Author Topic: Recovering DrDialog applications REXX "source" -- IniEdit 1.2.0 as an example  (Read 202 times)

Alfredo Fernández Díaz

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 108
  • Karma: +7/-0
Coming from the REXX tutorials thread,

[...]I found out that it's possible to recover code from DrDialog applications alongside the resources.
Ok, we've known that for a long time, but how to calculate the length of each resource and extract them. A problem with resmgr/rdc is the extra bytes added that cause certain files to be unusable.
[...]
Tame/2, Inieditor and other software written with DrDialog where source code may only exist in the executable may be recovered if one want to rewrite/improve/fix them.

The docs in Tame/2 1.05 (2008) say tame.exe was rebuilt from the source provided by Goran Ivankovic himself so no problem there I guess, and I don't know of any other DrDialog applications that might fall into that category, so IniEdit (2001) it is because I'd really like to see it improved a little bit at some point. We'll use it as an example of getting back 'sources' from the final EXE in case you lost the original DrDialog stuff. However, I'll stick to enabling this project practically, and leave contacting the original author up to you.

Now, this wasn't particularly difficult, so unless you want to discuss technical details, I will skip them for now and just attach here a mini-tool and a recipe to extract the stuff you need (not really rexx source, but a DrDialog 'blob' which it can read and present as REXX bits correctly associated with windows and events, all ready to work on it again):

-Take iniedit.exe from the IniEdit distribution archive (link above).
-Extract resource number 1 with the command "resmgr -x iniedit.exe 1 iniedit.bin"
-Use ByteOff (attached) to get back the original DrDialog 'blob'. Command: "byteoff iniedit.bin iniedit.res 12 0". Compare with the attached iniedit.res.
-Optional: give iniedit.res the "DrDialog.RES" file type.
-Open iniedit.res from DrDialog.
-Enjoy!

Martin Iturbide

  • OS2World NewsMaster
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5732
  • Karma: +50/-1
  • Your Friend Wil Declares...
    • Martin's Personal Blog
Hello Alfredo.

This is very interesting, thanks for sharing. On 2013 I contacted David C. Morrill the author of Dr.Dialog and told me he lost the source code. "That is, I no longer have any of the source code needed to build DrDialog, the HOPE development environment, or the GLUE programming language, all of which were originally written by me and are needed to build the code."

But it is good to know that at least we have a chance with the rest of the stuff created with Dr.Dialog.

If there could be a way to "decompile" DrDialog we can talk it up with David .

Regards
« Last Edit: May 04, 2026, 06:22:06 am by Martin Iturbide »
Martin Iturbide
OS2World NewsMaster
... just share the dream.

Alfredo Fernández Díaz

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 108
  • Karma: +7/-0
Martin, thank Jan-Erik -- this had been staring me in the face for only G-d knows how many years (just like trying out DrDialog in the first place), until he made me do it.

DrDialog was not used to build itself AFAICT, so taking it apart would be an entirely different kettle of fish. Heck, looking at this reminded me of similar products and problems (think the VisPro line), and a quick glance at a simple exe and sources I have lying around makes you realize how lucky we are that Mr. Morrill took such a simple approach to building his 'target' stuff.

While we dream of all these bigger fish, though, you could contact Goran again about open sourcing IniEdit because if the reason he didn't is that he lost his sources, well, we just got them back.