Progress
Developer’s Toolkit


Upgrading with Updated .df and CRC-based R-code

The flexibility of CRC-based r-code makes it easy to distribute a new release of an existing application. Distribution involves the following general steps:

  1. Create an incremental .df file of your application database using the Data Administration tool (for graphical environments) or the Data Dictionary’s Admin submenu (for character environments). For more information on creating an incremental .df file, see the Progress Database Administration Guide and Reference.
  2. Recompile source files that were affected by the new schema changes.
  3. Send the .df file and copies of the new r-code files that were affected by the schema changes to your users. After the users load the incremental .df file, they can immediately run your new .r code.

Essentially, the steps you take are the same as when you use encrypted source, but you gain the following advantages:

In addition, unlike time-stamp-based r-code, you gain these advantages:

One possible disadvantage of using CRC-based r-code is that a user with Progress 4GL Development System, ProVISION, ProVISION Plus, or WebSpeed can create a counterfeit database (a database with the same structure as your application database). The user can then write a program, compile the program, and run it against your application database. (The user cannot do this if you use time-stamp-based r-code because the time-stamps in the counterfeit code would not match those in your database.)

If this concerns you, the PROUTIL utility’s DBAUTHKEY qualifier enables you to set an authorization key for your database. When compiling a procedure, Progress includes the value of this key in your r-code. CRC-based r-code that does not include the correct authorization key will not run against your database.

You can insert the authorization key into existing CRC-based r-code with the PROUTIL utility’s RCODEKEY qualifier.

For more information on the PROUTIL utility’s DBAUTHKEY and RCODEKEY qualifiers, see the Progress Database Administration Guide and Reference.


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