i have an application which call another console application and pass to it some parameters (console app is a video/audio coverter app) ... is there a way to programmatically "spy" or catch the passed paramters other than hooking/monitoring shellexecute/CreateThread etc ?
Create an executable yourself that just calls the original and passes all parameters on to it. Then move the original somewhere else and replace it with your exe. Your program can then log all calls to it, including all parameters.
Yes, there is - as you write Process Explorer is able to do it, and you could employ the same technique. But AFAIK there's no Delphi translation of the winternl.h file from the Platform SDK, so it is even more tedious and difficult. Also this is extremely version-specific, and there are chances it will break with the next Windows version. It's also not quite clear whether this works for 64 bit processes (from a 32 bit process).
If you really want to do it you will find the necessary information in this blog posting by Matt Pietrek, and in the CodeProject article "Read Environment Strings of Remote process".
If you do not plan to use it for closed source commercial programs then a look into the (GPL licensed) annotated version of the winternl.h file from the ReactOS project would probably also help.
It's a Win32 FAQ since 1992 : just read the PEB.
See on Win32 experts group.
Related
I would love to be able to update my NodeMCU ESP8266-01 OTA, since they're located in awkward spots. I'm by no means an expert regarding the ESP or NodeMCU, but I haven't been able to find anything recent about OTA updates. I found some discussions about it going back to 2015, but it never seems to have been implemented.
I use my ESP with NodeMCU to control a PWM dimmer. I upload a precompiled version of NodeMCU with the NodeMCU Firmware FLasher, and then use ESPlorer to upload a custom lua file called 'init.lua'. I'm not even sure if this is the proper way to do stuff, but it works.
So the main question: Has OTA updating been implemented, or is it possible in some way?
Just to clarify, I don't think I want to update the firmware. As I understand it, firmware is what you build yourself, or on a website like https://nodemcu-build.com. I want to update the lua files that run on the ESP, that you normally upload through a program like ESPlorer.
I found some discussions about it going back to 2015, but it never seems to have been implemented.
Indeed, firmware OTA is not available yet. However, as you probably know, the need for firmware OTA is much lower with the NodeMCU firmware than e.g. with the Arduino platform. I'd argue that you're much less likely in need to replace/upgrade/extend the firmware with its built-in modules than the application code that runs on top of it.
Fortunately, it's quite simple to replace one or several Lua scripts (compiled or uncompiled) on the device and reboot it. All the web and cloud IDEs listed at https://frightanic.com/iot/tools-ides-nodemcu/ offer this. There's even a pending PR that'll bring FTP support to NodeMCU.
For a complete Lua provisioning system take a look at what #TerryE provided at https://github.com/nodemcu/nodemcu-firmware/tree/master/lua_examples/luaOTA
I've attempted to use the two Web IDEs listed in the link provided in Marcel Stör's answer, but I honestly failed to understand how to use either IDE. they also seemed like they weren't exactly what I was looking for, and required a server to connect to, or an extra program, which I wanted to avoid.
Edit: Apparently, I did end up using one of the two Web IDEs in the list. Since it's been a while since I did all this, it's a bit fuzzy in my head.
I eventually stumbled upon this GitHub page, which seemed to provide exactly what I was looking for: The ability to access the Lua files on the ESP through a webbrowser. I have personally changed the ide.lua file around completely, since I needed to call functions from it in the init.lua script. However, I think you can just upload the ide.lua script to the ESP, and add a line containing dofile("ide.lua") to your init.lua file.
If anyone is interested in my changes to, or my implementation of the ide.lua script, you can take a look at my repo Timmiej93 / QuinLED / Program code.
In fact there's a class for that to implement OTA i the NodeMCU its called the ESPhttpUpdate you can refer to ESPhttpUpdate for further details.
tldr; at bottom.
Ok, so once again an interesting problem and I'm looking for a fun and interesting solution.
My current project involves being very modular, meaning the program functionality will be easily changed based on different modules and the program would adapt.
So I started out with the typical route, which is using DLL plugins. Now this is just way to normal, I want to think outside the box a bit.
The modules included in my program are long running campaigns that may take weeks to finish, and there will be many running at a time. So stability is a big issue, so I thought about what Google Chrome does. Processes, not DLLs or threads.
So I have a framework going and I need a way to get some information about each module (which are now EXEs). Now for my DLL framework I was exporting a "Register" function that would fill in some information.
So I thought to myself, hey EXEs can export functions, let's see if that actually works...It doesn't. I did some research into how Windows handles theses things and I don't feel like hacking the PE headers on the fly (but it's the out of the box kind of thinking I'm going for).
I'm planning on using named pipes and CLI parameters to transfer data between the main program and the module exe's. I could use that in a register fashion, but I want to here other peoples thoughts.
tldr: I'm using EXE's instead of DLL's for plugins. Looking for a way to easily export one time information like a exported "Register" function would on a DLL. Thoughts?
You might still consider having the modules written as DLLs with defined entrypoints (e.g., the Register function). Then you write the executable that loads the specified DLL. Your main application would fire off the driver executable and give it a name of a plugin DLL.
That way it is still easy to define and export the set of APIs that must be provided yet still run it as a separate process. The one executable that you write can load the specified DLL and then handle the necessary IPC with the main app.
You could define a protocol via the stdin/stdout, named pipes, sockets, etc.
I have successfully used 'plain' COM for several projects, and objects inheriting from TAutoObject. The bonusses here are IDL; the interopability with .Net, VBA and other non-Delphi things; and the fact that implementors still can choose wether to supply a DLL, an exe, an NT-service, and optionally run hosted over the network (COM+/DCOM). There may be several considerations you should handle about multi-threading and locking, but I found all that I needed to know online.
You can, of course, not use symbols exported by a (running) exe since it is running in another boundary. But, you can load an exe as an image (as you would do with a library) using LoadLibrary(Ex) and then, use the functions exported by the exe. I have tested (just for fun) when debugging PeStudio. See the snapshot below of chrome.exe loaded in the process space of PeStudio.exe using LoadLibrary.
I'm trying a long-time to find algorithm PSOLA (Pitch Synchronous Overlap Add) or WSOLA (Waveform Similarity Overlap Add) which are Acoustic or Signal Processing Algorithms.
I found it in c++, but I have no experience in c++ and is difficult to pass it to Pascal. Anyone have this code in Pascal or know where to find it to copy?
Something like this example that is in c++
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mffmtimescale/files/v3%20stable/v3.9/WSOLA.v.3.9.zip/download?use_mirror=ufpr
Try the SoundTouch DLL, it comes with a Delphi import unit, so you can use the DLL directly. It should not be too hard to compile it. Just download the free VC++ Express from the MS download site and compile it with that or ask someone with VC++ to compile it for you.
FWIW, who knows, with a few modifications, it might also compile with C++Builder.
About one decade ago, I've used praat in FSeqEdit (Delphi program) to do these type of calculations, but I think the same approach would still work fine today.
I wrote some praat-scripts and execute them via praatcons.exe (console version of praat). You can download the console version from this page:
http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/download_win.html
That works pretty good.
I usually take this approach:
I manually check what type of conversions and calculations need to be done via the GUI version of praat. Once I find what I need, I create a script for it, and run that with the console version.
Praat is very powerful, so if you didn't know about it yet, make sure to check it out.
There's a page that shows how to work with PSOLA resynthesis here:
http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~kyoon/praat-tut/praat-tut2.html
Let me know if you want to see some example code on how to integrate it into your Delphi application (it's pretty straightforward actually).
I have been asked to update a program written in 1987 in Delphi (I guess). I have no documentation about this program only a few side notes the programmer took that don't make too much sense to make.
The cd show this files:
Size | Filename
19956 VP.DTA
142300 VP.LEX
404 VP.NDX
126502 VP.RCS
131016 VP.SCR
150067 VP.XEL
101791 vp.exe
Is anyone of this files a database? If so can I access it's data?
I tried several code decompilers but they show a message saying it was not a Win32 compatible application.
The program run in MS-DOS.
Is it possible to obtain the source code? Can I use this code in any way to build a new application?
Update01: I can run the program in MS-DOS. The program conjugate verbs and shows an example sentence where the verb can be used. The GUI is a little bit confusing and there is no help menu so I can't see all the capabilities of the program.
Update02: In conversation with the owner of the program we found another solution. He ask me if it was possible to have the program in a server and the clients could login in with a user and a password and execute the program in a terminal. I have an account in my university server, which I can access throughout ssh and compile and execute c programs in it. The server is in linux so I couldn't try the program in it. If I set up a windows server, can I have multiple people accessing and executing the program in a terminal? The program is an exe. Doesn't this raise some security issues?
Delphi is from mid nineties, so that probably means Delphi's ancestor Turbo Pascal, not Delphi.
Some extensions sound familiar, as shortened versions of words:
ndx = index
dta = data
scr = screen (?)
lex = lexicon (list of words or deduped strings in general) (?)
Screen was sometimes used for e.g. helpscreens, a medieval form of helpfiles, they are typicall ansi screens that can be loaded directly into screen memory
There is a fair chance that this is something handcrafted, specially if that date of 1987 and the general assumption "pascal" is true, and not generated by some known database package at all.
Reverseengineering the fileformat might be a more worthwhile way than trying to reverseengineering the app.
A good start would to be to take a the unix "file" command to see if it can recognize the file types. (the file command searches for signatures inside files, and there are windows ports. I use Cygwin's)
A devel experienced in such matters can also see a lot from a hexdump (specially the first parts of a file)
Is it possible to obtain the source code?
Probably not, you may want to look at something like IDA Pro which can disassemble applications to C using something like Hex-Rays.
Do you know what the application is supposed to be?
If it's ms-dos, you're probably better off just drawing up new requirements and doing new development.
Look for DeDe to reverse engineering a delphi compiled program. But as far as i know, delphi is a real compiler. So there is no way to de-compiled it. If you are able to read assembler code then you can try de-compile it. Clipper and Foxpro (dos version) are another stories cause they not real compiler.
This is definitely not Delphi. It might be one of the database centric languages like Clipper 1. .SCR probably means "screen" and defines I/O masks. .NDX is a table index and .DTA means "data".
If it is clipper, you might actually be lucky, because as far as I remember these programs were P code, so it could be possible to decompile it.
It looks like CLipper (NDX and SCR). If you have a DBF file then it's Clipper for sure. But some people renamed the DBF to something like DAT. If it is Clipper, I believe there was a decompile named Valkyrie.
Using Delphi 7, I wonder if there is a free component which will collect diagnostic information as my application runs at a remote site and will help me to debug error reports.
Maybe it records each menu item selected, control clicked, text input, etc? Maybe it just dumps the stack on a crash. Maybe it does something else ...
I don't mind adding code (e.g at the start and end of each procedure), as that might generate more useful info than a fully automatic system.
I am not sure if the solution ought to "phone home" or if it is enough to produce a text file which can be emailed to me.
Any suggestions?
with the crash debuging have a look at MadExcept
http://www.madshi.net/madExceptDescription.htm
madExcept was built to help you locating crashes in your software. Whenever there's a crash/exception in your program, madExcept will automatically catch it, analyze it, collect lots of useful information, and give the end user the possibility to send you a full bug report.
free for non-commercial usage, inexpensive for commercial usage
or JclDebug from the JEDI Code Library
http://www.delphi-jedi.org/
A Blog Posting about it can be found here
http://www.gnegg.ch/2002/12/jcldebug/
EDIT: This seems to be a very good example on how to use JCLDebug
http://robstechcorner.blogspot.com/2009/04/finding-hard-to-reproduce-errors.html
I use EurekaLog http://www.eurekalog.com
It does the call stack, memory contents, other apps running, a good description of the machine, OS, patches, etc.., It can (with user permission, and if configured to to so) take a screenshot, ask the user for input (what were you doing when it crashed?), etc.. It can send the dump via e-mail, post to http, post directly to bug trackers like Mantis and FogBugz, or just leave it on the system. It's great, and well supported.
Also, here's a link to a similar question
Compare Delphi Exception Handlers
Have you looked at the open-source JclDebug from Project Jedi? Here's a nice succinct write-up on JclDebug.
Imagine you could get a detailed
error-report containing a full
callstack of where the error occured
combined with information about file
and line-number. This report could be
generated directly on the users
computer and be sent to you via email
or directly via the internet, using a
custom procedure - even directly
creating entries in the
bugtracking-tool you are using.
This and more is made possible by the
Project JEDI - more accuratly, the
JCL-Subproject with its
JclDebug-Framework. When you have
completed the installation of the
package, a new Menu Option called
"Inser JCL Debug Data" will be added
to the Project-Menu of your
Delphi-IDE.
There is a great delphi porting of the most known opensource logging framework written in java, Log4J: it is called Log4Delphi.
http://log4delphi.sourceforge.net
I downloaded it, extended and used with my projects with success.
Best features: opensource, Apache license, very well documented, simple to extend it, power design: with the concept of appender, you could build up your custom appender and use it to send logging data from remote customer computer to your head quarter using UDP protocol.
Try it, and let me know :-)
PS: the project seems to be discontinued, but it is mature and I'd used it without memory overload and cpu overhead problems.
The log4Delphi project has been dormant for 4 years but I have been granted access to update the dormant Log4Delphi project and I have rolled up 4 years of bugfixes and patches into the latest 0.8 release available on Source-forge. I use this library in production and have found it to very stable and reliable and easy to use.
Log4Delphi Downloads Page