This interface defines the high-level characteristics of all cryptographic keys. getAlgorithm( ) returns the name of the cryptographic algorithm (such as RSA) used with the key. getFormat( ) return the name of the external encoding (such as X.509) used with the key. getEncoded( ) returns the key as an array of bytes, encoded using the format specified by getFormat( ).

Figure 14-17. java.security.Key

public interface Key extends Serializable {
// Public Constants
1.2  public static final long serialVersionUID;  =6603384152749567654
// Public Instance Methods
     String getAlgorithm( );  
     byte[ ] getEncoded( );  
     String getFormat( );  
}

Implementations

PrivateKey, PublicKey, javax.crypto.SecretKey

Passed To

Too many methods to list.

Returned By

KeyFactory.translateKey( ), KeyFactorySpi.engineTranslateKey( ), KeyStore.getKey( ), KeyStoreSpi.engineGetKey( ), javax.crypto.Cipher.unwrap( ), javax.crypto.CipherSpi.engineUnwrap( ), javax.crypto.KeyAgreement.doPhase( ), javax.crypto.KeyAgreementSpi.engineDoPhase( )