Page 1 of 2
retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:21 pm
by Tribblehunter
Help!!
Have lost original livecode code from standalone app built for desktop.
Can I retrieve it from the standalone?
I am guessing the answer is no, but it does not hurt to ask!
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:14 am
by keram
I had the same question in the past and Neil Roger from LC answered: no
see here:
http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.ph ... nse#p95238
I usually keep
2 backups of the LC files just in case...
keram
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:40 pm
by richmond62
If you made your standalone with the Commercial version & you password protected the stacks you will be unable to retrieve the code.
If you made your standalone with the Commercial version and did NOT password protect the stacks
OR
you made your stanadalone with the Community version
You SHOULD be able to open the standalone with a text editor and retrieve the code.
Having said that; I tired just now and got in a right mess :/
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 4:52 pm
by AxWald
Hi,
richmond62 wrote:If you made [...] your stanadalone with the Community version
You SHOULD be able to open the standalone with a text editor and retrieve the code.
Having said that; I tired just now and got in a right mess :/
Just opened a small standalone.exe (3MB+) in my editor and searched for "mouseup". A few finds, but no code nearby. Then searched for a special word that I copied directly from my stack code: "ServerMessageReceived" - no finds either. (Community Version 6.6.1)
So if there's no way to decode the .exe in some way you're out of luck.
Have fun!
PS: That's why I always keep a copy of all my released versions (for the recent year at least), and make a new backup copy of my whole project folder before I start working - this can be priceless!
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 4:08 pm
by Tribblehunter
Thought so. It was only a small app anyway. One of my first attempts.
Needed blinging anyway!! lol
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 6:24 pm
by Klaus
In case you are in REAL trouble, RunRev will be decompile your app (for a fee, of course), if I remember correctly.
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 5:13 am
by Frank Deutsch
Hi Klaus,
I would be VERY interested in this. I got a small Rev 2.7 app. from about 10 years ago or older, where I lost the code.
Whom do I contact to have it decompiled?
Regards
Frank
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:25 am
by Klaus
Hi Frank,
try here:
support@runrev.com
Best
Klaus
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:31 pm
by sphere
With 7-zip you can open the exe and see the contents.
But the files inside are probably encoded, so you can read nothing unless you know what to do next.
You can read Dinkumware at the end of some files, it's the supplier of C++ libraries.
I opened a file with notepad++, but it is unreadable for us humans.
edit---
i saw code in the .rdata file
But it is undo-able to get it all together again without properly decoding the file i guess. Right now it looks like a big mess.
So have fun getting your stack script back

Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:33 am
by Frank Deutsch
Thanks Fellas,
It's now in the hands of the gods of RunRev.
FD
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:29 am
by FourthWorld
Way back in the MetaCard days a member of this community made this tool for extracting a stack file out of a standalone:
http://fourthworld.net/lc/disassembler.mc
It only works on very old versions, but may be useful since you said yours was build with v2.7.
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:03 am
by Frank Deutsch
Thank you Richard,
This works wonderful!
Except one problem. It asks me for a password to the Script Editor.
I know I did not password protect anything on this app. so I imagine that the author of this wonderful tool had it password protected.
Would this author still be around? or perhaps would anyone know the password?
Best regards
Frank
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:20 am
by FourthWorld
The disassembler stack isn't password-protected (you can open and read its scripts), so any request for a script password must be related to something else.
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:40 am
by Simon
Hey aren't we in Red Flag territory here?
Sorry to cast aspersions on you Frank, but isn't this the path a bad client would take? Got the .exe/.app > Failed final payment > Never got the source code.
Yes, my twisted mind does wonder about these things.
My deepest apologies Frank for my line of thinking.
Simon
Re: retrieve livecode code from standalone desktop app
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:38 am
by Frank Deutsch
Thank you for the info, Richard.
I'll just have to figure out where the "password" request is generated from.
To Simon,
Yes, you do have a twisted mind, but maybe you have had some experience that justifies your thinking, so I forgive you

No, I am NOT in red flag territory. I (with help of others) wrote this little program some 8-10 years ago, but due to hard drive failure, my source code with lots of other stuff went to digital heaven.
I made this app. available to all and sundry completely free of charge, so I never got a cent for it.
University of Ballarat (VIOSH) and triple-w.industrial ebooks com CBT software are samples of organisations that have used this app. As a matter of fact, it is from
Industrial e-books web site, where I retrieved my "lost" Risk Terminator.
As I have now taken on some responsibility in the field of Risk Assessments on the Municipal Council, where I serve as Councillor, I felt that my application would be of benefit to the
risk assessment tools that are currently used, which in the main are very cumbersome to use.
Thus ends my explanation.