JavaTM 2 Platform Std. Ed. v1.5.0
java.security
Interface Certificate
Deprecated. A new certificate handling package is created in the Java 2 platform.
This Certificate interface is entirely deprecated and
is here to allow for a smooth transition to the new
package.
@Deprecated
public interface Certificate
This is an interface of abstract methods for managing a
variety of identity certificates.
An identity certificate is a guarantee by a principal that
a public key is that of another principal. (A principal represents
an entity such as an individual user, a group, or a corporation.)
In particular, this interface is intended to be a common
abstraction for constructs that have different formats but
important common uses. For example, different types of
certificates, such as X.509 certificates and PGP certificates,
share general certificate functionality (the need to encode and
decode certificates) and some types of information, such as a
public key, the principal whose key it is, and the guarantor
guaranteeing that the public key is that of the specified
principal. So an implementation of X.509 certificates and an
implementation of PGP certificates can both utilize the Certificate
interface, even though their formats and additional types and
amounts of information stored are different.
Important: This interface is useful for cataloging and
grouping objects sharing certain common uses. It does not have any
semantics of its own. In particular, a Certificate object does not
make any statement as to the validity of the binding. It is
the duty of the application implementing this interface to verify
the certificate and satisfy itself of its validity.
- See Also:
Certificate
Method Summary |
void |
decode(InputStream stream)
Deprecated. Decodes a certificate from an input stream. |
void |
encode(OutputStream stream)
Deprecated. Encodes the certificate to an output stream in a format that can
be decoded by the decode method. |
String |
getFormat()
Deprecated. Returns the name of the coding format. |
Principal |
getGuarantor()
Deprecated. Returns the guarantor of the certificate, that is, the principal
guaranteeing that the public key associated with this certificate
is that of the principal associated with this certificate. |
Principal |
getPrincipal()
Deprecated. Returns the principal of the principal-key pair being guaranteed by
the guarantor. |
PublicKey |
getPublicKey()
Deprecated. Returns the key of the principal-key pair being guaranteed by
the guarantor. |
String |
toString(boolean detailed)
Deprecated. Returns a string that represents the contents of the certificate. |
getGuarantor
Principal getGuarantor()
- Deprecated.
- Returns the guarantor of the certificate, that is, the principal
guaranteeing that the public key associated with this certificate
is that of the principal associated with this certificate. For X.509
certificates, the guarantor will typically be a Certificate Authority
(such as the United States Postal Service or Verisign, Inc.).
- Returns:
- the guarantor which guaranteed the principal-key
binding.
getPrincipal
Principal getPrincipal()
- Deprecated.
- Returns the principal of the principal-key pair being guaranteed by
the guarantor.
- Returns:
- the principal to which this certificate is bound.
getPublicKey
PublicKey getPublicKey()
- Deprecated.
- Returns the key of the principal-key pair being guaranteed by
the guarantor.
- Returns:
- the public key that this certificate certifies belongs
to a particular principal.
encode
void encode(OutputStream stream)
throws KeyException,
IOException
- Deprecated.
- Encodes the certificate to an output stream in a format that can
be decoded by the
decode method.
- Parameters:
stream - the output stream to which to encode the
certificate.
- Throws:
KeyException - if the certificate is not
properly initialized, or data is missing, etc.
IOException - if a stream exception occurs while
trying to output the encoded certificate to the output stream.- See Also:
decode(java.io.InputStream) ,
getFormat()
decode
void decode(InputStream stream)
throws KeyException,
IOException
- Deprecated.
- Decodes a certificate from an input stream. The format should be
that returned by
getFormat and produced by
encode .
- Parameters:
stream - the input stream from which to fetch the data
being decoded.
- Throws:
KeyException - if the certificate is not properly initialized,
or data is missing, etc.
IOException - if an exception occurs while trying to input
the encoded certificate from the input stream.- See Also:
encode(java.io.OutputStream) ,
getFormat()
getFormat
String getFormat()
- Deprecated.
- Returns the name of the coding format. This is used as a hint to find
an appropriate parser. It could be "X.509", "PGP", etc. This is
the format produced and understood by the
encode
and decode methods.
- Returns:
- the name of the coding format.
toString
String toString(boolean detailed)
- Deprecated.
- Returns a string that represents the contents of the certificate.
- Parameters:
detailed - whether or not to give detailed information
about the certificate
- Returns:
- a string representing the contents of the certificate
Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved
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