Each instance of KeyInfoFactory supports a specific XML mechanism type. To create a KeyInfoFactory, call one of the static getInstance methods, passing in the XML mechanism type desired, for example:

KeyInfoFactory factory = KeyInfoFactory.getInstance("DOM");

The objects that this factory produces will be based on DOM and abide by the DOM interoperability requirements as defined in the DOM Mechanism Requirements section of the API overview. See the Service Providers section of the API overview for a list of standard mechanism types.

KeyInfoFactory implementations are registered and loaded using the Provider mechanism. For example, a service provider that supports the DOM mechanism would be specified in the Provider subclass as:

     put("KeyInfoFactory.DOM", "org.example.DOMKeyInfoFactory");
 

Also, the XMLStructures that are created by this factory may contain state specific to the KeyInfo and are not intended to be reusable.

An implementation MUST minimally support the default mechanism type: DOM.

Note that a caller must use the same KeyInfoFactory instance to create the XMLStructures of a particular KeyInfo object. The behavior is undefined if XMLStructures from different providers or different mechanism types are used together.

Concurrent Access

The static methods of this class are guaranteed to be thread-safe. Multiple threads may concurrently invoke the static methods defined in this class with no ill effects.

However, this is not true for the non-static methods defined by this class. Unless otherwise documented by a specific provider, threads that need to access a single KeyInfoFactory instance concurrently should synchronize amongst themselves and provide the necessary locking. Multiple threads each manipulating a different KeyInfoFactory instance need not synchronize.