org.owasp.esapi.crypto

Class PlainText

java.lang.Object

org.owasp.esapi.crypto.PlainText

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable

public final class PlainText
extends Object
implements Serializable

A class representing plaintext (versus ciphertext) as related to cryptographic systems. This class embodies UTF-8 byte-encoding to translate between byte arrays and Strings. Once constructed, this object is immutable.

Note: Conversion to/from UTF-8 byte-encoding can, in theory, throw an UnsupportedEncodingException. However, UTF-8 encoding should be a standard encoding for all Java installations, so an UnsupportedEncodingException never actually be thrown. Therefore, in order to to keep client code uncluttered, any possible UnsupportedEncodingExceptions will be first logged, and then re-thrown as a RuntimeException with the original UnsupportedEncodingException as the cause.

Copyright © 2009 - The OWASP Foundation

Since:

2.0

Author:

kevin.w.wall@gmail.com

See Also:

CipherText, Serialized Form

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
PlainText(byte[] b) Construct a PlainText object from a byte array.
PlainText(String str) Construct a PlainText object from a String.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
byte[]	asBytes() Convert the PlainText object to a byte array.
protected boolean	canEqual(Object other) Needed for correct definition of equals for general classes.
boolean	equals(Object anObject)
int	hashCode() Same as this.toString().hashCode().
int	length() Return the length of the UTF-8 encoded byte array representing this object.
void	overwrite() First overwrite the bytes of plaintext with the character '*'.
String	toString() Convert the PlainText object to a UTF-8 encoded String.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

PlainText

public PlainText(String str)

Construct a PlainText object from a String.

Parameters:

str - The String that is converted to a UTF-8 encoded byte array to create the PlainText object.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - If str argument is null.

PlainText

public PlainText(byte[] b)

Construct a PlainText object from a byte array.

Parameters:

b - The byte array used to create the PlainText object.

Method Detail

toString

public String toString()

Convert the PlainText object to a UTF-8 encoded String.

Overrides:

toString in class Object

Returns:

A String representing the PlainText object.

asBytes

public byte[] asBytes()

Convert the PlainText object to a byte array.

Returns:

A byte array representing the PlainText object.

equals

public boolean equals(Object anObject)

Overrides:

equals in class Object

hashCode

public int hashCode()

Same as this.toString().hashCode().

Overrides:

hashCode in class Object

Returns:

this.toString().hashCode().

length

public int length()

Return the length of the UTF-8 encoded byte array representing this object. Note that if this object was constructed with the constructor PlainText(String str), then this length might not necessarily agree with str.length().

Returns:

The length of the UTF-8 encoded byte array representing this object.

overwrite

public void overwrite()

First overwrite the bytes of plaintext with the character '*'.

canEqual

protected boolean canEqual(Object other)

Needed for correct definition of equals for general classes. (Technically not needed for 'final' classes though like this class though; this will just allow it to work in the future should we decide to allow * sub-classing of this class.)

See How to write an Equality Method in Java for full explanation.