[2005] Manipulate External Software

[noahssite]

Hello, how would i make it so the user can browse and pick a .exe application, then my program can read all the info about that .exe file eg. Compnay that made it, size, then also whats in it... When the trial version will expire etc... Also is it possible to manipulate these?

* Note: I want to know this for educational reasons, this will improve my understandment on doing events with exteranl applications.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Some of that is just file parameters. There are a variety of classes in the IO namespace that can get the size. Where you would find the company that made it is beyond me, since it won't be found in the same place for all programs. The trial version and the expiration are only accessible if the design was done poorly.

[mendhak]

You should be able to read such application/assembly metadata using System.Reflection. This, however, applies to applications written using the .NET framework. If it were a COM DLL or VB6 EXE for example, then you may need to look at the associated file metadata (in summary?) to get the information out.

The above techniques will not work for all information. You cannot figure out when the trial version for any arbitrary application will expire as the logic to implement it will vary from exe to exe. The size is simple enough - just look at the FileInfo - size.

[noahssite]

whell have any of you ever heard of a Cheat Engine (usally used for games).
How would a cheat engine work? It searchs for pieces of data in other programs. As you have said this is basicly impossible yet many people get this acomplished.