[AccessD] Hacking MDE (was Creating a demo Access app?)

<<In fact it's very easy and it can't be even called as hacking because it
uses undocumented feature and not more than that.>>

  It's not even really undocumented.  No where does it say you can't use OLE
against a MDE (or course it doesn't say that either, so I suppose you might
call it undocumented).  Mike Gunderloy pointed this out many years ago. He
was also the first (that I'm aware of) to point out that is was technically
possible to de-tokenize VBA p-code from a MDE, just that no one had bothered
to do it because of the size of the task vs. the worth.

  If it was simple as the one language I use (NPL), which has built in
statements to do that ($Source and $Object) on the fly, we'd really be in
trouble.

Jim.

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Shamil
Salakhetdinov
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 5:51 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Hacking MDE (was Creating a demo Access app?)


Marty,

I know how to do that with mde without Michael Kaplan's or Serge Gavrilov's
utilities.
In fact it's very easy and it can't be even called as hacking because it
uses undocumented feature and not more than that.
I did get on it occasionally while investigating MS Access internals trying
to workaround its bugs/limitations.

I have never announced this "knowledge" as a service or as an add-in.
Just in one case here I helped to get forms/reports designs when this
help was requested. And that time I used other technique, which needed much
more work than to just use mentioned above undocumented feature.
And this help was free. And it was for the author of the original software
who lost the sources.

And I have never used that knowledge to make copycat software.

Yes, I know Serge Gavrilov by e-mail but his utilities/business with MDEs is
his own business and his own responsibility - I can' t influence that. BTW,
Serge is living in Tcheliabinsk, Urals and I'm in St.Petersburg - we are
2000+ km apart - not a distance in Internet times but it is not my backyard
:)

Shamil

----- Original Message -----
From: "MartyConnelly" <martyconnelly at shaw.ca>
To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving"
<accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 9:46 PM
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Hacking MDE (was Creating a demo Access app?)


> It is not that hard to do with an mde.  Here is a utility.
> Michael Kaplan pointed me here about 3 or 4 years ago for password cracks.
>
> MDE forms/reports extractor v2.2 MS Access 2000 add-in
>  This utility is designed to allow you to extract the forms, reports
> and macros from an mde file to mdb (without the form/report class module
> code).
> It wont get the code behind the forms.
>
> http://accesstools.narod.ru/index.html
>
> Serge Gavrilov seems to be in your backyard.
>
>
> Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote:
>
>>All,
>>
>>Here is a Friday puzzle on subject I suppose:
>>
>>Have a look at this screenshot
>>
>>http://www.code-vb.com/help/dlg_frmProcedure.htm
>>
>>and now on this one:
>>
>>http://www.smartvba.com/methods_builder.htm
>>
>>The first (http://www.code-vb.com/help/dlg_frmProcedure.htm) - was first
>>time released in the beginning of the last year and the latter - in the
>>end.
>>
>>These are not related companies.
>>
>>I know the history of the first and how it was created.
>>
>>Question: How it comes that the design of the latter company's software is
>>sometimes literally the same? (and many other forms are like that).
>>
>>My guess: The designs of the first were replicated  manually or
>>decompiled (there is good VB6 decompiler - the info about it was
>>published here) then adjusted and published by the second company.
>>
>>Anybody believes that designs can be so similar if the second company
>>didn't
>>know anything about the software products of the first?
>>Am I getting paranoid?
>>
>>If not, then one who publishes MDE apps may expect to see their GUI
>>designs (and good GUI designs is a lot of work) be published within other
>>companies' software...
>>
>>Shamil
>>

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