macOS Editing a Program (type: PowerPC)

[ChocoboNL]

Introduction:

Hi Everybody,

So, here's the story; I've got this dvd of a studybook, on this dvd is a program that allows you to do some self-tests and it's got some interactive ways of learning the subjects (albeit it runs rather choppy, but that's not the problem right now).
The problem is that this program is always run in full-screen - though this should not be necessary at all - and there is no option to turn to a non-full-screen view.
To show how this program looks when running I've included some screenshots which, but I'll just try to explain it in words too. Basically, there are two windows, 1) a plain white background, and 2) a content window. The content is obviously above the background.


Question:

Is there a way to edit the code of this program to remove this 'background frame'? And if yes, how? Or where do I get started?


More specifics:

I know very little about programming, I do ,however, know how to built websites and I think - hope - that the knowledge I have about php should help in understanding possible answers to the question.

Perhaps I should also note (as said in the thread title) that when looking at the program through the Activity Monitor it states that it runs as a 'PowerPC' application, not sure if this is relevant.


Thanks in advance for any help given,
Chocobo ^__^

 

[Cromulent]

To answer your question shortly. No it is not possible.

The longer answer is that it is possible to reverse engineer programs but it requires advanced programming knowledge which you are unlikely to have if your only experience with programming is PHP.

 

[ChocoboNL]

thehe, okay, that's a clear answer, thx
Won't have to waste my time trying to find a way then.
It seemed so simple though, just make sure the program doesn't load that background window. Or that's what I'd thought. XD
But still, I'm somewhat interested in how to do it..
What'd be some good keywords to search for in case I want to do research, would you happen to know?

Chocobo

 

[Cromulent]

This should give you an idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_engineering

 

[Sander]

You should realize that the word "program" is used for two things: the "executable" which you run, and the "source code" which is compiled to become this executable. In scripting languages (such as PHP), this compilation step doesn't happen (at least not as a discernible, separate step) so it looks like the source code is run "as-is", so that explains why it would seem trivial to "edit a program" from your point of view.

When you have access to the source code, it would probably be simple to remove this background. If the only thing you have is the compiled executable, you will indeed have to "reverse engineer", which is two orders of magnitude more difficult.

Compare it to a pizza: you can order one without cheese if you like, which would be no problem. If you already have a pizza with the cheese in it, it's pretty tough to get it out.

Which is probably the worst analogon I can come up with all day. Oh well.

 

[Saladinos]

If you want to multitask with it, switch to another space with CTRL+<Arrow key>.

 

[ChocoboNL]

Hehe, thanks, that makes sense what you said about compiling and.. yeah, sure, the pizza makes sense too. Reverse-engineering a pizza wouldn't be fun, rather be executing it. thehe.
And now that you said it, I thought about the few XCode tutorials I did and am like, "gee.. that's true, bummer."
Anyway, don't have access to the sourcecode.

I'll have to do the spaces thing then, thanks for that tip too! Gonna try how it works now.

Peace,
Chocobo

 

[iSee]

I notice from the screen shots of the files that this app is implemented as an Adobe Director "projector."

Whether or not a projector runs fullscreen is a projector publishing setting.
You *might* be able to override the projector's fullscreen setting using the director.ini file.

You can read about the director.ini file here.
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_3108
And you can search around for more documentation.

Also, it's been years since I monkeyed around with director projectors, but I vaguely remember something tricky about getting the projector to read the .ini file.

I seem to remember placing it in the same folder as the projector. Also, I think the .ini file had to be named the same thing as the projector (but with a .ini extension, of course). Or maybe it was the same as the published name (often the same, but not always). The projector in this project is the .osx file (looks like it's called Manual of Acupuncture.osx).

Have fun hacking.

 

[ChocoboNL]

Ahh, seems like we're on to something here~!! Thehe.
Could be fun trying to fiddle with this I think I'll have a go after my exams this afternoon.
Ohh, and the spaces thing seems to work fine! First real use I've found for that feature.