13 replies to this topic

[SouthPacific]

Hello everyone,

I have an OLD program that was written in .pas. It also has some old .dll's. I have the old Borland C++ 4.5 and can pull up these dll's and do some editing. However, I cna not figure out how to edit some parts.

Specifically, these dll's allow internal e-mail sending on this old program. They were custom made, some with drop down menus, so you could select different users from the list, etc. Also one was created with other specific features (you will be able to see in the dll itself).

But this has been so long ago (around 1996 or so), I have totally forgotten how these were created and not even sure in what program they were created. I am trying to find out what they were created in and how to edit/modify them properly.

I am by no means a programmer, but am willing to learn. I could use any good expertise in this. I have no doubt a good programmer could probably find out in minutes, what I have been searching for days now. I can send you the dll's to check first hand (there are only 3 or 4)

Please let me know if you can help me find out how these were done. As the old saying goes...you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime.

Can someone teach me how to fish here please? :-)

Thanks for any help!
SouthPacific

[WingedPanther]

They are probably part of a Delphi program. There should also be .dfm files.

[SouthPacific]

Thanks for the reply. I know that these dll's are custom made and not actually a part of the program. there were many "plugins" made by third party programmers that worked within the program. These particular dlls were made custom for me and either done by me or a friend of mine who programmed back then. We are talking about 1996, so I honestly can't remember if I made them or he did. I know its simple style programming, but can't remember what programmed was used.

Again, I can edit parts of the dlls in Resource Workshop, but not the drop down menus or some of the fields.

That's why I am needing help. I have been searching through the programs, but after days of searching, still cannot figure that part out.

I figured a real programmer, unlike myself, could guide me in the right direction and probably find what I need to do to edit/modify these within a very short time (probably within minutes). I freely admit, I am no programmer by any means, thats why I have come here to get a real programmers insight.

Thanks again.

[WingedPanther]

So you're saying you don't have the original code for any of this. The dropdown menus may be partially stored as binary data.

[SouthPacific]

Original code for the dll's? No. I'm not sure what happened to that. Again its from around 1996, so many files and data has been lost over the years. i just happened to run across these specific dll's that were made for me specifically and would like to be able to have the same, except with the ability to edit/modify the selections in the dropdown menus (they just list the names of people to whom you can send e-mail to directly on the internal system).

I am more than willing to e-mail the dll's to anyone look at and give me their educated opinion from a pogrammers standpoint. i remember these did not take long at all to create and are in very simple form. I simply can't remember how they were made. Even when i open them up in Resource Workshop I can see that they were copyrighted in 1996 by my system.

So if anyone would like to at least take a look, I'd appreciate the input.

Thanks again

[SouthPacific]

And just to add, I can also pay a little money (like $25) via Pay Pal, if someone could just make like 2 or 3 simple templates I could use in my Borland C++ program that would work like these dll's. Then I could just use the templates and create the dropdown lists, etc as I need for working with this.

Again, I do know its a simple pattern program. I just can't remember the specifics.

Thanks again.

[WingedPanther]

I'm confused. Are you needing to modify the .dll files, or the .pas file that uses them?

[SouthPacific]

Just the .dll files. The program that uses them was written in PAS. I'm not sure what program was used write these dll's. I thought it was the old C++ 4.5 that I have, but can only edit/modify small parts.

I am specifically trying to be able to modify the "drop down menu" information (like the list if names in a group that sends e-mail to that particular person's e-mail inertnally)

I can pull up the dll's in Resource Workshop and can see/edit the "form" of the dll and such, but cannot find where to access the drop down list to change/edit them.

So its just the dll's, about 3 or 4 of them, is what I am looking to fully modify. Not the program itself.

Hope this clears that up.

Thanks again

[WingedPanther]

Delphi can create .dll files too. Depending on how the dropdown list is structured, it could be in a completely different area of code, dynamically generated, etc.

[SouthPacific]

Thanks again for the reply. Would you like to take a look at one? maybe you can tell me what I am going to be looking for and what program I can use to edit/modify these correctly? I would onlt need info on one since the others were done the same way. I just need to know what program I can use to properly edit/modify what I have.

Thanks again.

[WingedPanther]

Something just occurred to me, the contents of the dropdown may be in the .exe, not the .dll. The .dll may only have the code for how to draw the dropdown. I don't have a resource editor handy, but if you post it someone may be able to help.

[SouthPacific]

Thanks again for the reply. I'm sure all the info is within the dll. I can see it using a hex editor. However, I can't find a way to properly edit/modify that information. I have tried it in the hex editor, but then the dll will not work properly. That is why I am searching for a program (it may be able to be done in what I have, but I'm just not finding it) to make those changes.

I'm new here, where would I post the dll's so anyone could take a look at them?

Thanks again.