How do I encrypt a plug-in in 2024

[Sam Jones]

Prior to 2024, to encrypt a plug-in, I would open the Plug-In manager, select the plug-in, be sure the caps-lock key was activated, and double click on the plug-in name in the Plug-In manager.  When I do that in VW 2024, I get this alert.

 

What do I do to encrypt a plug-in?

 

[michaelk]

That's not how I've been doing it :-).

 

Josh gave me these instructions way back when:

 

 

To encrypt a plug-in:

1.Select Tools > Scripts > VectorScript Plug-in Editor. In the VectorScript Plug-in Editor, select the plug-in to be protected from the editor list.

2.Use the following key combination, pressing the keys simultaneously:

Macintosh

Caps Lock+Shift+Option+Command

Windows

Shift+Ctrl+Alt

3.Click the Script button in the Editor. Confirm twice that the plug-in should be protected.

[JBenghiat]

My guess is this is just an issue with the feedback string, and you can click ok. 
 

That said, I haven’t encrypted this way in years: I always use the batch encryption commands. The advantage is that the plug-in you’re encrypting doesn’t need to be in your plug-in folder, so you can encrypt a copy and not have to worry about locking your original script. I’m fairly sure you can search the forum for an earlier post on the subject 

[SamIWas]

I was days away from asking this exact question (except not in 2024).  I have never created an encrypted version of a plugin, but as I plan on distributing soon, I need to know how to do that.  

[SamIWas]

On 10/2/2023 at 7:40 PM, JBenghiat said:

My guess is this is just an issue with the feedback string, and you can click ok. 
 

That said, I haven’t encrypted this way in years: I always use the batch encryption commands. The advantage is that the plug-in you’re encrypting doesn’t need to be in your plug-in folder, so you can encrypt a copy and not have to worry about locking your original script. I’m fairly sure you can search the forum for an earlier post on the subject 

 

Hey Josh...are you referring to the "Encrypt Script..." command in the plug-ins menu?   I am trying to encrypt some VectorScript .vso files and it won't let me select .vso .  I obviously don't want to overwrite the original, so I will create a copy and do it from there, but I'm missing something somewhere.

[Jesse Cogswell]

@JBenghiat is referring to either the EncryptPlugin function or the EncryptAllPlugins function.  These are not included in the standard VW installation, you have to download the SDK and extract the BatchEncryption.vlb file and put it in your User Folder.  As a short note, the link in the online Function Reference is broken, so use this one instead to get the SDK file.  It looks like the SDK for 2024 isn't available yet.  The .vlb file will only work for the year that you downloaded (at least that's been my experience).

 

I have a custom plug-in that I wrote to encrypt my plug-ins that basically takes in a folder and populates a List Browser with .vso, .vsm, and .vst files sorted by last modified date.  When you press OK, it encrypts all selected files.  This is nice because I can put all of my files in a remote location from my User Folder, so the plug-ins stay editable for me but easily accessible for sending out to folks.

 

[SamIWas]

28 minutes ago, Jesse Cogswell said:

@JBenghiat is referring to either the EncryptPlugin function or the EncryptAllPlugins function.  These are not included in the standard VW installation, you have to download the SDK and extract the BatchEncryption.vlb file and put it in your User Folder.  As a short note, the link in the online Function Reference is broken, so use this one instead to get the SDK file.  It looks like the SDK for 2024 isn't available yet.  The .vlb file will only work for the year that you downloaded (at least that's been my experience).

 

I have a custom plug-in that I wrote to encrypt my plug-ins that basically takes in a folder and populates a List Browser with .vso, .vsm, and .vst files sorted by last modified date.  When you press OK, it encrypts all selected files.  This is nice because I can put all of my files in a remote location from my User Folder, so the plug-ins stay editable for me but easily accessible for sending out to folks.

 

That is helpful info.  So are you saying that I can't encrypt plugins in 2024 yet because the 2024 SDK isn't available yet?   I'll download 2023 and try it out at least.

 

That's a nifty little plugin you got there!

Edited December 22, 2023 by SamIWas

[michaelk]

You CAN encrypt plug-ins in 2024 one at a time using the method in my post above. 

 

I don't go for all the fancy stuff Josh, Jesse, and Sam do. 🙂 

[SamIWas]

5 hours ago, michaelk said:

You CAN encrypt plug-ins in 2024 one at a time using the method in my post above. 

 

I don't go for all the fancy stuff Josh, Jesse, and Sam do. 🙂 

Yeah, I saw that method. But then if I want to keep my original script the same name, but encrypt one also with that same name, I don't want the original overwritten.  Do you copy one out off the directory first before you do that?

[Jesse Cogswell]

That's what I used to do.  I would open up the User Folder and make a copy of the plug-in in a directory named "Unencrypted", then encrypt the plug-in and copy it into a directory named "Encrypted", then finally copy the backup back into the User Folder so that I could continue editing.  Very tedious.

 

My general recommendation when developing plug-ins is to work in the earliest version of Vectorworks that you have or that someone on your team might use.  That way you hold on to some level of backwards compatibility.  I do all of my development on VW2019, there have been very few advancements in Vectorscript that require me to use anything newer, and it lets me jump back and forth between versions depending on what version the project needs.

[michaelk]

Yes!