How to prevent WBEX file from unpacking after installation?

When I create a WBEX using any of the below mentioned security options, the installed WBEX unpacks itself in the %appdata%\Ansys\v211\ACT\extensions folder and anyone using the WBEX can see the whole source code, which defeats the purpose of encryption. How can I encrypt the source code and prevent it from unpacking?

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Accepted answers

Ayush Kumar

The trick to this is using the attribute compiled="true" in the script tag of the ACT extension XML.

Example XML:

<extension version="2" minorversion="1" name="WizardDemos">
    <guid shortid="WizardDemos">7fdb141e-3383-433a-a5af-32cb19971771</guid>
    <author>ANSYS Inc.</author>
    <description>Simple extension to test wizards in different contexts.</description>

    <script src="main.py" compiled="true"/>
    <script src="ds.py" compiled="true"/>
...

All comments

Ayush Kumar

The trick to this is using the attribute compiled="true" in the script tag of the ACT extension XML.

Example XML:

<extension version="2" minorversion="1" name="WizardDemos">
    <guid shortid="WizardDemos">7fdb141e-3383-433a-a5af-32cb19971771</guid>
    <author>ANSYS Inc.</author>
    <description>Simple extension to test wizards in different contexts.</description>

    <script src="main.py" compiled="true"/>
    <script src="ds.py" compiled="true"/>
...

Gerd

Dear Kumar,

thanks for the trick. I do it in this way. The problem is now, when I build the extension the files with attribute compiled="true" will be skipt and are not aviable later. Have you a solution for this problem?

Ayush Kumar

Hi @Gerd, This is exactly what the attribute compiled="true" does. By default it is false and the python file will be not be compiled, i.e. you can see the code under %appdata%\Ansys\v231\ACT\extensions. If set to `true`, the Python file will not be unpacked.