How Good is MC Study Protection?  [SOLVED]

Questions about MultiCharts and user contributed studies.
tvinc
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How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby tvinc » 05 Aug 2012

From what I've been able to find out, it's not currently possible to crack MultiChart's read-only study protection. Because I will be leasing proprietary strategies, I need to be sure of this. Do any of you have knowledge of how good MC's study protection is and whether it can be cracked?

Thanks.

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TJ
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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby TJ » 05 Aug 2012

From what I've been able to find out, it's not currently possible to crack MultiChart's read-only study protection. Because I will be leasing proprietary strategies, I need to be sure of this. Do any of you have knowledge of how good MC's study protection is and whether it can be cracked?

Thanks.
see post #7
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6845

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Stan Bokov
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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby Stan Bokov » 06 Aug 2012

TJ,

Please update post 7 that you are referring to. Since version 8, SEF files are forward compatible, which means that SEF created in MC8 will be readable in all future versions of MC.

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TJ
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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby TJ » 06 Aug 2012

TJ,

Please update post 7 that you are referring to. Since version 8, SEF files are forward compatible, which means that SEF created in MC8 will be readable in all future versions of MC.
Updated now. Thanks for the reminder.

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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby tvinc » 06 Aug 2012

Thanks for your replies.

Stan (or anyone else who may know), is there any added protection to protect the study using the password protection before exporting as read-only? Is there any added protection to "bulk up" the file with excess lines of code before exporting as read-only?

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Stan Bokov
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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby Stan Bokov » 06 Aug 2012

Thanks for your replies.

Stan (or anyone else who may know), is there any added protection to protect the study using the password protection before exporting as read-only? Is there any added protection to "bulk up" the file with excess lines of code before exporting as read-only?
SEF is read-only, which means nobody can see the source code. It's compiled, so it has only "0" and "1". However, if you don't protect with with a password, or a check for UserID or license name, anyone with a MultiCharts can simply import it and use it if someone shares the SEF. They won't be able to see the source code, but they can still see the results. Password protection and checks for ID's limit who can use your read-only file. If you sell it, make sure you enable only IDs of your customer or your group of customers inside the script, and THEN compile as read-only. Then this SEF will only work on the machines of the people that you want to see the results.

There is no bulking up of the script with extra lines - there's no point or necessity to do that.

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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby tvinc » 06 Aug 2012

Thanks for the prompt reply. Yes, I understand the need to check for user id. On the password protection, though, I'm confused. Doesn't the password protection only prevent the file being opened in the PowerLanguage Editor, but it can still be run when applied to a chart? If that's so, then does it provide any added protection to exporting as read-only SEF?

Regarding the user id, is a new one issued each time MultiCharts is re-installed or a client upgrades to a newer version, or does the user id stay the same throughout the client's history?

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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?  [SOLVED]

Postby TJ » 06 Aug 2012

Thanks for the prompt reply. Yes, I understand the need to check for user id. On the password protection, though, I'm confused. Doesn't the password protection only prevent the file being opened in the PowerLanguage Editor, but it can still be run when applied to a chart? If that's so, then does it provide any added protection to exporting as read-only SEF?

...
To prevent unauthorized use of your indicator,
you can add your indicator specific password into the code.

eg.

Code: Select all

input:
secret.password("");

if secret.password = "ABCDE" then
begin

{----- put your indicator here -----}

end;

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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby janus » 06 Aug 2012

On the password protection, though, I'm confused. Doesn't the password protection only prevent the file being opened in the PowerLanguage Editor, but it can still be run when applied to a chart? If that's so, then does it provide any added protection to exporting as read-only SEF?
Please note that password protecting a study does not prevent a person on your computer from accessing and reading the contents of that study. Your studies can be accessed with say a notepad editor regardless of whether they are password protected or not, at the following location (W7):
C:\ProgramData\TS Support\MultiCharts\StudyServer\Studies\SrcEl

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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby Stan Bokov » 07 Aug 2012

Regarding the user id, is a new one issued each time MultiCharts is re-installed or a client upgrades to a newer version, or does the user id stay the same throughout the client's history?
UserID depends on the computer fingerprint. If hardware changes then UserID changes also. It's best to use the newly created "getusername" - https://www.multicharts.com/trading-sof ... etUserName. It tracks the license name instead of the UserID, and since that can only be used by that user and on one computer at a time, it's best to use for developers.

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Re: How Good is MC Study Protection?

Postby tvinc » 07 Aug 2012

Thanks, Stan. Any other tips for protecting code?


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