Can I protect an Excel ADDIN with XLS Padlock?

R

rolo

New member
Hello, I have developed an Excel Addin

Can I apply XlsPadLock to an Excel AddIn or it only protects Workbooks?

Thanks!
 
Hi @rolo and @gdgsupport,
I agree. If there was a way to protect .xlam files (Excel Add-Ins), this would likely double your sales, because currently the only true way to protect an add-in is with Add-In Express and it’s expensive and not even VBA language.

If we could protect an Add-In, we could support companies with ongoing product updates and they could depend on our new functions and procedures that they could use in their own workbooks.

Thanks

Dan Strong, excelvbaisfun
 
Do you need some VBA compiler to produce protected XLAM files? In other words, a XLAM file that could run code compiled with a compiler similar to the one in XLS Padlock?
 
Possibly. I’m not sure the technicalities, but an XLAM is just an excel file that is invisibly opened along with the user’s primary excel documents, similar to the personal.xlsb file. It enables people to use its functions or subs, but I believe password hacking programs can surely crack these also, making them just as vulnerable as excel files that you help us protect.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Dan
 
Hi @gdgsoft @gdgsupport ,
Do you think you guys could devise a way to protect a Userform so that it could be sold as a product and secured from theft?
Or an addin (as discussed in this feed a couple years ago)?
This will enable excel developers to market their stuff without fear of it all getting stolen. Plus, it will be an amazing new product for GDGSoft. As in, here’s my money, please take it.

You may take a poll, because I promise every one of your customers will flip out for this technology to be available.

Thanks
Dan
 
excelvbaisfun said:
Do you think you guys could devise a way to protect a Userform so that it could be sold as a product and secured from theft?
Click to expand...
XLS Padlock can protect pure userform apps written in Excel. There is an explanation in the user guide about hiding the Excel interface while showing the userform only.
excelvbaisfun said:
Or an addin (as discussed in this feed a couple years ago)?
This will enable excel developers to market their stuff without fear of it all getting stolen. Plus, it will be an amazing new product for GDGSoft. As in, here’s my money, please take it.
Click to expand...
We’re also working on a compiler to make COM add-ins with VBA code (and possibly other scripting languages). It will output stand-alone DLL files ready to be used with Excel. Of course, we have plans to include licensing options into DLL files so that customers can sell their DLL add-ins to others.
 
That’s awesome. I’d love to be able to sell an add-in that maybe contains some modules and/or userforms or classes so people can use my product but I don’t give away the source code.
Do you know when we can start testing it. Do you need testers? 🙂
 
I see that you thought about userforms/modules but it would be too complex for the initial release. It’s rather similar to our existing VBA compiler. You write VBA subs and functions into a special editor, they are then compiled into DLL subs and functions that can be invoked from Excel VBA or even as normal Excel functions. Maybe we’ll also add JavaScript script support, it’s something we are exploring too.
And sure, once something gets working, you’ll be invited 😉
 
Last edited:
Hi @gdgsupport /Guillaume/ anyone,
Any progress on this? So exciting! There’s a lot of people who would like to make addins but can’t because there’s no protection. Here’s some use cases

stackoverflow.com

User tomek198823

Stack Overflow | The World’s Largest Online Community for Developers
stackoverflow.com stackoverflow.com

Excel: How to Create VBA Addins, Protect code

jkp-ads.com: Protect code
jkp-ads.com

Plus, I got an email from a guy who wants help with making an add-in, but I told him I don’t have training on that subject just yet and that GDGsoft may have something in the works.

Thanks for all your hard work!
Dan Strong
 
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