherent end-of-CRL marker. If the data in the input stream does not contain an inherent end-of-CRL marker (other than EOF) and there is trailing data after the CRL is parsed, a CRLException is thrown.
Parameters:
  inStream - an input stream with the CRL data. a CRL object initialized with the datafrom the input stream.
exception:
  CRLException - on parsing errors.

In order to take advantage of the specialized CRL format supported by this certificate factory, each element in the returned collection view can be typecast to the corresponding CRL class. For example, if this certificate factory implements X.509 CRLs, the elements in the returned collection can be typecast to the X509CRL class.

In the case of a certificate factory for X.509 CRLs, inStream may contain a sequence of DER-encoded CRLs. In addition, inStream may contain a PKCS#7 CRL set. This is a PKCS#7 SignedData object, with the only significant field being crls. In particular, the signature and the contents are ignored. This format allows multiple CRLs to be downloaded at once. If no CRLs are present, an empty collection is returned.

Note that if the given input stream does not support java.io.InputStream.mark(int) mark and java.io.InputStream.reset reset , this method will consume the entire input stream.
Parameters:
  inStream - the input stream with the CRLs. a (possibly empty) collection view ofjava.security.cert.CRL objects initialized with the data from the inputstream.
exception:
  CRLException - on parsing errors.

The certificates supplied must be of a type supported by the CertificateFactory. They will be copied out of the supplied List object.
Parameters:
  certificates - a List of Certificates a CertPath initialized with the supplied list ofcertificates
exception:
  CertificateException - if an exception occurs
since:
   1.4

In order to take advantage of the specialized certificate format supported by this certificate factory, the returned certificate object can be typecast to the corresponding certificate class. For example, if this certificate factory implements X.509 certificates, the returned certificate object can be typecast to the X509Certificate class.

In the case of a certificate factory for X.509 certificates, the certificate provided in inStream must be DER-encoded and may be supplied in binary or printable (Base64) encoding. If the certificate is provided in Base64 encoding, it must be bounded at the beginning by -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----, and must be bounded at the end by -----END CERTIFICATE-----.

Note that if the given input stream does not support java.io.InputStream.mark(int) mark and java.io.InputStream.reset reset , this method will consume the entire input stream. Otherwise, each call to this method consumes one certificate and the read position of the input stream is positioned to the next available byte after the inherent end-of-certificate marker. If the data in the input stream does not contain an inherent end-of-certificate marker (other than EOF) and there is trailing data after the certificate is parsed, a CertificateException is thrown.
Parameters:
  inStream - an input stream with the certificate data. a certificate object initialized with the datafrom the input stream.
exception:
  CertificateException - on parsing errors.

In order to take advantage of the specialized certificate format supported by this certificate factory, each element in the returned collection view can be typecast to the corresponding certificate class. For example, if this certificate factory implements X.509 certificates, the elements in the returned collection can be typecast to the X509Certificate class.

In the case of a certificate factory for X.509 certificates, inStream may contain a sequence of DER-encoded certificates in the formats described for CertificateFactory.generateCertificate(java.io.InputStream) generateCertificate . In addition, inStream may contain a PKCS#7 certificate chain. This is a PKCS#7 SignedData object, with the only significant field being certificates. In particular, the signature and the contents are ignored. This format allows multiple certificates to be downloaded at once. If no certificates are present, an empty collection is returned.

Note that if the given input stream does not support java.io.InputStream.mark(int) mark and java.io.InputStream.reset reset , this method will consume the entire input stream.
Parameters:
  inStream - the input stream with the certificates. a (possibly empty) collection view ofjava.security.cert.Certificate objectsinitialized with the data from the input stream.
exception:
  CertificateException - on parsing errors.

Attempts to modify the returned Iterator via its remove method result in an UnsupportedOperationException. an Iterator over the names of the supportedCertPath encodings (as Strings)
since:
   1.4

This method traverses the list of registered security Providers, starting with the most preferred Provider. A new CertificateFactory object encapsulating the CertificateFactorySpi implementation from the first Provider that supports the specified type is returned.

Note that the list of registered providers may be retrieved via the Security.getProviders Security.getProviders() method.
Parameters:
  type - the name of the requested certificate type.See Appendix A in the Java Cryptography Architecture API Specification & Reference for information about standard certificate types. a certificate factory object for the specified type.
exception:
  CertificateException - if no Provider supports aCertificateFactorySpi implementation for thespecified type.
See Also:   java.security.Provider

A new CertificateFactory object encapsulating the CertificateFactorySpi implementation from the specified provider is returned. The specified provider must be registered in the security provider list.

Note that the list of registered providers may be retrieved via the Security.getProviders Security.getProviders() method.
Parameters:
  type - the certificate type.See Appendix A in the Java Cryptography Architecture API Specification & Reference for information about standard certificate types.
Parameters:
  provider - the name of the provider. a certificate factory object for the specified type.
exception:
  CertificateException - if a CertificateFactorySpiimplementation for the specified algorithm is notavailable from the specified provider.
exception:
  NoSuchProviderException - if the specified provider is notregistered in the security provider list.
exception:
  IllegalArgumentException - if the provider name is nullor empty.
See Also:   java.security.Provider

A new CertificateFactory object encapsulating the CertificateFactorySpi implementation from the specified Provider object is returned. Note that the specified Provider object does not have to be registered in the provider list.
Parameters:
  type - the certificate type.See Appendix A in the Java Cryptography Architecture API Specification & Reference for information about standard certificate types.
Parameters:
  provider - the provider. a certificate factory object for the specified type.
exception:
  CertificateException - if a CertificateFactorySpiimplementation for the specified algorithm is not availablefrom the specified Provider object.
exception:
  IllegalArgumentException - if the provider isnull.
See Also:   java.security.Provider
since:
   1.4