Load a Private Key from BinData (Any Format)

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Demonstrates the Chilkat PrivateKey.LoadAnyFormat method, which loads a private key by inspecting the bytes in a BinData. The first argument is the BinData and the second is the password (used if the detected key is encrypted).

Note: The file path is relative to the application's current working directory. Absolute paths may also be used. Supply the path to your own key file.

Background: When you have key bytes in memory but do not know their exact format — downloaded, decrypted, or pulled from a database — this figures it out for you, recognizing PKCS #1/#8 DER, encrypted PKCS #8, PEM, JWK, Chilkat XML, Microsoft formats, and more. It removes the guesswork of choosing a specific loader, at the small cost of the detection step. Supply the password so it can decrypt an encrypted key without a second call.

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bool success = false;

//  Demonstrates the PrivateKey.LoadAnyFormat method, which loads a private key by inspecting the
//  bytes in a BinData.  The 1st argument is the BinData and the 2nd is the password (used if the
//  detected key is encrypted).

Chilkat.BinData bd = new Chilkat.BinData();
success = bd.LoadFile("qa_data/some_private_key");
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(bd.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

Chilkat.PrivateKey privKey = new Chilkat.PrivateKey();

//  The key password is not hard-coded in a real application; obtain it from an interactive
//  prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
string password = "myKeyPassword";

//  Chilkat auto-detects the representation: PKCS #1/#8 DER, encrypted PKCS #8, PEM, JWK,
//  Chilkat XML, Microsoft formats, and more.
success = privKey.LoadAnyFormat(bd,password);
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(privKey.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

Debug.WriteLine("Loaded a " + privKey.KeyType + " private key.");