(C++) Using the ASN.1 API to Create a Certificate Request (CSR)

Note: This example requires Chilkat v9.5.0.50 or greater.

This example demonstrates how to use the Chilkat ASN.1 API to create a certificate signing request. The purpose of this example is to show, in general, how to use the ASN.1 methods to create an ASN.1 document and save to DER. There may be more concise ways of creating a CSR rather than using the lower-level ASN.1 methods presented here. The hope is that this example will enable developers to create many different kinds of ASN.1 structures/documents for which no other means exist.

This example will create ASN.1 having this structure and content:

Chilkat C/C++ Library Downloads
MS Visual C/C++ Linux/CentOS C/C++ Alpine Linux C/C++ MAC OS X C/C++	armhf/aarch64 C/C++ C++ Builder iOS C/C++ Android C/C++	Solaris C/C++ MinGW C/C++

#include <CkGlobal.h>
#include <CkAsn.h>
#include <CkPem.h>

void ChilkatSample(void)
    {
    //  Starting in v9.5.0.49, all Chilkat classes can be unlocked at once at the beginning of a program
    //  by calling UnlockBundle.  It requires a Bundle unlock code.
    CkGlobal chilkatGlob;
    bool success = chilkatGlob.UnlockBundle("Anything for 30-day trial.");
    if (success != true) {
        std::cout << chilkatGlob.lastErrorText() << "\r\n";
        return;
    }

    //  A new ASN.1 object is automatically a SEQUENCE.
    //  Given that the CSR's root item is a SEQUENCE, we can use
    //  this as the root of our CSR.
    CkAsn asnRoot;

    //  Beneath the root, we have a SEQUENCE (the certificate request info),
    //  another SEQUENCE (the algorithm identifier), and a BITSTRING (this signature data)

    success = asnRoot.AppendSequence();
    success = asnRoot.AppendSequence();
    success = asnRoot.AppendBits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hex");

    //  ----------------------------------
    //  Build the Certificate Request Info
    //  ----------------------------------
    CkAsn *asnCertReqInfo = asnRoot.GetSubItem(0);
    success = asnCertReqInfo->AppendInt(0);

    //  Build the Subject part of the Certificate Request Info
    CkAsn *asnCertSubject = asnCertReqInfo->AppendSequenceR();

    //  Add each subject part..
    CkAsn *asnTemp = asnCertSubject->AppendSetR();
    success = asnTemp->AppendSequence2();
    //  AppendSequence2 updates the internal reference to the newly appended SEQUENCE.
    //  The OID and printable string are added to the SEQUENCE.
    success = asnTemp->AppendOid("2.5.4.6");
    success = asnTemp->AppendString("printable","US");
    delete asnTemp;

    asnTemp = asnCertSubject->AppendSetR();
    success = asnTemp->AppendSequence2();
    success = asnTemp->AppendOid("2.5.4.8");
    success = asnTemp->AppendString("utf8","Utah");
    delete asnTemp;

    asnTemp = asnCertSubject->AppendSetR();
    success = asnTemp->AppendSequence2();
    success = asnTemp->AppendOid("2.5.4.7");
    success = asnTemp->AppendString("utf8","Lindon");
    delete asnTemp;

    asnTemp = asnCertSubject->AppendSetR();
    success = asnTemp->AppendSequence2();
    success = asnTemp->AppendOid("2.5.4.10");
    success = asnTemp->AppendString("utf8","DigiCert Inc.");
    delete asnTemp;

    asnTemp = asnCertSubject->AppendSetR();
    success = asnTemp->AppendSequence2();
    success = asnTemp->AppendOid("2.5.4.11");
    success = asnTemp->AppendString("utf8","DigiCert");
    delete asnTemp;

    asnTemp = asnCertSubject->AppendSetR();
    success = asnTemp->AppendSequence2();
    success = asnTemp->AppendOid("2.5.4.3");
    success = asnTemp->AppendString("utf8","example.digicert.com");
    delete asnTemp;

    delete asnCertSubject;

    //  Build the Public Key Info part of the Certificate Request Info
    CkAsn *asnPubKeyInfo = asnCertReqInfo->AppendSequenceR();

    CkAsn *asnPubKeyAlgId = asnPubKeyInfo->AppendSequenceR();
    success = asnPubKeyAlgId->AppendOid("1.2.840.113549.1.1.1");
    success = asnPubKeyAlgId->AppendNull();
    delete asnPubKeyAlgId;

    //  The public key itself is a BIT STRING, but the bit string is composed of ASN.1
    //  for the RSA public key.  We'll first build the RSA ASN.1 for the public key
    //  (containing the 2048 bit modulus and exponent), and encoded it to DER, and then add
    //  the DER bytes as a BIT STRING (as a sub-item of asnPubKeyInfo)

    //  This is already a SEQUENCE..
    CkAsn asnRsaKey;

    //  The RSA modulus is a big integer.
    success = asnRsaKey.AppendBigInt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hex");
    success = asnRsaKey.AppendInt(65537);

    const char *rsaKeyDerBase64 = asnRsaKey.getEncodedDer("base64");

    //  Now add the RSA key DER as a BIT STRING.
    success = asnPubKeyInfo->AppendBits(rsaKeyDerBase64,"base64");
    delete asnPubKeyInfo;

    //  The last part of the certificate request info is an empty context-specific constructed item
    //  with a tag equal to 0.
    success = asnCertReqInfo->AppendContextConstructed(0);

    delete asnCertReqInfo;

    //  ----------------------------------
    //  Finally, add the algorithm identifier, which is the 2nd sub-item under the root.
    //  ----------------------------------
    CkAsn *asnAlgId = asnRoot.GetSubItem(1);
    success = asnAlgId->AppendOid("1.2.840.113549.1.1.5");
    success = asnAlgId->AppendNull();
    delete asnAlgId;

    //  Write the CSR to a DER encoded binary file:
    success = asnRoot.WriteBinaryDer("qa_output/csr.der");
    if (success != true) {
        std::cout << asnRoot.lastErrorText() << "\r\n";
        return;
    }

    //  It is also possible to get the CSR in base64 format:
    const char *csrBase64 = asnRoot.getEncodedDer("base64");

    std::cout << "Base64 CSR:" << "\r\n";
    std::cout << csrBase64 << "\r\n";

    //  To emit as PEM:
    //  (Note: The pem.AddItem method was added in Chilkat v9.5.0.59)
    CkPem pem;
    pem.AddItem("csr","base64",csrBase64);
    std::cout << "PEM:" << "\r\n";
    std::cout << pem.toPem() << "\r\n";
    }