Protecting Code

[girish]

How can i programetically erase all the coding written in .prg,.fxp file; rather than to delete them; (Because a person can undelete them using some tools) using low level file functions.

 

[alvechurchdata]

I know of nothing which is specifically designed for FoxPro files. Most of the general-purpose anti-virus and security suites seem to have a tool which will run multiple overwrites on all unused areas of the disk and hide the remnants of your deleted files.

The answer depends on the level of threat that you are facing. If you just want to hide the files from colleagues then few of the commercial undelete tools can find a deleted file on a disk which has been defragmented.

Geoff Franklin

http://www.alvechurchdata.co.uk

 

[JRB-Bldr]

Rather than programatically erasing the code within the files, why not over-write the individual files with a 'generic' blank text file - of course, saving it with the appropriate file name and extension?

mcSource = "C:\Temp\Blank.txt"
mcDestination = "F:\VFP\Source\This.PRG"

COPY FILE (mcSource) TO (mcDestination)

That could be easily automated and I don't know many (any?) un-delete routines which could find/restore the previous version.

Good Luck,


JRB-Bldr
VisionQuest Consulting
Business Analyst & CIO Consulting Services
CIOServices@yahoo.com

 

[girish]

Thanks for valuable guide. As i have written/designed some .prgs for my office and few colleagues are intended to hack my code/idea for their personal upgrading. That is why, i was searching.
Thanks again.
Regards
Girish

 

[JRB-Bldr]

If you are going to 'blow-away' the source code within the files, why leave the files on the drive at all? Just erase the files and use a WIPE utility to prevent recovery.

Regardless, another way to protect your source code would be to put it into a directory which has limited access rights. In that way, your source code stays available to use/modify/etc. and you should be the only one who can get to it. You oculd always move the compiled code elsewhere to do your Project Build.

Good Luck,


JRB-Bldr
VisionQuest Consulting
Business Analyst & CIO Consulting Services
CIOServices@yahoo.com

 

[alvechurchdata]

another way to protect your source code would be to put it into a directory which has limited access rights.

Or a USB pen drive?

Geoff Franklin

http://www.alvechurchdata.co.uk