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º º
º º
º Visible::Serialization(tm) º
º -------------------------- º
º developers' serialization utilities º
º º
º º
º append serial numbers (or other identifiers) to .exe files º
º º
º º
º º
º a product of RCCO Research º
º º
º º
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Capabilities
-------------
Visible::Serialization(tm) is a utilities set primarily intended for
developers so that they may append serial numbers (or other identifiers) to
.exe files, create and/or increment such serial numbers, and search for and
verify/display serializations. Users other than developers may use
Visible::Serialization to initialize purchased software applications with
ownership, security-related, or other identifying marks.

A unique serial number going out with each copy of an application affords
the developer with a possible opportunity to identify, if need be, the
registered client of a particular copy. The end-user is normally unaware
of the existence of such a mark, its location, its method of placement or
the method of reading/verifying. Its absence or modification may provide
evidence of tampering.

Visible::Serialization may be used with most traditional MS-DOS or Windows
executables, including those created with CA-Clipper, Borland Turbo Pascal,
QuickBASIC, PowerBasic, Visual Basic(tm) for Windows or DOS, FoxPro, Clarion,
C/C++, etc.

The chief advantages, aside from the utilities themselves, are both low cost
and method of acquiring. The copy included herewith is a fully-functional
evaluation copy available easily and universally through the user-supported
software marketplace.




The Visible::Serialization package
-----------------------------------
This set of utilities consists of the following primary files:

CREATESN.EXE (create or increment a serialno.dat file)
APPENDSN.EXE (append a serial string in serialno.dat to an .exe)
SEARCHSN.EXE (search/verify an .exe for a serial string)

Also included are:

SN2A.BAT (sample batch file for production of successive
serializations on distribution diskettes)
SERIALNO.DAT (sample numerical serial number data file for
reading by APPENDSN.EXE; not needed or
necessarily distributed with applications)
SAMPLE.EXE (sample c file .exe on which to practice append
and search sessions)




Using Visible::Serialization
-----------------------------
CreateSN.exe
-------------
You may use CreateSN.exe to create an ASCII text file called serialno.dat
containing a beginning numerical sequence or an alphanumeric string to be
used by the AppendSN.exe utility. You may create and use both a numerical
serial number (which can be incremented by subsequent runs of CreateSN.exe)
or an alphanumeric string (including letters, digits, punctuation marks and
spaces).

If there is in the working directory for the project at hand a file called
serialno.dat, CreateSN.exe will attempt to increment a numerical serial
number up to nine (9) digits by one number. For example, if the serialno.dat
file contains the number 10001, running CreateSN from the command line will
change serialno.dat to 10002. If serialno.dat contains characters other
than digits, or contains a digital sequence greater than 9 in length, or
is a numerical serial number file created or modified by a text editor
(rather than CreateSN.exe itself), a message will report that the sequence
cannot be incremented.

If a serialno.dat file is not found in the current directory, CreateSN.exe
will prompt you for a beginning serial number. You may enter either a
numerical sequence or any alphanumeric string up to 34 characters in length.
Only if you intend to have CreateSN increment the sequence later must you
limit the length and content to 9 digits or less, with no letters, spaces or
punctuation marks.

After appropriate entry of a new sequence or an increment of an existing
sequence, CreateSN.exe will indicate successful completion and display the
new serialno.dat file typed to the screen for verification. The serialno.dat
is now ready for use by AppendSN.exe.



AppendSN.exe
-------------
To use AppendSN.exe, you type at the DOS prompt:

appendsn

and press , where is the actual copy of the .exe file
you wish to serialize. We provide a practice file in this package,
sample.exe, for purposes of trying the append and search/read operations.
(You may wish to retain an unchanged copy of the original sample.exe for
evaluating various serialization sequences and the resulting appends.)

If there exists in the current directory an appropriate serialno.dat file,
AppendSN.exe will read the sequence therein. If the sequence consists of
34 or less characters in length, AppendSN.exe will append that sequence to
the end of the .exe file named as the required command line parameter. (If
serialno.dat contains a sequence in excess of 34 characters, an appropriate
message will display, accompanied by an exit to the system prompt.)

For example, if the serialno.dat file contains the sequence of digits 10002,
and you execute

appendsn sample.exe

then 10002 will be appended to the end of sample.exe. Should the serialno.dat
file contain the sequence: 10002 John C. Smith, then that exact sequence
will be appended to sample.exe. A serialno.dat file containing "Property of
XYZ Corp." will cause that string to be appended to sample.exe.

You may use as a filename for appending purposes a complete pathname (up to
80 characters); i.e.,

appendsn a:\subdir\sample.exe

DOS wildcard characters (i.e., *.exe) are not permitted, however; single
filenames must be used with each append. The serialno.dat file must be
located in the directory that is current, not the target directory.

After successful completion of the append, AppendSN.exe will note that with
an appropriate message.



SearchSN.exe
-------------
The third utility in the Visible::Serialization set is SearchSN.exe. You
may use SearchSN.exe to search/verify an .exe for a serial string. If you
take the original, unserialized copy of sample.exe and type

searchsn sample.exe

you should receive a message stating "Serial number not found."

If the .exe file has been initialized with a serial number sequence by
using AppendSN.exe (as above), then the results will be a partial dump
of that area of the .exe showing our program name followed by the appended
serialization sequence. There may also be a few garbage characters or
other text displayed as well, but these should not interfere with the reading
or verification of the true serialization sequence. There are, however,
infrequent instances in which an executable's serialization sequence may be
improperly displayed; see the appropriate paragraphs on SearchSN.exe in the
Notes & Precautions section, below.

You may use as a filename for searching purposes a complete pathname (up to
80 characters); i.e.,

searchsn a:\subdir\sample.exe

DOS wildcard characters (i.e., *.exe) are not permitted, however; single
filenames must be used with each search.

You may also view the serial number sequence with a hex editor/viewer; search
for the key string "Visible::Serialization." If you intend to utilize the
serial number programmatically in an application -- that is, reading it for
display or verification purposes on the end-user's machine -- you will also
search for the same key string and read the requisite succeeding bytes for
the serial number. Please note that a registered copy, if purchased, will
not include the unregistered copy notice and that its absence will affect the
number of bytes to be read before locating the serialization string itself.




The serialno.dat file
----------------------
You may also create/modify a non-incrementing serialno.dat file with your
text editor; if a numerical-type serial sequence is to be incremented with
CreateSN.exe, please use CreateSN.exe to create the file initially (see
more about this in the Notes & Precautions section, below).

A non-incrementing serialno.dat must be a plain ASCII text file (no
extraneous characters) consisting of one line only, with no more than 34
characters (including letters, digits, punctuation marks and spaces) in the
one line; it must be left-justified within serialno.dat. It should appear
similarly as follows:


10002 John C. Smith


(or)

John C. Smith


(or)

A123 456-78M


(or)

Property of XYZ Corp.


etc.

within the format limitations described above.






Production Use
---------------
In order to use Visible::Serialization in producing multiple copies of
sequentially serialized executables, there are several possible steps to
consider.

If the distribution diskette will simply contain an unarchived copy of your
.exe, you may utilize a batch file similar to the included sample SN2A.BAT.
SN2A.BAT is fairly self-explanatory, assuming the disks to be initialized are
going to be in Drive A: of your production machine and are already made up in
the needed quantity. Modify or create your own SN2?.BATs as needed; make
sure the Visible::Serialization executable files are in your path or the
complete pathname of those files is indicated in SN2A.BAT. Successive runs
of SN2A.BAT will initialize each stock diskette in turn.

If your intended .exe is to be placed in a compressed archive file for
distribution purposes, you may create a batch file that will initialize
the .exe with the next serial number, update the archive each time, and copy
it to the next distribution diskette. Often, a firm will have a quantity of
distribution disks made up containing everything except one final archive
file which will contain only the initialized .exe file; then, in sequence,
a batch file will execute the initialization on a virgin copy of the .exe,
compress it in its own archive, and lastly, copy it to the next disk where
the appropriate preprinted label (if it indicates a serial number) may be
applied.

Our own firm often copies the serialno.dat file to the root directory of
the distribution diskette. We include a note in the readme.txt that informs
the client:

"The serial number registered in the user's name is found in
the file SERIALNO.DAT. It is provided on the disk for your
recordkeeping purposes only."

It also provides a means for our staff or external agents to make a quick
check that the serial number matches the one indicated on the disk label or
invoice, should the need arise. Since serialno.dat is an ASCII text file,
one may read it quickly by simply keying:

type [a:\]serialno.dat


There are many possible alternatives to producing initialized copies for
distributions; most development firms will create their own preferred
operation appropriate for an application. The above descriptions are only
possible suggestions and are not meant to preclude other means for utilizing
the Visible::Serialization program.





Notes & Precautions
--------------------
Always work with COPIES of your original .exe files. You may wish to
periodically verify with SearchSN.exe the production copies of your
executables to ascertain that the serialization sequence is properly
written and readable.

It is possible to make multiple appends to the same .exe; the SearchSN.exe
utility will attempt to locate and display only the first instance of a
serialization sequence.

AppendSN.exe can be used to append the contents of serialno.dat to the end
of file types other than .exe. You should well test and consider the
intent and consequences of any such append. The SearchSN.exe utility can
have difficulty in locating the serial sequence in this or other rare
circumstance.

If you obtain a result when running SearchSN.exe that you feel to be
inaccurate, empty (reset) your software disk cache (i.e., if using
smartdrv.exe, run smartdrv /r) and execute the search again. An instance
of this might be that of a false return of a serial sequence that does not
exist in a recently copied uninitialized file; this occurrence may be evident
particularly when using the Norton cache programs. Try resetting the cache
as mentioned and run SearchSN.exe again.

There may be infrequent occasions with certain sizes of executables that
SearchSN.exe will display only partial renderings of the serialization
string. This occurs (very rarely) because of the method of searching that
SearchSN.exe uses: different level searches are performed by reading
fixed-length byte segments from the subject file into buffers upon which the
search is performed and the succeeding display made. It is possible,
therefore, that a serialization string may span across buffer boundries and
only be partially displayed. This occurrence does not mean the serialization
string was improperly written during the append process; a followup search
with a hex editor/viewer will most likely ascertain that the serialization
exists properly and in its entirety.

If you have created or modified a numerical-type serial sequence in a
serialno.dat with your text editor (rather than with CreateSN.exe), and
then attempt to increment the number with CreateSN.exe, an error message
"Cannot increment current serial number" may occur. You should then
delete the serialno.dat file and re-create it using CreateSN.exe and the
desired starting number. You should then be able to increment as needed.

You should verify that your applications are fully tested and bugfree before
appending a serial number. After a prototype append, you will most likely
test again that the application works as it did previously. In the unlikely
event there are difficulties, we suggest that you restore an original copy
of the application and perform again the testing process, then apply the
append procedure according to the instructions provided in this documenta-
tion.





Program Requirements
---------------------
The requirements for running Visible::Serialization include a DOS-compatible
PC with 512k memory. DOS 3.1 (or later) or Windows 3.x (or later) should be
utilized.





The Unregistered Evaluation Copy
---------------------------------
The unregistered version of this program is intended for use in evaluation
situations. It may be used for ninety (90) days within your own organ-
ization by persons that have knowledge and understanding of the fact that
it is an unregistered evaluation copy.

The payment of the $19.95 purchase price for a registered copy of this
program will allow license for a single user to make use of the program for
purposes that are traditionally accepted for software utilities of this
type. Additional site license fees of $7.50 per user may be paid at the
time of registration, or any time in the future after initial registration
at the then current license fee in effect. There are no runtime royalties
involved in the distribution of your materials utilizing a duly registered
copy of Visible::Serialization.

The license and authorized registration shall not be construed as being
in effect until direct payment has been received by RCCO Research and an
authorized, registered copy has been sent in the registered user's/users'
name(s).





The Registered Version of Visible::Serialization
-------------------------------------------------
The registered copy performs the same execution as the evaluation copy, only
without the unregistered copy notices.

Documentation for the registered version is an on-disk text file, similar to
the present format.





Licensing Information
----------------------
This program is licensed and supplied as is, without any warranty. To the
extent permitted under applicable law, RCCO Research Associates disclaims
all warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to this software
program, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any
particular purpose.

In particular, this software program is not guaranteed to prevent or detect
damage to your data or programs. In no event shall RCCO Research Associates
be liable for any claims for lost profits or any damage, including, but not
limited to, special, incidental, consequential or other damage (including,
without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interrup-
tion, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of
the use of or inability to use this RCCO Research Associates product, even
if RCCO Research Associates has been advised of the possibility of such
damages. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental
or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply
to you. In no case shall RCCO Research Associates's liability exceed the
license fees paid for the right to use the licensed version of the software.

The license agreement and warranty shall be construed, interpreted and
governed by the laws of the state of Tennessee.

This software program is protected under the Copyright Laws of the United
States of America and all applicable International Copyright Conventions.
Makers and/or users of illegal or unauthorized copies of the registered
version are subject to prosecution under these laws.

The name Visible::Serialization(tm) is a trademark of RCCO Research
Associates. Windows(tm) is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other
trade names referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective companies.





Registration Notes
-------------------
Registration will obtain a copy of the most recent authorized version and
provide legal authorization for continued use of the program after the
ninety-day (90-day) evaluation period.

To obtain a registered copy, you may mail an advance-payment registration
fee of U.S. $19.95 + $2.55 shipping/handling ($7.05 non-U.S. shipping/
handling, $4.05 for Canada) directly to RCCO Research. Additional users
are $7.50 per user. Payment is to be made by check or money order only,
please. We require payment with order so that prices and fees may be kept
as reasonable as possible; this policy has worked well for us in recent
years, as we observe increased registration on products that are reasonably
priced. For credit card and telephone orders, see the Additional Ordering
Options note below.

An invoice will be included with your order, showing the registered serial
number(s) applicable to the purchase. We can provide a pro forma invoice
to those corporations or institutions that require same before payment can
be issued; shipment will be made promptly upon receipt of payment. Prices
and/or registration and/or license fees are subject to change without notice.

Tennessee clients please include the required 8.5% sales tax on both the
product amount and shipping/handling as mandated by the state.

International clients must pay by check or money order in U.S. dollars, drawn
on a U.S. bank or the U.S. branch of an international bank. Please realize
that international postal money orders are considerably delayed through the
postal systems and may not be the most expedient way of relaying payment. An
often-used form of payment consists of obtaining a dollar-denominated money
order from the local American Express office which you may then airmail to
us along with your order. International orders are dispatched promptly
when using a credit card order as outlined below, under Additional Ordering
Options.

Please indicate program name and current version number on your order; you
may use the Order.frm file provided with the package or simply send a note or
letter with your name, organization name, address, program name & version,
number of users being licensed, and remittance. Your comments on our
programs are welcomed.




Additional Ordering Options:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY -
You may order a registered copy of this RCCO Research program
with MasterCard, Visa, Amex, or Discover from PsL, Public (software)
Library of Houston, Texas by calling 800-242-4775 or 713-524-6394,
or by FAX to 713-524-6398, or by CompuServe E-mail to 71355,470.
PsL's office hours are 7:00am to 6:00pm CST Monday-Thursday and
7:00am to 12:30pm CST on Fridays. You may also mail credit card
orders to PsL at P.O. Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705 (U.S.A).
Please include the cardholder name exactly as it appears on the
credit card plus the billing address for the card.

PsL's item/product number for Visible::Serialization is #11763.

THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERS ONLY.
Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order,
registration options, product details, technical support, volume
discounts, dealer pricing, site licenses, etc. must be directed in
writing to RCCO Research, P.O. Box 196, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. To
ensure that you get the fastest possible delivery of your registered
copy, PsL will notify us the day of your order and we will promptly
ship the materials directly to you. There are no additional fees
for ordering by credit card.

Your credit card number is *not* transmitted to RCCO Research, but
rather is processed by PsL as part of their software registration
service.

The above service is made available as a convenience to client
individuals who feel comfortable with ordering by telephone and
with a credit card. Established concerns may prefer to order
directly from RCCO Research with the company's own business check.

The PsL staff cannot answer non-order inquiries.
----------------------------------------------------------------------





Additional Information
-----------------------
If you have any comments or questions regarding this program after (or with)
registration, please send them to:

RCCO Research Associates
P. O. Box 196
Gatlinburg, TN 37738-0196
(U.S.A.)

Please include your phone (day & evening) and fax (if any) numbers as well
as your mailing address (and CompuServe number / Internet address, if any)
on ALL written communications. Please indicate the serial number from your
registered copy of the program as well as your CustID number. Our E-mail
addresses are provided to registered users along with the invoice.


RCCO Research is the publisher of Visible::Setup(tm) (a developers'
installation utility for DOS applications used widely in many parts of the
world), as well as several other popular development tools. Please consult
your favorite user-supported software source for the availability of these
and other RCCO Research DOS and Windows programs.







Visible::Serialization(tm)
--------------------------
developers' serialization utilities

append serial numbers (or other identifiers) to .exe files



(C) Copyright 1995 RCCO Research Associates
All Rights Reserved under International Conventions
Product of U.S.A.



RCCO Research Associates
Post Office Box 196
Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738-0196
(U.S.A.)



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³ RCCO Research Associates ³
³ Technical Publishers, Est. 1965 ³
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  3 Responses to “Category : Recently Uploaded Files
Archive   : VSER10.ZIP
Filename : VSER.TXT

  1. Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!

  2. This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.

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