# class OpenSSL::ASN1::ASN1Data

The top-level class representing any ASN.1 object. When parsed by `ASN1.decode`, tagged values are always represented by an instance of `ASN1Data`.

## The role of `ASN1Data` for parsing tagged values¶ ↑

When encoding an ASN.1 type it is inherently clear what original type (e.g. INTEGER, OCTET STRING etc.) this value has, regardless of its tagging. But opposed to the time an ASN.1 type is to be encoded, when parsing them it is not possible to deduce the “real type” of tagged values. This is why tagged values are generally parsed into `ASN1Data` instances, but with a different outcome for implicit and explicit tagging.

### Example of a parsed implicitly tagged value¶ ↑

An implicitly 1-tagged INTEGER value will be parsed as an `ASN1Data` with

- tag equal to 1

- tag_class equal to `:CONTEXT_SPECIFIC`

- value equal to a `String` that carries the raw encoding of the INTEGER.

This implies that a subsequent decoding step is required to completely decode implicitly tagged values.

### Example of a parsed explicitly tagged value¶ ↑

An explicitly 1-tagged INTEGER value will be parsed as an `ASN1Data` with

- tag equal to 1

- tag_class equal to `:CONTEXT_SPECIFIC`

- value equal to an `Array` with one single element, an instance of `OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer`, i.e. the inner element is the non-tagged primitive value, and the tagging is represented in the outer `ASN1Data`

## Example - Decoding an implicitly tagged INTEGER¶ ↑

    int = OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer.new(1, 0, :IMPLICIT) # implicit 0-tagged
    seq = OpenSSL::ASN1::Sequence.new( [int] )
    der = seq.to_der
    asn1 = OpenSSL::ASN1.decode(der)
    # pp asn1 => #<OpenSSL::ASN1::Sequence:0x87326e0
    #              @indefinite_length=false,
    #              @tag=16,
    #              @tag_class=:UNIVERSAL,
    #              @tagging=nil,
    #              @value=
    #                [#<OpenSSL::ASN1::ASN1Data:0x87326f4
    #                   @indefinite_length=false,
    #                   @tag=0,
    #                   @tag_class=:CONTEXT_SPECIFIC,
    #                   @value="\x01">]>
    raw_int = asn1.value[0]
    # manually rewrite tag and tag class to make it an UNIVERSAL value
    raw_int.tag = OpenSSL::ASN1::INTEGER
    raw_int.tag_class = :UNIVERSAL
    int2 = OpenSSL::ASN1.decode(raw_int)
    puts int2.value # => 1

## Example - Decoding an explicitly tagged INTEGER¶ ↑

    int = OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer.new(1, 0, :EXPLICIT) # explicit 0-tagged
    seq = OpenSSL::ASN1::Sequence.new( [int] )
    der = seq.to_der
    asn1 = OpenSSL::ASN1.decode(der)
    # pp asn1 => #<OpenSSL::ASN1::Sequence:0x87326e0
    #              @indefinite_length=false,
    #              @tag=16,
    #              @tag_class=:UNIVERSAL,
    #              @tagging=nil,
    #              @value=
    #                [#<OpenSSL::ASN1::ASN1Data:0x87326f4
    #                   @indefinite_length=false,
    #                   @tag=0,
    #                   @tag_class=:CONTEXT_SPECIFIC,
    #                   @value=
    #                     [#<OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer:0x85bf308
    #                        @indefinite_length=false,
    #                        @tag=2,
    #                        @tag_class=:UNIVERSAL
    #                        @tagging=nil,
    #                        @value=1>]>]>
    int2 = asn1.value[0].value[0]
    puts int2.value # => 1

### Attributes

indefinite_length [RW]

Never `nil`. A boolean value indicating whether the encoding uses indefinite length (in the case of parsing) or whether an indefinite length form shall be used (in the encoding case). In DER, every value uses definite length form. But in scenarios where large amounts of data need to be transferred it might be desirable to have some kind of streaming support available. For example, huge OCTET STRINGs are preferably sent in smaller-sized chunks, each at a time. This is possible in BER by setting the length bytes of an encoding to zero and by this indicating that the following value will be sent in chunks. Indefinite length encodings are always constructed. The end of such a stream of chunks is indicated by sending a EOC (End of Content) tag. SETs and SEQUENCEs may use an indefinite length encoding, but also primitive types such as e.g. OCTET STRINGS or BIT STRINGS may leverage this functionality (cf. ITU-T X.690).

infinite_length [RW]

Never `nil`. A boolean value indicating whether the encoding uses indefinite length (in the case of parsing) or whether an indefinite length form shall be used (in the encoding case). In DER, every value uses definite length form. But in scenarios where large amounts of data need to be transferred it might be desirable to have some kind of streaming support available. For example, huge OCTET STRINGs are preferably sent in smaller-sized chunks, each at a time. This is possible in BER by setting the length bytes of an encoding to zero and by this indicating that the following value will be sent in chunks. Indefinite length encodings are always constructed. The end of such a stream of chunks is indicated by sending a EOC (End of Content) tag. SETs and SEQUENCEs may use an indefinite length encoding, but also primitive types such as e.g. OCTET STRINGS or BIT STRINGS may leverage this functionality (cf. ITU-T X.690).

infinite_length= [RW]

Never `nil`. A boolean value indicating whether the encoding uses indefinite length (in the case of parsing) or whether an indefinite length form shall be used (in the encoding case). In DER, every value uses definite length form. But in scenarios where large amounts of data need to be transferred it might be desirable to have some kind of streaming support available. For example, huge OCTET STRINGs are preferably sent in smaller-sized chunks, each at a time. This is possible in BER by setting the length bytes of an encoding to zero and by this indicating that the following value will be sent in chunks. Indefinite length encodings are always constructed. The end of such a stream of chunks is indicated by sending a EOC (End of Content) tag. SETs and SEQUENCEs may use an indefinite length encoding, but also primitive types such as e.g. OCTET STRINGS or BIT STRINGS may leverage this functionality (cf. ITU-T X.690).

tag [RW]

An `Integer` representing the tag number of this `ASN1Data`. Never `nil`.

tag_class [RW]

A `Symbol` representing the tag class of this `ASN1Data`. Never `nil`. See `ASN1Data` for possible values.

value [RW]

Carries the value of a ASN.1 type. Please confer `Constructive` and `Primitive` for the mappings between ASN.1 data types and Ruby classes.

### Public Class Methods

OpenSSL::ASN1::ASN1Data.new(value, tag, tag_class) → ASN1Data
Source

    # File ext/openssl/lib/openssl/asn1.rb, line 66
    def initialize(value, tag, tag_class)
      raise ASN1Error, "invalid tag class" unless tag_class.is_a?(Symbol)

      @tag = tag
      @value = value
      @tag_class = tag_class
      @indefinite_length = false
    end

value: Please have a look at `Constructive` and `Primitive` to see how Ruby types are mapped to ASN.1 types and vice versa.

tag: An `Integer` indicating the tag number.

tag_class: A `Symbol` indicating the tag class. Please cf. `ASN1` for possible values.

## Example¶ ↑

    asn1_int = OpenSSL::ASN1Data.new(42, 2, :UNIVERSAL) # => Same as OpenSSL::ASN1::Integer.new(42)
    tagged_int = OpenSSL::ASN1Data.new(42, 0, :CONTEXT_SPECIFIC) # implicitly 0-tagged INTEGER

### Public Instance Methods

to_der → DER-encoded String
Source

    static VALUE
    ossl_asn1data_to_der(VALUE self)
    {
        VALUE value = ossl_asn1_get_value(self);

        if (rb_obj_is_kind_of(value, rb_cArray))
            return ossl_asn1cons_to_der(self);
        else {
            if (RTEST(ossl_asn1_get_indefinite_length(self)))
                ossl_raise(eASN1Error, "indefinite length form cannot be used " \
                           "with primitive encoding");
            return ossl_asn1prim_to_der(self);
        }
    }

Encodes this `ASN1Data` into a DER-encoded `String` value. The result is DER-encoded except for the possibility of indefinite length forms. Indefinite length forms are not allowed in strict DER, so strictly speaking the result of such an encoding would be a BER-encoding.