(Visual Basic 6.0) 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:

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'  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.
Dim chilkatGlob As New ChilkatGlobal
Dim success As Long
success = chilkatGlob.UnlockBundle("Anything for 30-day trial.")
If (success <> 1) Then
    Debug.Print chilkatGlob.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  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.
Dim asnRoot As New ChilkatAsn

'  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
'  ----------------------------------
Dim asnCertReqInfo As ChilkatAsn
Set asnCertReqInfo = asnRoot.GetSubItem(0)
success = asnCertReqInfo.AppendInt(0)

'  Build the Subject part of the Certificate Request Info
Dim asnCertSubject As ChilkatAsn
Set asnCertSubject = asnCertReqInfo.AppendSequenceR()

'  Add each subject part..
Dim asnTemp As ChilkatAsn
Set 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")

Set asnTemp = asnCertSubject.AppendSetR()
success = asnTemp.AppendSequence2()
success = asnTemp.AppendOid("2.5.4.8")
success = asnTemp.AppendString("utf8","Utah")

Set asnTemp = asnCertSubject.AppendSetR()
success = asnTemp.AppendSequence2()
success = asnTemp.AppendOid("2.5.4.7")
success = asnTemp.AppendString("utf8","Lindon")

Set asnTemp = asnCertSubject.AppendSetR()
success = asnTemp.AppendSequence2()
success = asnTemp.AppendOid("2.5.4.10")
success = asnTemp.AppendString("utf8","DigiCert Inc.")

Set asnTemp = asnCertSubject.AppendSetR()
success = asnTemp.AppendSequence2()
success = asnTemp.AppendOid("2.5.4.11")
success = asnTemp.AppendString("utf8","DigiCert")

Set asnTemp = asnCertSubject.AppendSetR()
success = asnTemp.AppendSequence2()
success = asnTemp.AppendOid("2.5.4.3")
success = asnTemp.AppendString("utf8","example.digicert.com")

'  Build the Public Key Info part of the Certificate Request Info
Dim asnPubKeyInfo As ChilkatAsn
Set asnPubKeyInfo = asnCertReqInfo.AppendSequenceR()

Dim asnPubKeyAlgId As ChilkatAsn
Set asnPubKeyAlgId = asnPubKeyInfo.AppendSequenceR()
success = asnPubKeyAlgId.AppendOid("1.2.840.113549.1.1.1")
success = asnPubKeyAlgId.AppendNull()

'  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..
Dim asnRsaKey As New ChilkatAsn

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

Dim rsaKeyDerBase64 As String
rsaKeyDerBase64 = asnRsaKey.GetEncodedDer("base64")

'  Now add the RSA key DER as a BIT STRING.
success = asnPubKeyInfo.AppendBits(rsaKeyDerBase64,"base64")

'  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)

'  ----------------------------------
'  Finally, add the algorithm identifier, which is the 2nd sub-item under the root.
'  ----------------------------------
Dim asnAlgId As ChilkatAsn
Set asnAlgId = asnRoot.GetSubItem(1)
success = asnAlgId.AppendOid("1.2.840.113549.1.1.5")
success = asnAlgId.AppendNull()

'  Write the CSR to a DER encoded binary file:
success = asnRoot.WriteBinaryDer("qa_output/csr.der")
If (success <> 1) Then
    Debug.Print asnRoot.LastErrorText
    Exit Sub
End If

'  It is also possible to get the CSR in base64 format:
Dim csrBase64 As String
csrBase64 = asnRoot.GetEncodedDer("base64")

Debug.Print "Base64 CSR:"
Debug.Print csrBase64

'  To emit as PEM:
'  (Note: The pem.AddItem method was added in Chilkat v9.5.0.59)
Dim pem As New ChilkatPem
success = pem.AddItem("csr","base64",csrBase64)
Debug.Print "PEM:"
Debug.Print pem.ToPem()