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Protect Drawing File

Anonymous

Protect Drawing File

Anonymous
No aplicable

Hey Folks,

 

I would like to be able to send a .dwg file that is locked and protected.  Is there a way to lock out a file where no one can edit the drawing but still be able to open the drawing in AutoCAD?

 

I've been given one once before but I cannot seem to recreate the process.  All of the third party applications I've come across seem to be pretty convoluted when it comes to the recipients process for viewing the file.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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microtecnologo
Contributor
Contributor
I agree and do not agree on the futility of getting involved in this work, I have invested in this protector more than 1200 hours.And I could only sell a single copy of my first version more than 10 years ago. This old version created AEC entities, which are a clone of drawing entities and that cannot be edited, this idea served a while but was obsolete by a short lisp code. I have tried other third-party programs and discovered their flaws. I live in true poverty at my 56 years but I do not accept that it is impossible to develop an effective code and for pride I work on it as I did before in other successful jobs in which I never earned a simple dollar. For 6 months I have been working about 4 hours a day in a new paradigm that leads me to consider a new algorithm and I am very close to getting it to the test. In the next few days I will send you a file that you can verify is a protected drawing. I don't know if you currently need it, but at least it serves to convince you of no futility. Greetings.
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RobDraw
Mentor
Mentor

@microtecnologo wrote:
I agree and do not agree on the futility of getting involved in this work, I have invested in this protector more than 1200 hours.And I could only sell a single copy of my first version more than 10 years ago. This old version created AEC entities, which are a clone of drawing entities and that cannot be edited, this idea served a while but was obsolete by a short lisp code. I have tried other third-party programs and discovered their flaws. I live in true poverty at my 56 years but I do not accept that it is impossible to develop an effective code and for pride I work on it as I did before in other successful jobs in which I never earned a simple dollar. For 6 months I have been working about 4 hours a day in a new paradigm that leads me to consider a new algorithm and I am very close to getting it to the test. In the next few days I will send you a file that you can verify is a protected drawing. I don't know if you currently need it, but at least it serves to convince you of no futility. Greetings.

 

But you promised a locked drawing within a day!

 

Like I said, empty promises and some unrelated information added as an attempt to distract us from the truth. 

 

BTW, my futility comment was a reference to the fact that whatever you think you are protecting can be recreated. A locked drawing is not a guarantee that the content is protected. Locks do not stop thieves, they only keep honest people honest.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
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microtecnologo
Contributor
Contributor

Bob,

Distracting from the truth or raising a new debate to find the true truth? It is inchorente that you keep looking for the truth when you hold "your truth" : "it is impossible to protect a drawing".

If that's true, why do users keep looking for an effective protector?
In addition Alfred has sent me a very dense file and my protective command did work but it took about 70 minutes, entity by entity. I'm working on shortening that time and then I will send it to him.

Finally, if you have been 3 years without finding a protector, what difference is there with another week? I am not really distracting you from the truth but you are distracting me with fragile comments that contribute nothing.

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RobDraw
Mentor
Mentor

@microtecnologo wrote:

comments that contribute nothing.


 

Like the ones that you are posting?

 


@microtecnologo wrote:

It is inchorente that you keep looking for the truth when you hold "your truth" : "it is impossible to protect a drawing".


 

True protection would be in the form of a copyright. Locking a file offers no protection that the content cannot be recreated or used for nefarious purposes.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
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microtecnologo
Contributor
Contributor

Hello Alfred,  This is Fernando again, this time I am attaching your drawing 14_Trassierung_AN03a.dwg just in the way you need it: You can see it in its different views, apply zoom export as PDF and plot but not edit or save with another name, etc.  I explain my delay due to technical and personal difficulties.
  Regarding technical difficulties:  1.- The considerable density of your drawing, which includes more than 1,100,500 lines in its dxf file caused slowness in the process, a situation that forced me to rethink a core part of my program. Now with my new paradigm the process runs shortly and my current version is now called dwgLock 7.12.- I noticed that your drawing had been created in Autocad 2018 and I had the previous version of both Autocad and Visual Studio, but I could update both.3.- The presence of proxy entities in your drawing initially disoriented the process but it was easy to absorb this point.4.- The viewports cannot be reconstructed in the drawing that is reflected in the Autocad screen but it is very easy to recreate them manually using the "viewports" command.
  Then I put at your disposal the file dwgLock71.rar so you can play with your drawing and prove its integrity and resistance to being copied or modified.
  You are not really going to open a drawing but you are going to run a program called by means of the "appload" command. Do not worry because it is an Autocad command and procedure that does not involve any risk.
These are the instructions:1.- Unzip the file dwgLock71.rar2.- The folder with the same name locate it exactly in C: /3.- Inside the folder C: / dwgLock71 you should observe the folder support containing the files: dwgLock71.dll, locksupport.arx,and the audio Instructions.wavOutside this folder you will find your protected drawing that cannot be opened normally, you will also find the file 14_Trassierung_AN03a.fas4.- Open a new autocad application with a new drawing. This is required of my algorithm.5.- Execute the Appload command and load the file C: / 14_Trassierung_AN03a.fas6.- On the command line type the command "dwgLock",You will hear a short audio and wait about 20 seconds and your drawing will be displayed.7.- You can then try the commands of visualization, editing, plotting, etc. and observe the results you want.8.- Finally, type the command "Finish" on the command line. This will close both the drawing and the Autocad application. If in another occasion you want to see the drawing again repeat from step 4.
  Apply all the tests you can think or listen and I am sure that the drawing cannot be modified. If I get that total satisfaction I am willing to send you several protected drawings under this same environment and concept for very low prices.  
  I appreciate that you have taken time in this long explanation and that you successfully apply the sophisticated procedure.  I will ask Bob Draw to see this message in reaction to his sentences "empty promises" and "any software does not offer hacking guarantee".
   Well, I send you my regards and I appreciate your taste for dogs, I usually have one or more dogs. Today I only have one female Afghan Hound.
  Best regards.

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microtecnologo
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Bob, in response to your unfriendly comments I ask you to read the message that I sent a minute ago to Alfred Neswabda in which I have attached a rar file that contains a folder with several files including the explanation to run my software "dwgLock71" that It will open a file completely resistant to any hacking intention. This is my truth "Certainly it is possible to generate an Autocad drawing protected from any hacking attempt".
   Do you still think you can prove otherwise?

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cadffm
Consultant
Consultant

OMG

> "You are not really going to open a drawing but you are going to run a program called by means of the "appload" command."

> "you will find your protected drawing that cannot be opened normally, you will also find the file "
> "14_Trassierung_AN03a.fas4.- Open a new autocad application with a new drawing. This is required of my algorithm"

Please read the first answer of Alfred to you (and it is my mind too), post#33, also other answers to you.


alfred wrote:
Please send me a locked file ... which is in my understanding: I can open and view (and plot) this DWG-file in every official/public viewer, but I can't edit the content using AutoCAD.


In Short, your solution is not a solution it is what RobDraw wrote: empty promises, nothing more.

 

Sorry, with all respect, you didn't READ or UNDERSTAND what people replys to you.
Sure, you can do whatever with a dwg and use a third part programm on Receiverside to do *whatever*.
But nobody want that,

it is not working  in all dwg editors and viewers, also not in ACAD in the feature
(stopped support of other versions, also on creators side!!! or he has to handle multiple file, one source an all "magic crypt files")

I do not want to do the job bad, but
Absolut useless (that way is useless)
and in future, please read the answers with more attention.

sorry.

And now, if i would like to use this way:

The ARX file locksupport.arx is incompatible with this version of AutoCAD (German ACAD2019 with english pack /German 2020)
And the fas returns, error: bad argument type: stringp nil
Another kind of message would be helpful for the common user.

I stopped this, because it isn't "the solution" (and we know, this wanted solution is impossible), no time for riding dead horses.

Sorry.

---

OT
Robert McNeel, DosLib - awesome (not what i use, but many others and it is a really great project/product)

Sebastian

Alfred.NESWADBA
Consultant
Consultant

Hi,

 

>> density of your drawing, which includes more than 1,100,500 lines

In reality it's a Civil 3D object that has not more than 268 Civil 3D objects in model-space.
Well, these objects have their subentities, but it's a tiny Civil 3D model. Don't see that as big file.

 

>> drawing had been created in Autocad 2018

Well, AutoCAD 2018 and the dwg-format 2018 is already 3 years old, so nothing really new.

Also if you want to sell your program to other people I guess you should be prepared to that.

 

>> The viewports cannot be reconstructed in the drawing

>> that is reflected in the Autocad screen but it is very easy

>> to recreate them manually

No chance, the drawing needs to be opened in the same way it was saved. Otherwise I can't send the dwg-file to another person so he can plot the file.

 

>> the folder support containing the files: dwgLock71.dll, locksupport.arx

I don't find a file named locksupport.arx in your ZIP

 

>> On the command line type the command "dwgLock",You will

>> hear a short audio and wait about 20 seconds and your drawing

>> will be displayed.

How does that work with AutoCAD LT, with Autodesk DWG TrueView, with dwg-compatible other CAD-products?

 

The question was "how to protect a dwg-file so others can view, plot, but not edit it". And to view the dwg-file I can't expect that everyone has a full AutoCAD version ... and so being able to load dotNET-DLL's and ARX-files.

 

Maybe I misunderstood something, but it sounds like it does not work that way.

 

- alfred -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred NESWADBA
ISH-Solutions GmbH / Ingenieur Studio HOLLAUS
www.ish-solutions.at ... blog.ish-solutions.at ... LinkedIn ... CDay 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(not an Autodesk consultant)
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RobDraw
Mentor
Mentor

Congratulations! You've gone from empty promises to epic fail! To top it off, you want people to pay for it!!! 

 


@microtecnologo wrote:

Do you still think you can prove otherwise?


 

I'm not the one with something to prove here.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
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microtecnologo
Contributor
Contributor

Hello Bob Draw,
Epica fall? It is too qualifying for a simple stumble.
Alfred was not interested in my product because he expects the drawing to open in
any platform when my product requires Autocad libraries 2018
or later Obviously this does not mean that my product does not work by granting
protection to the drawings.
Epica fall? For me it just means an unrealized sale.
But is what you say true? I can not believe it! You say that "it is not for you to put
test my software. "
   Does your boss scold you? Would you lose your job? They expel you from the Forum?
   Let me guess!
   You obey the instructions when dealing with third-party products !:
   You cover your eyes with your hands and shout to the whole forum:
"That product doesn't work! Don't listen to it!"
And you turn to sarcasm and Hollywood expressions ...
But, the reality is this:
You are NOT authorized to prove your arguments.
 Under these conditions you cannot have an intelligent debate with me.
in which we can both climb one more step to the truth.
That debate is false!
It is a farce your case!
And even worse: You get paid for faking wisdom!
End of conversation.
Command: _quit

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microtecnologo
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Cadffm,
I appreciate your comments being more objective than Bob's, but I think you're wrong on four points:
1.- "But nobody wants that." Do you know everyone's thoughts? Have you interviewed everyone? I have a tire with my signature but Alfred neither you nor Bob nor others want because their cars require other measures, but perhaps there are not many other cars, vans, trucks ...?

Besides, my tire is still round, not square If it were square then I would think that "nobody wants it ... for his car".
2.- "Another kind of message would be helpful for the common user." and
"we know, this wanted solution is impossible" Bob's position is contradictory because he expects comments that help common users find the solution but at the same time states that there is no solution. You, strangely change a General syllogism for a particular one: "this wanted solution is impossible" and on that I agree, Alfred specifically requires something like the square tire. 
 On the other hand you also need to read the messages clearly because my proposal and original message was not for Alfred, but for someone who wrote 3 years ago. And when I talked about "solution" I focused on that user.  Alfred subsequently emerged.
3.- The most important point: DosLib is used as a secondary library, finally that is its intention, but you can't even imagine that in the next version I will create my own secondary libraries and do without DosLib to avoid file saturation and avoid those  incompatibility conflicts.
   But since Today on I will promote my work in other places.
4.- My horse is NOT dead, it is alive and I do not change it for a sheep.
  Sorry.
 Command: _quit

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cadffm
Consultant
Consultant


1.- > "But nobody wants that." Do you know everyone's thoughts? Have you interviewed everyone?

First: That was a double-meaning from me: All People who answered to you here in the thread, but also "all".
I don't know everyone, but i know it for my known people and companys, thousands and representative enough for me.
(perhaps more located in Europe, but exactly this is my professional World) I would think I can appreciate that very well.
Also i read online about other people all over the world and all what i hear is the same, the exceptions are very special or very small.

Protecting a drawing like your older way (proxys) are not new and it's enough for many user,
this works well (without additional software on the other side) and wasn't the game here&now.

>" but perhaps there are not many other cars, vans, trucks ...?"
Yes, a mass! The world is extremely colorful, BUT the mass of people uses just one color, or 4, or 6 and not 16,7mio/endless

 

There are only two Variants:
a) People who like to protect there cad data if they give these out of hand to all potential dealers and customers
b) 1. Exclusively clients, who like to protect there cad data while working in a small, limited environment (one project, or one special customer)
and and which may contractually dictate the use of a particular software. Beyond that, you also want to accept these hurdles.

And without any evidence for that, I say: 99.9% of all belong to a)
The group b) can also include many thousands, but these are very few in relation to all and thus rather the rare (or very small) exceptions.

In addition, I expect many problems with your solution side by side with other applications,
but I could not test - did not get it running as i wrote above (and then lost the desire).

 

2.- >"..."
I totally agree with Rob&Alfred..
>"On the other hand you also need to read the messages clearly"
I did this and i know that and you should also notice that this user did not reply to you in the thread and that you subsequently only talked to us.
AND: You should do the same (read the messages clearly) and if you had done this, you had stopped the work at exact the very first thread-open post:
3 years ago, @Anonymous wrote:
"I've been given one once before but I cannot seem to recreate the process. All of the third party applications I've come across"
"seem to be pretty convoluted when it comes to the recipients process for viewing the file."

@ this point i know, Rseybert is part of Group a) and you're way is 100% the opposite of what he searched for.
It sounds he is/was search the same what we also talk about (but we know, it is not possible).

>"But since Today on I will promote my work in other places."
The poor people (just kidding) Then we'll read about you in other places if it happens publicly.
Good luck, you will find the small exceptions (customers), for sure.
But as I said, the solution via 3.part program to open a file) is simply uninteresting, unattractive, impractical for the general public.

3. - .

4.- My horse is NOT dead.
Of course you think that, otherwise you would be stupid and not have developed this version and would not even try to sell it.
But as I and others agree, the path is not successful when it comes to reaching many users as customers.

 

Q: Why do you think that there is no big widespread established solution on market that goes exactly the same way as you (3.part program to open the file)
Because you're the first one to have this brilliant idea?? :cara_pensativa:

 

I hope you understood most of my answers.

Sebastian

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RobDraw
Mentor
Mentor

I don't know why you feel the need to prove to me that a .dwg can be locked. My stance on this has always been that it is a waste of time. Any drafter worth their salt can recreate a .dwg with just a print. They don't even need the original file. More than likely there is nothing in the content worth protecting and on the off chance the sender is some sort of CAD genius that has content worth protecting, they already know how to do that and it doesn't include locking the .dwg.

 

The question I always pose on this topic is, "What are you really trying to protect, the design or the content of the .dwg?" The answer either way doesn't include locking a .dwg. Again, it's a waste of time. The design and the content can be recreated and most of the time it can be done better.

 

BTW, a dead horse can't drink water.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
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Llam.Tech
Advocate
Advocate

@RobDraw 

 

Well explained. Thanks.

 

I have a question myself. How do I protect my wblock/model from multiply copies or re-creating another wblock? I don't want my own wblock to be copied more than two copies. Am I dreaming or something or is it possible? is there a way to protect my model from other copy right?

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Alfred.NESWADBA
Consultant
Consultant

Hi,

 

>> I don't want my own wblock to be copied more than two copies

How would you protect to copy the file you created with wblock to be copied? You can't if the file is accessible from someone else.

 

- alfred -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred NESWADBA
ISH-Solutions GmbH / Ingenieur Studio HOLLAUS
www.ish-solutions.at ... blog.ish-solutions.at ... LinkedIn ... CDay 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(not an Autodesk consultant)
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