CAPICOM Reference (Windows)

CAPICOM Reference

CAPICOM Reference

[CAPICOM is available for use in the following operating systems: Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. Instead, use the .NET Framework to implement security features. For more information, see Alternatives to Using CAPICOM.]

The CAPICOM COM client provides services that enable application developers to add security based on cryptography to applications. CryptoAPI includes functionality for authentication using digital signatures, for enveloping messages, and for encrypting and decrypting data.

Category	Description
Certificate Store Objects	Objects available for using certificate stores and the certificates in those stores.
Digital Signature Objects	Objects used to digitally sign data and to verify digital signatures.
Enveloped Data Objects	Objects used to create enveloped data messages for privacy and to decrypt data in enveloped messages.
Data Encryption Objects	Objects used to encrypt data and to decrypt encrypted data.
Auxiliary Objects	Objects used to change default behaviors and to manage certificates, certificate stores, and user interface (UI) messages.
Interoperability Interfaces	Interfaces that allow derivations of CryptoAPI to work together with CAPICOM 2.0.
Enumeration Types	Enumeration types used with CAPICOM.

Certificate Store Objects

The following objects work with certificate stores and the certificates in those stores. CAPICOM supports the use of Current User, Local Machine, Memory, and Active Directory certificate stores.

Object	Description
Certificate	A single digital certificate.
CertificatePolicies	A collection of PolicyInformation objects.
Certificates	Collection of Certificate objects.
CertificateStatus	Provides status information on a certificate.
Chain	Creates and checks a certificate validation chain based on a digital certificate.
ExtendedProperties	Represents a collection of ExtendedProperty objects.
ExtendedProperty	Represents a Microsoft-extended property.
Extension	Represents a single certificate extension.
Extensions	Represents a collection of Extension objects.
PrivateKey	Represents a private key.
PublicKey	Represents a public key in a Certificate object.
Store	Provides the properties and methods to choose, manage, and use certificate stores and the certificates in those stores.
Template	Represents the certificate extension template of the certificate.

Digital Signature Objects

The following objects are exported to digitally sign data and to verify digital signatures.

Object	Description
SignedCode	Provides functionality for signing content with an Authenticode digital signature.
SignedData	Object used to sign data and to verify the signature on signed data.
Signer	Information on a single data signer, including the signer's certificate.
Signers	Collection of Signer objects.

Enveloped Data Objects

The following objects are exported to create enveloped data messages for privacy and to decrypt data in enveloped messages.

Object	Description
EnvelopedData	Objects used to create, send, and receive enveloped data. Enveloped data is encrypted so that only the intended recipients can decrypt it.
Recipients	Collection of the Certificate objects of the intended recipients of an enveloped message.

Data Encryption Objects

The following object is exported to encrypt arbitrary data for privacy and to decrypt encrypted data.

Object	Description
EncryptedData	Objects used to encrypt data. Encrypted data in an EncryptedData object can be decrypted.

Auxiliary Objects

The following objects are exported to change default behaviors of other objects and to manage certificates, certificate stores, and messages.

Object	Description
Algorithm	Sets the algorithm and key length to be used in cryptographic operations.
Attribute	Provides a single piece of added information about a signature, such as the time of signing.
Attributes	Collection of Attribute objects.
BasicConstraints	Provides read-only access to basic constraints on the uses of a certificate.
EKU	Provides access to EKU properties of certificates.
EKUs	Collection of EKU objects.
EncodedData	Represents a block of encoded data.
ExtendedKeyUsage	Provides read-only access to the extended key usage properties of certificates.
HashedData	Provides functionality for applying a hash algorithm to a string.
KeyUsage	Provides read-only access to key usage properties of certificates.
OID	Represents an object identifier that is used by several CAPICOM properties.
OIDs	Represents a collection of OID objects.
PolicyInformation	Provides access to the policy OIDs of an extension.
Qualifier	Represents a Certification Practice Statement (CPS) pointer or user notice qualifier.
Qualifiers	Represents a collection of qualifiers.
Settings	Enables or disables dialog boxes to prompt for signer or sender identity if that identity is not specified.
Utilities	Provides functionality for common tasks.

Interoperability Interfaces

The following interfaces allow derivations of CryptoAPI to work together with CAPICOM 2.0.

Interface	Description
ICertContext	Provides access to the context of a CAPICOM X.509v3 Certificate object. This context allows the CAPICOM certificate to be used in other derivations of CryptoAPI.
ICertStore	Provides access to the context of a CAPICOM Store object. This context allows the CAPICOM certificate store to be used in other derivations of CryptoAPI.
IChainContext	Provides access to the context of a CAPICOM Chain object. This context allows the CAPICOM certificate trust chain to be used in other derivations of CryptoAPI.

Enumeration Types

CAPICOM defines the following enumeration types:

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Build date: 6/26/2009