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Modifying old Win32 application without source code (possibly written using Borland tools)


I have a quite old Windows application (1998) which is no longer maintained by the author and I don't have its source code. This application in one of its windows has a dropdown list widget where the user can choose one of the 4 predefined values (numbers). I need to add new predefined values there or change the widget to something that lets me introduce any value (some edit field or editable combobox).

Some other data about the application:

  • Probably written using some Borland tools, I guess it uses BDE and Paradox as its database.
  • There is a file with .mme extension in the directory. I unpacked it and it contains 5 files: .data, .rdata, .rsrc, .sdata, .text. I viewed them in a hex editor and they contain some text data but I don't know how to look for those predefined values. Since they are numbers it's probable that I will find just some other numbers.

I tried using RedEdit and XN Resource Editor but they show only the icon and version info.

I know my question is kind of vague, but if I don't find any solution to this I will have to rewrite the whole program, so I'm asking just in case there is a solution.


Solution

  • It might be possible to write another app that looks for this program, gets a handle to the window owning the drop-down box (if t's a native windows component), and then gets a handle to the drop-down box and use the Windows SendMessage API to manipulate the contents of the drop-down box.

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms632595(v=VS.85).aspx

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms644950(v=vs.85).aspx

    It might require so much effort that it may be better to just rewrite the app!