Visual FoxPro

Export an Encrypted PKCS #8 Private Key as PEM

Demonstrates the Chilkat PrivateKey.GetPkcs8EncryptedPem method, which exports the key as password-protected PKCS #8 PEM (-----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----). The only argument is the password; the cipher is selected by the Pkcs8EncryptAlg property.

Note: The file paths are relative to the application's current working directory. Absolute paths may also be used. Supply the paths appropriate to your own environment.

Background: This is the safe way to export a key for storage or transfer — the private material is encrypted under a passphrase, so a leaked file is not immediately usable. It is the format to reach for whenever a key leaves your process. Control the encryption cipher with Pkcs8EncryptAlg, and source the password securely rather than hard-coding it.

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LOCAL lnSuccess
LOCAL loPrivKey
LOCAL lcPassword
LOCAL lcPem

lnSuccess = 0

*  Load a private key to export.
loPrivKey = CreateObject('Chilkat.PrivateKey')
lnSuccess = loPrivKey.LoadPemFile("qa_data/private.pem")
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loPrivKey.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loPrivKey
    CANCEL
ENDIF

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

*  Export as password-protected PKCS #8 PEM ("-----BEGIN ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY-----").  The
*  encryption cipher is selected by the Pkcs8EncryptAlg property.
lcPem = loPrivKey.GetPkcs8EncryptedPem(lcPassword)
IF (loPrivKey.LastMethodSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loPrivKey.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loPrivKey
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? lcPem

RELEASE loPrivKey