VFEDIT
Copyright (c) Thierry Videlaine, July 1997.
E-mail: 100445.3625@compuserve.com

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** WARNING **
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This program is intended for experienced developers only, is supplied strictly on an "as is" basis, without any warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise, and the author will accept no responsibility for any damage of any kind, direct or indirect, which might result from its use.
Using VFEDIT is your own responsibility, and you do it at your own risk.

You should keep in mind that binary file editing is an extremely risky business even in the best possible circumstances, and that corrupted data can cause serious or even fatal damage to computer systems.

Never attempt to edit any file without having first made a back-up copy.
Never attempt to edit any file without an in-depth knowledge of its structure.

Also, editing copyrighted files is unlawful. It is a direct violation of copyright laws and should NEVER be attempted.

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** WHAT IS VFEDIT? **
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VFEDIT is an hexadecimal file editor. With its help, you will be able to scan (dump) and study any kind of file stored on your computer system, and if need be you will also be able to patch it, which can be very useful for software development purposes, provided you DO keep in mind the above warning. Once made, file patches are there to stay!

The fully functional version of VFEDIT can deal with files of almost any length, but the evaluation version is limited to 2048 bytes. Useful features include:

Formatted screen dump, either from the current point to end-of-file, or by chunks of 256 bytes.

File rewind (get back to address 0).

Navigate the file at will: seek operations will take you to any valid address.

If you are not quite certain of the data type to be expected at a given address, the edit dialog box will enable you to examine data in many different ways, all with a single mouse click.

Choose between a number of convenient formats for floating-point data.

The "Patch strings" dialog box (available in the fully functional version only) will enable you to view the file as a single character string, which you can patch at will. You won't be able to delete or insert characters, though.

There is also a limited undo capability (it is often possible to undo the last patch applied), but you should really never attempt to edit any file without having first made a back-up copy.

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** INSTALL AND UNINSTALL **
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Both are very simple.

Indeed, by just unzipping VFEDIT.ZIP, you have almost completed Install. When you will run VFEDIT for the first time, you will be asked to enter your name for registration purposes, and... that's it!

If you have second thoughts about the folder where VFEDIT should be installed, just move around VFEDIT.EXE and this file. No problem!

If you wish to uninstall VFEDIT, just delete VFEDIT.EXE, this file, and VFEDIT.INI in your Windows directory. Your registry database has not been altered in any way.

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** EDITING FILES **
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The "Edit file" dialog box, which can be reached from the "Dump" menu, has a single entry field. It displays a certain number of bytes starting at the address given in the "File address" field; the number of bytes displayed and the format in which they are displayed depend on the data type selected in the radio buttons which appear on the left-hand side of the dialog box. 

You can change the value displayed in the entry field, and clicking the "Patch file" button will physically update the selected bytes. If necessary, the "Undo" button will then be available to cancel easily any undesirable changes. If you change your mind later about the patches you have made, it will be necessary to "overpatch" them, and then a back-up copy of the file could certainly be useful! Note that in hexadecimal mode blanks can be freely inserted to improve readability.

The "Patch file" button not only updates the file; it takes you to the address immediately following the updated data. If you do not patch the file, the "Continue" button will take you to the address immediately following the data you have just examined. It will also disable the "Undo" button.

The "Go to..." button will enable you to navigate the file without having to come back to the main window. Here again, the "Undo" button will be disabled.

The "Patch strings" dialog box is used in much the same way.


 


 

