java.security.cert

Class CertificateFactorySpi

java.lang.Object

java.security.cert.CertificateFactorySpi

public abstract class CertificateFactorySpi
extends Object

This class defines the Service Provider Interface (SPI) for the CertificateFactory class. All the abstract methods in this class must be implemented by each cryptographic service provider who wishes to supply the implementation of a certificate factory for a particular certificate type, e.g., X.509.

Certificate factories are used to generate certificate, certification path (CertPath) and certificate revocation list (CRL) objects from their encodings.

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.

Since:

1.2

Version:

1.9, 02/02/00

Author:

Hemma Prafullchandra, Jan Luehe, Sean Mullan

See Also:

CertificateFactory, Certificate, X509Certificate, CertPath, CRL, X509CRL

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
CertificateFactorySpi()

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
abstract Certificate	engineGenerateCertificate(InputStream inStream) Generates a certificate object and initializes it with the data read from the input stream inStream.
abstract Collection	engineGenerateCertificates(InputStream inStream) Returns a (possibly empty) collection view of the certificates read from the given input stream inStream.
CertPath	engineGenerateCertPath(InputStream inStream) Generates a CertPath object and initializes it with the data read from the InputStream inStream.
CertPath	engineGenerateCertPath(InputStream inStream, String encoding) Generates a CertPath object and initializes it with the data read from the InputStream inStream.
CertPath	engineGenerateCertPath(List certificates) Generates a CertPath object and initializes it with a List of Certificates.
abstract CRL	engineGenerateCRL(InputStream inStream) Generates a certificate revocation list (CRL) object and initializes it with the data read from the input stream inStream.
abstract Collection	engineGenerateCRLs(InputStream inStream) Returns a (possibly empty) collection view of the CRLs read from the given input stream inStream.
Iterator	engineGetCertPathEncodings() Returns an iteration of the CertPath encodings supported by this certificate factory, with the default encoding first.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

CertificateFactorySpi

public CertificateFactorySpi()

Method Detail

engineGenerateCertificate

public abstract Certificate engineGenerateCertificate(InputStream inStream)
                                               throws CertificateException

Generates a certificate object and initializes it with the data read from the input stream inStream.

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 mark and 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 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.

Returns:

a certificate object initialized with the data from the input stream.

Throws:

CertificateException - on parsing errors.

engineGenerateCertPath

public CertPath engineGenerateCertPath(InputStream inStream)
                                throws CertificateException

Generates a CertPath object and initializes it with the data read from the InputStream inStream. The data is assumed to be in the default encoding.

Parameters:

inStream - an InputStream containing the data

Returns:

a CertPath initialized with the data from the InputStream

Throws:

CertificateException - if an exception occurs while decoding

Since:

1.4

engineGenerateCertPath

public CertPath engineGenerateCertPath(InputStream inStream,
                              String encoding)
                                throws CertificateException

Generates a CertPath object and initializes it with the data read from the InputStream inStream. The data is assumed to be in the specified encoding.

This method was added to version 1.4 of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition. In order to maintain backwards compatibility with existing service providers, this method cannot be abstract and by default throws an UnsupportedOperationException.

Parameters:

inStream - an InputStream containing the data

encoding - the encoding used for the data

Returns:

a CertPath initialized with the data from the InputStream

Throws:

CertificateException - if an exception occurs while decoding or the encoding requested is not supported

UnsupportedOperationException - if the method is not supported

Since:

1.4

engineGenerateCertPath

public CertPath engineGenerateCertPath(List certificates)
                                throws CertificateException

Generates a CertPath object and initializes it with a List of Certificates.

The certificates supplied must be of a type supported by the CertificateFactory. They will be copied out of the supplied List object.

This method was added to version 1.4 of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition. In order to maintain backwards compatibility with existing service providers, this method cannot be abstract and by default throws an UnsupportedOperationException.

Parameters:

certificates - a List of Certificates

Returns:

a CertPath initialized with the supplied list of certificates

Throws:

CertificateException - if an exception occurs

UnsupportedOperationException - if the method is not supported

Since:

1.4

engineGetCertPathEncodings

public Iterator engineGetCertPathEncodings()

Returns an iteration of the CertPath encodings supported by this certificate factory, with the default encoding first. See Appendix A in the Java Certification Path API Programmer's Guide for information about standard encoding names.

Attempts to modify the returned Iterator via its remove method result in an UnsupportedOperationException.

This method was added to version 1.4 of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition. In order to maintain backwards compatibility with existing service providers, this method cannot be abstract and by default throws an UnsupportedOperationException.

Returns:

an Iterator over the names of the supported CertPath encodings (as Strings)

Throws:

UnsupportedOperationException - if the method is not supported

Since:

1.4

engineGenerateCertificates

public abstract Collection engineGenerateCertificates(InputStream inStream)
                                               throws CertificateException

Returns a (possibly empty) collection view of the certificates read from the given input stream inStream.

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 single DER-encoded certificate in the formats described for 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 mark and reset, this method will consume the entire input stream.

Parameters:

inStream - the input stream with the certificates.

Returns:

a (possibly empty) collection view of java.security.cert.Certificate objects initialized with the data from the input stream.

Throws:

CertificateException - on parsing errors.

engineGenerateCRL

public abstract CRL engineGenerateCRL(InputStream inStream)
                               throws CRLException

Generates a certificate revocation list (CRL) object and initializes it with the data read from the input stream inStream.

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 mark and 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.

Returns:

a CRL object initialized with the data from the input stream.

Throws:

CRLException - on parsing errors.

engineGenerateCRLs

public abstract Collection engineGenerateCRLs(InputStream inStream)
                                       throws CRLException

Returns a (possibly empty) collection view of the CRLs read from the given input stream inStream.

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 single DER-encoded CRL. 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 mark and reset, this method will consume the entire input stream.

Parameters:

inStream - the input stream with the CRLs.

Returns:

a (possibly empty) collection view of java.security.cert.CRL objects initialized with the data from the input stream.

Throws:

CRLException - on parsing errors.