To anyone interested in decompilation...
We started with Fox from DAY ONE, after a serious illness with DBASE II.
We are currently in FoxPro 6.0 and loving it. Can't wait for 7.0 to test it.
We have been distributing our modules with all of the individual .FXP modules compiled with the command: "compile xxxxx.prg encrypt nodebug"
We do not distribute an EXE but distribute about 100 FXP files, which can be updated individually as changes are needed.
We have tested breaking the code and cannot seem to be able to, however we are creative and not destructive people as are a lot of "johnny-come-lately-programmers."
We write all our code. Every line. We never use the developer tools. Every screen, scanning, reports, etc is written line by line. Very tedious, however we have exact control over our code and never have to ask for help from Fox.
A Microsoft person told me at DevCon that we probably have better control over our code than most of the operations they have seen.
But there are consequences. We even wrote our own "FoxFont.FON" So we have no scalability in our program at all. We read the registry and look at their resolution settings, and start the program with one of the multiple versions of the FoxFont.FON font that we have developed for 800, 1024, 1280, etc.
As to reverse engineering... can any one reverse engineer or break the code if it is compiled with the "encrypt nodebug" switches?
We tried ReFox8 and it seems to scramble fine, however the program "dies" somewhere down the line during operation. We have never figured that out and neither could the ReFox people, cause it comes up a Windows Error and not a Fox Error.
The best thing any creative programmer can do is stay registered with the Copyright office and regularly send CD's to them with your code. It would be a legal battle someday if you find someone with your app. or code from it, but if they are making money, you might get a lot of it.
We have some accounting math routines that are, we believe PATENTABLE, and have applied for the patents to that code to protect ourselves.
If I ever found any of my code out there, they would be able to inscribe my headstone with: "No friend has ever served me, nor enemy ever wronged me, that has not been PAID IN FULL!" And I'm from Texas, and I "REMEMBER WACO!"
Ed Messick
http://www.bank-builder.com
