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Hi everyone,

I have a dll which is created using VB6.0.

But i do not have source code for the particular dll file. I want the source code for that.

I tried certain decompilers which my friend suggested to me. But i am not satisfied with the conversion. The code obtained is native code. i didnt understand the native code.

So is there any way to convert the dll to source code.

If possible, please suggest me how to do that?

If cant, please tell me why.

Thanks in advance.

With regards
R.K.PRABAKAR
Posted
Updated 25-Jun-21 23:18pm

In addition to the correct answer by Tim:

For deeper understanding of the problem, you should first understand that compilation is a process resulting in the loss of information. For example, if you change the text formatting of your source code, if won't effect the output executable, so the information on the formatting is lost. Moreover, if the programming system does not support Reflection or RTTI, if you rename any variable or function which is not exported, it won't change the compiling code as well; and renaming of a local variable may not change the result as well, even in presence of Reflection or RTTI. Please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_%28computer_programming%29[^],
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTTI[^].

The ability to invert some transformation over the information, be it compilation, decomlilation, compression, calculation of a hash function in general case is not absolute, but may have stochastic properties and is governed by the laws of entropy, which is some measure which can only grow with evolution of data or remain the same, in that sense that an occasion of entropy reduction has low probability, in all more or less complex cases — extremely low. This is analogous to the entropy in thermodynamics, which has very similar stochastic nature.

The entropy aspects of information lie in the very basis of the informational theory, informatics and computer science and are of fundamental importance for many fields of development, notably cryptography and numerical simulation. For further reading, please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_%28information_theory%29[^].

—SA
 
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Comments
Wonde Tadesse 18-Jun-12 21:41pm    
5+. Just a question. I saw a draft article of you "Many Questions Answered At Once — Interactive Animated Graphics with Forms". To me it seems not complete. You may have a reason to do so. May I ask why you did it? I know it's wrong place to ask the question. But I feel that, it is better to ask here rather than to comment on the article below.
Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 18-Jun-12 21:51pm    
I saw you answer is my article comments, already answered: I really trying to add a draft for my new article, but the process shows some glitches.
--SA
Wonde Tadesse 18-Jun-12 21:55pm    
I prefer you delete the draft version rather than to show incomplete one.
Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 18-Jun-12 22:17pm    
Three words: I need draft.
Besides, I don't know why the draft appears to be visible to the public. There are some glitches I reported. I notice one more: "Work in progress" check box checked in first place, gets unchecked again and again.

Don't worry, the full version will be there pretty soon.

Thank you,
--SA
VJ Reddy 20-Jun-12 13:24pm    
Good answer. 5!
Here is as close as you are going to get:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7901930/how-to-retrieve-the-source-code-from-a-dll-written-through-vb6[^]

You are not going to be able to decompile the DLL back to the original source project. Decompilers don't work that way. Instead, you are going to (possibly) get it converted to something readable that you can then manually pick through. When you are picking through it, you can build up the source from what you learn. DLL files are not designed to be decompiled. It is supposed to be a one-way conversion. If the original DLL was converted to native code originally, you are going to be in for an even rougher time. Further, if this DLL was created for commercial use, it may have been further protected with obfuscation and other means.
 
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Comments
Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 18-Jun-12 19:20pm    
First of all, I totally disagree with the vote of 3 somebody gave this answer and voted 5.

This problem is related to the very deep aspects of computing and information theory every developer should better be familiar with -- please see my answer.
--SA
VJ Reddy 20-Jun-12 13:24pm    
Good answer. 5!
Member 11091583 28-Apr-15 7:40am    
hi
Member 11091583 28-Apr-15 7:40am    
2

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