[TwoD]

We get multiple topics from people who wants to protect their contents from being stolen/ripped, and none of them seem to be able to use the search function...

There are two search buttons available in each forum. The one located on the top toolbar searches the complete PT forum. The other one, located to the right above the views and replies counters, says Search this Forum, and does exactly that.

Try entering "hide source code" (without quotes) in the toolbar box and you'll get just about every thread about protecting source code in the entire forum.

Here are a few examples:
http://www.programmingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=17499
http://www.programmingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=13866

And here's the quick answer:
It is NOT possible to entirely protect anything on the web, especially what's running clientside!

http://www.programmingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=26830 - This method even goes as far as using MD5 hashes to protect sources. But that can be brute-forced if somebody really wanted to find out what's been hidden.


Please start any new discussions about hiding/protecting source code using JavaScript in this thread, that way it is all kept in one place and it won't clutter up the forum with many similar threads.

Thank you for your attention.

[Christian]

Also, the sticky in the XHTML/HTML forum has some useful infomation.

[mityelir88]

try this: http://www.aevita.com/web/lock/

[End User]

Originally Posted by mityelir88

try this: http://www.aevita.com/web/lock/

Another product that claims to do what, by definition, cannot be done.

[mityelir88]

yeah, you're prob. right.

[DAL]

Generally speaking it's the idea thats stolen not the code! I mean anyone stupid enough to use code exactly as it was from the source (or even just renaming the variables) deserves everything coming to them. This is a pet hate of mine and I always start from scratch on everything I do, there are times where I need direction on how to accomplish this task and I look at other code to see how things are done but I do not rip them off, I generally use the idea for a base then put my own things into it and try and improve on the existing platform. EDIT: I should have really pointed out that the platform I'm on about would be the idea platform not the coding platform.

Anyone interested in protecting client side code should be aware that most programmers/scripters/coders will look at the output of a page and know how to replicate it without looking at code, those that just dive straight in there and steal it don't really know what their doing... best way to fool these people is to get them to copy along your trademark or dummy functions so that you have undeniable proof that they stole the very sole of you code.

There are soooo many free scripts to choose from now that this kind of activity is less and less. For instance, google wysiwyg editors and you will find that there are loads wanting you to pay for them (I know because I paid for one) if you look hard enough there are probably the same number that are free to use and modify with support forums of their own to help you to do that.


If you do want to protect your code, think of other ways such as getting a company to look after your code. Some I've heard search the web for their clients code to see if anyone has stolen it and then the whole legal thing kicks off as part of your contract to them. I suppose this kind of activity, once the author has legitimate standing it goes in and out of court very quickly.


Cheers
Dal

[roflposters]

I think this might help

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obfuscation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obfuscated_code

[wirehopper]

I was told to protect some algorithms from theft, and converted them from javascript to PHP, and used AJAX to display the results.

It really wasn't that difficult to convert it over, and it did protect the process they were concerned about.

Another developer came along later and discarded all my work. That ensures no one will ever steal it. I was successful.

[nathan3011]

Originally Posted by wirehopper

I was told to protect some algorithms from theft, and converted them from javascript to PHP, and used AJAX to display the results.

It really wasn't that difficult to convert it over, and it did protect the process they were concerned about.

Another developer came along later and discarded all my work. That ensures no one will ever steal it. I was successful.

Hey mate sounds good, can I just ask how long did it take to convert it across and was it a difficult process??

Also its good that it was discarded and that way yeah no one will ever steal it haha good stuff!!

[wirehopper]

It didn't really take long to convert, it was kind of fun. Maybe a day or two.

The syntax is fairly similar between javascript and PHP, so I picked out the code that they wanted to protect, converted it to PHP, and then added a bit of javascript to call that code to get the results required.

The code was used to calculate the cost of something, and the computation was very complex. I gave up trying to actually calculate it and created a matrix, which contained the fees based on the state of a bunch of radio buttons. The matrix is what I put into PHP, then I created javascript to send the input values and request the value.

If I had the code I'd send it to you. If you use an AJAX toolkit like dojo (http://dojotoolkit.org), it will probably take you a fraction of the time it took me.

Good luck!