how to see the protected code

ranjityadavranjityadav Member Posts: 92
hi,
can anyone tell me how to see or unprotect the protected code.
what happen we hav a client which is implemented by other partner protect the codes, now we wanrt to add some codes on the base tables which r protected by them.so how we can unprotect them.

Answers

  • David_SingletonDavid_Singleton Member Posts: 5,479
    hi,
    can anyone tell me how to see or unprotect the protected code.
    what happen we hav a client which is implemented by other partner protect the codes, now we wanrt to add some codes on the base tables which r protected by them.so how we can unprotect them.

    This is a very bad situation.

    Basically its not possible to protect the base tables. So if a partner did this they did it illegally by hacking (reverse engineering) Navision code. This is a clear breach of the contract they have with Microsoft, and legal action can AND SHOULD be taken against them.

    I would immediately report this to Microsoft and have the customer take legal action against the partner. I would also speak to the customer's lawyers to see if it is possible to publish the name of the partner so that other customers will know never to buy from that company.
    David Singleton
  • matttraxmatttrax Member Posts: 2,309
    Let's be clear. Are you trying to look at code that you SHOULD have access to? It's not an add-on that's not in your license or anything?

    This is base code, like the customer table or something, that has had the code "protected"?
  • ranjityadavranjityadav Member Posts: 92
    Yes i only see the "Protected" written on the Fields triggers. while seeing the codeunit 5700 user setup management.
    few more objects i found where this protection is done.
    help me out in this matter pls
  • David_SingletonDavid_Singleton Member Posts: 5,479
    Yes i only see the "Protected" written on the Fields triggers. while seeing the codeunit 5700 user setup management.
    few more objects i found where this protection is done.
    help me out in this matter pls

    This is a clear breach of the Microsoft terms and conditions (no reverse engineering) and the partner that did this are liable to legal action. I would have the client contact the partner (via their lawyers) and explain the situation and that legal proceedings are under way.

    In reality though any company that does things like this, is unprofessional at the worst level, and probably don't care about being sued. So you may have no chance to get anything from them.

    One thing you do need to do (after consulting your lawyers) is to help other companies by making sure potential Navision customers know not to use that partner ever. I hope Microsoft will revoke their Partner license to save other customers the same problems.
    David Singleton
  • BeliasBelias Member Posts: 2,998
    But what does it happen if you try to debug the code?
    Can you see it or not?
    NOTE: even if this work (i am doubtful, anyway) report this to microsoft as other already said
    -Mirko-
    "Never memorize what you can easily find in a book".....Or Mibuso
    My Blog
  • ranjityadavranjityadav Member Posts: 92
    During debug/code coverage its only show the "Protected" Word only.
    this is done by the implementor by using the Add on.
    is there any way to unprotect the code?
  • krikikriki Member, Moderator Posts: 9,094
    [Topic moved from 'NAV 2009' forum to 'NAV/Navision' forum]
    Regards,Alain Krikilion
    No PM,please use the forum. || May the <SOLVED>-attribute be in your title!


  • David_SingletonDavid_Singleton Member Posts: 5,479
    Belias wrote:
    But what does it happen if you try to debug the code?
    Can you see it or not?
    NOTE: even if this work (i am doubtful, anyway) report this to microsoft as other already said

    My guess is that this is a very dirty hack, someone has gone into the FOB and removed all the text, and in doing so probably destroyed the check-sum. So the debugger will not be able to do anything. It will most likely just bomb out. This is the work of backstreet amateurs. There was some idiot trying o peddle some code to do this, (I think here on mibuso) so it might be that code.
    David Singleton
  • BeliasBelias Member Posts: 2,998
    There was some idiot trying o peddle some code to do this, (I think here on mibuso) so it might be that code.
    yes, i remember that post...let's NOT post the link, if someone find it
    @ranjityadav: as said, there's no way out, sorry :|
    -Mirko-
    "Never memorize what you can easily find in a book".....Or Mibuso
    My Blog
  • matttraxmatttrax Member Posts: 2,309
    I thought I remembered someone trying to sell that and had a trial version here on Mibuso. I remember being very interested in how it was done, but thinking that it was pretty worthless.

    Let's not everyone jump on something that we don't know the full facts of, though. For all we know it could have been one person at the Partner company that acted without their knowledge. Could have been a freelancer. Innocent until proven guilty.

    The claims against the partner should be investigated like any other claim and Microsoft should be notified about the possible breech of contract.
  • David_SingletonDavid_Singleton Member Posts: 5,479
    Which is why I have said that Lawyers need to be involved in this process.

    Not sure why it would be a freelancer. Firstly the OP has already stated it was done by the clients previous partner. Secondly the ONLY reason anyone does this is because they are scared the client will change partners, and they think that blackmailing is the answer so really its only a partner in trouble with their client that would want to do this. And if it was one individual at the partner, surely the partner (assuming they are professional) have backups of all the work their people do. If they just send developers on site and let them do their own thing without guidance or training , then they are as culpable as the employee.
    David Singleton
  • krzychub83krzychub83 Member Posts: 120
    There was some idiot trying o peddle some code to do this, (I think here on mibuso) so it might be that code.

    Yes there was... The answer that I have received than by Kine helped me a lot to upgrade development process. Some work is automated now (VSS+NAV :) ). Thank You Kine for Your help…

    This idiot didn’t built a solution to protect the code, even if he would know how to do it, hi would not use it in that purpose. This idiot saw a solution in Mibuso Download center and ask a question: How this is made? It is very easy to mark somebody. Is it David?

    I (the idiot) agree with David, that this is case for layers.

    Ranjityadav check Mibuso download center. There was a solution which was making such stuff. This solution was able to unprotect the code. It had ability to protect it with a password. I remember that you needed to import only a fob to have it work... Unfortunately I do not remember it's name and I do not have any ware a copy of it, so keep looking at Mibuso Download center. If Admins removed it from download center, then ask them, if they still have a copy of it. It was a demo, but it is going to give you some possibility (to contact the author and so on)… I am going to check my home backups today. If I find it I will send it to You. Good luck.
  • O-SeeO-See Member Posts: 4
    If they protected only their own codeunits and forms, is it still illegal ?

    We took on a client with some modifications by another partner.
    We made some addons to their system, but the previous partner had put some licensing checking code in their modification and 'squeezed' it.
    We couldn't implement our modification, because when we changed the license to include our tables and forms, the old modification caused an error, because the license had been changed.
    Our client is quite reliant on the previous modification.
  • krzychub83krzychub83 Member Posts: 120
    Hi O-See. How are you?

    Are you talking about objects with id range over 99999? If yes, then those are approved by Microsoft (certified, or whatever its name is) paid customizations to the NAV. Those customizations are developed by a partner and are tight to this partner. This partner has development license, which does allow him to amend any object in this solution. This includes object ranges outside of standard open 50000-99999 object range ids. Any other partner is not able to do any changes to this solution. Yes this is legal. Now if you need to customize it, this needs some cooperation with customization owner/seller. It does not mean that the previous partner build it, because they could bought it from another partner... So maybe you do not need to contact them, but somebody else.

    This topic was about different object locking. There are tools that are allowing you to lock an object from being modified in the future. In this scenario any other developer is not able to see the code of this object neither in the object designer nor debugger. If you preview such object you see normal triggers and then maybe some artificial text like object locked in place of compiled code. It depends if person locking this object used any description for notification. I do not know if it is illegal or not. I vote for illegal, and I would stay far away from it, but I can be wrong. I hope that MS manage to lock this hole in NAV with version 7.0. The old gates for the old DevTools have been closed so maybe such tools have been disabled too.
  • Marije_BrummelMarije_Brummel Member, Moderators Design Patterns Posts: 4,262
    In NAV2009 and NAV2013 this is "more or less" solved.

    The orriginal AL code is kept as comments in the generated C# code that can be exported using the Visual Studio debugging option.

    Not a really nice solution but a way to get the code back if you are in a position you just described.
  • krzychub83krzychub83 Member Posts: 120
    Hi Mark
    Thank you for this tip. Good to know that there is a way bypass this.
    Kind regards
    Krzysztof
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