Interface Key
- All Superinterfaces:
Serializable
- All Known Subinterfaces:
AsymmetricKey
,DHPrivateKey
,DHPublicKey
,DSAPrivateKey
,DSAPublicKey
,ECPrivateKey
,ECPublicKey
,EdECPrivateKey
,EdECPublicKey
,PBEKey
,PrivateKey
,PublicKey
,RSAMultiPrimePrivateCrtKey
,RSAPrivateCrtKey
,RSAPrivateKey
,RSAPublicKey
,SecretKey
,XECPrivateKey
,XECPublicKey
- All Known Implementing Classes:
EncryptionKey
,KerberosKey
,SecretKeySpec
Key
interface is the top-level interface for all keys. It
defines the functionality shared by all Key
objects. All keys
have three characteristics:
- An Algorithm
This is the key algorithm for that key. The key algorithm is usually an encryption or asymmetric operation algorithm (such as DSA or RSA), which will work with those algorithms and with related algorithms (such as MD5 with RSA, SHA-1 with RSA, Raw DSA, etc.) The name of the algorithm of a key is obtained using the
getAlgorithm
method. - An Encoded Form
This is an external encoded form for the key used when a standard representation of the key is needed outside the Java Virtual Machine, as when transmitting the key to some other party. The key is encoded according to a standard format (such as X.509
SubjectPublicKeyInfo
or PKCS#8), and is returned using thegetEncoded
method. Note: The syntax of the ASN.1 typeSubjectPublicKeyInfo
is defined as follows:SubjectPublicKeyInfo ::= SEQUENCE { algorithm AlgorithmIdentifier, subjectPublicKey BIT STRING } AlgorithmIdentifier ::= SEQUENCE { algorithm OBJECT IDENTIFIER, parameters ANY DEFINED BY algorithm OPTIONAL }
For more information, see RFC 5280: Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile. - A Format
This is the name of the format of the encoded key. It is returned by the
getFormat
method.
KeyFactory
).
A Key should use KeyRep as its serialized representation. Note that a serialized Key may contain sensitive information which should not be exposed in untrusted environments. See the Security Appendix of the Java Object Serialization Specification for more information.
- Since:
- 1.1
- See Also:
-
Field Summary
-
Method Summary
Modifier and TypeMethodDescriptionReturns the standard algorithm name for this key.byte[]
Returns the key in its primary encoding format, ornull
if this key does not support encoding.Returns the name of the primary encoding format of this key, ornull
if this key does not support encoding.
-
Field Details
-
serialVersionUID
Deprecated.AserialVersionUID
field in an interface is ineffectual. Do not use; no replacement.The class fingerprint that is set to indicate serialization compatibility with a previous version of the class.- See Also:
-
-
Method Details
-
getAlgorithm
String getAlgorithm()Returns the standard algorithm name for this key. For example, "DSA" would indicate that this key is a DSA key. See the key related sections (KeyFactory, KeyGenerator, KeyPairGenerator, and SecretKeyFactory) in the Java Security Standard Algorithm Names Specification for information about standard key algorithm names.- Returns:
- the name of the algorithm associated with this key.
-
getFormat
String getFormat()Returns the name of the primary encoding format of this key, ornull
if this key does not support encoding. The primary encoding format is named in terms of the appropriate ASN.1 data format, if an ASN.1 specification for this key exists. For example, the name of the ASN.1 data format for public keys is SubjectPublicKeyInfo, as defined by the X.509 standard; in this case, the returned format is"X.509"
. Similarly, the name of the ASN.1 data format for private keys is PrivateKeyInfo, as defined by the PKCS #8 standard; in this case, the returned format is"PKCS#8"
.- Returns:
- the primary encoding format of the key.
-
getEncoded
byte[] getEncoded()Returns the key in its primary encoding format, ornull
if this key does not support encoding.- Returns:
- the encoded key, or
null
if the key does not support encoding.
-
serialVersionUID
field in an interface is ineffectual.