JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.1

java.security.cert
Class CertPathBuilder

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder

public class CertPathBuilder
extends Object

A class for building certification paths (also known as certificate chains).

This class uses a provider-based architecture, as described in the Java Cryptography Architecture. To create a CertPathBuilder, call one of the static getInstance methods, passing in the algorithm name of the CertPathBuilder desired and optionally the name of the provider desired.

Once a CertPathBuilder object has been created, certification paths can be constructed by calling the build method and passing it an algorithm-specific set of parameters. If successful, the result (including the CertPath that was built) is returned in an object that implements the CertPathBuilderResult interface.

Concurrent Access

The static methods of this class are guaranteed to be thread-safe. Multiple threads may concurrently invoke the static methods defined in this class with no ill effects.

However, this is not true for the non-static methods defined by this class. Unless otherwise documented by a specific provider, threads that need to access a single CertPathBuilder instance concurrently should synchronize amongst themselves and provide the necessary locking. Multiple threads each manipulating a different CertPathBuilder instance need not synchronize.

Since:
1.4
See Also:
CertPath

Constructor Summary
protected CertPathBuilder(CertPathBuilderSpi builderSpi, Provider provider, String algorithm)
          Creates a CertPathBuilder object of the given algorithm, and encapsulates the given provider implementation (SPI object) in it.
 
Method Summary
 CertPathBuilderResult build(CertPathParameters params)
          Attempts to build a certification path using the specified algorithm parameter set.
 String getAlgorithm()
          Returns the name of the algorithm of this CertPathBuilder.
static String getDefaultType()
          Returns the default CertPathBuilder type as specified in the Java security properties file, or the string "PKIX" if no such property exists.
static CertPathBuilder getInstance(String algorithm)
          Returns a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm.
static CertPathBuilder getInstance(String algorithm, Provider provider)
          Returns a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm, as supplied by the specified provider.
static CertPathBuilder getInstance(String algorithm, String provider)
          Returns a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm, as supplied by the specified provider.
 Provider getProvider()
          Returns the provider of this CertPathBuilder.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

CertPathBuilder

protected CertPathBuilder(CertPathBuilderSpi builderSpi,
                          Provider provider,
                          String algorithm)
Creates a CertPathBuilder object of the given algorithm, and encapsulates the given provider implementation (SPI object) in it.

Parameters:
builderSpi - the provider implementation
provider - the provider
algorithm - the algorithm name
Method Detail

getInstance

public static CertPathBuilder getInstance(String algorithm)
                                   throws NoSuchAlgorithmException
Returns a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm.

If the default provider package provides an implementation of the specified CertPathBuilder algorithm, an instance of CertPathBuilder containing that implementation is returned. If the requested algorithm is not available in the default package, other packages are searched.

Parameters:
algorithm - the name of the requested CertPathBuilder algorithm
Returns:
a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm
Throws:
NoSuchAlgorithmException - if the requested algorithm is not available in the default provider package or any of the other provider packages that were searched

getInstance

public static CertPathBuilder getInstance(String algorithm,
                                          String provider)
                                   throws NoSuchAlgorithmException,
                                          NoSuchProviderException
Returns a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm, as supplied by the specified provider.

Parameters:
algorithm - the name of the requested CertPathBuilder algorithm
provider - the name of the provider
Returns:
a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm, as supplied by the specified provider
Throws:
NoSuchAlgorithmException - if the requested algorithm is not available from the specified provider
NoSuchProviderException - if the provider has not been configured
IllegalArgumentException - if the provider is null

getInstance

public static CertPathBuilder getInstance(String algorithm,
                                          Provider provider)
                                   throws NoSuchAlgorithmException
Returns a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm, as supplied by the specified provider. Note: the provider doesn't have to be registered.

Parameters:
algorithm - the name of the requested CertPathBuilder algorithm
provider - the provider
Returns:
a CertPathBuilder object that implements the specified algorithm, as supplied by the specified provider
Throws:
NoSuchAlgorithmException - if the requested algorithm is not available from the specified provider
IllegalArgumentException - if the provider is null.

getProvider

public final Provider getProvider()
Returns the provider of this CertPathBuilder.

Returns:
the provider of this CertPathBuilder

getAlgorithm

public final String getAlgorithm()
Returns the name of the algorithm of this CertPathBuilder.

Returns:
the name of the algorithm of this CertPathBuilder

build

public final CertPathBuilderResult build(CertPathParameters params)
                                  throws CertPathBuilderException,
                                         InvalidAlgorithmParameterException
Attempts to build a certification path using the specified algorithm parameter set.

Parameters:
params - the algorithm parameters
Returns:
the result of the build algorithm
Throws:
CertPathBuilderException - if the builder is unable to construct a certification path that satisfies the specified parameters
InvalidAlgorithmParameterException - if the specified parameters are inappropriate for this CertPathBuilder

getDefaultType

public static final String getDefaultType()
Returns the default CertPathBuilder type as specified in the Java security properties file, or the string "PKIX" if no such property exists. The Java security properties file is located in the file named <JAVA_HOME>/lib/security/java.security, where <JAVA_HOME> refers to the directory where the SDK was installed.

The default CertPathBuilder type can be used by applications that do not want to use a hard-coded type when calling one of the getInstance methods, and want to provide a default type in case a user does not specify its own.

The default CertPathBuilder type can be changed by setting the value of the "certpathbuilder.type" security property (in the Java security properties file) to the desired type.

Returns:
the default CertPathBuilder type as specified in the Java security properties file, or the string "PKIX" if no such property exists.

JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.1

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java 2 SDK SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Use is subject to license terms.