Proboards Plugin Type?

[mastiffman]

What type of file is the .pbp plugin extension? Is this a "Perl Builder" file? Are there other type of files packed within this file type? Is the .pbp a proboards.com only file type?

[®i©hie]

Nov 16, 2015 9:10:48 GMT -8 mastiffman said:

What type of file is the .pbp plugin extension? Is this a "Perl Builder" file? Are there other type of files packed within this file type? Is the .pbp a proboards.com only file type?

Hi,

filext.com/file-extension/PBP

i assume it's "Perl Builder" file. but maybe an admin can confirm.

Michael Brian

[Lynx]

Hi, mastiffman.

ProBoards also uses a PBT file extension for exported Themes.

[Brian]

PBP stands for ProBoards Plugin. PBT stands for ProBoards Theme.

Neither file can be properly opened using any existing desktop application as they were designed to be opened solely by the ProBoards software.

[mastiffman]

Nov 16, 2015 14:27:46 GMT -8 ®i©hie said:

Nov 16, 2015 9:10:48 GMT -8 mastiffman said:

 That's what I found online. Thanks.

Nov 16, 2015 14:32:37 GMT -8 Lynx said:

Hi, mastiffman .

ProBoards also uses a PBT file extension for exported Themes.

 Yep. Thanks. This is the pattern that I saw in my head. Thanks for verifying.

Nov 16, 2015 16:47:41 GMT -8 Brian said:

PBP stands for ProBoards Plugin. PBT stands for ProBoards Theme.

Neither file can be properly opened using any existing desktop application as they were designed to be opened solely by the ProBoards software.

 This is exactly what I thought initially! Cool. I'm not looking to open them, that's for sure. Can you tell me what the typical packed file extensions are that incorporated in the plugins and how are the packed in the .pbp format? If that makes sense.

[Brian]

No idea. I'm not a developer.

I can only assume the file itself is just a long string of JSON that's been encoded and placed into a downloadable file.

[mastiffman]

Nov 17, 2015 9:13:38 GMT -8 Brian said:

No idea. I'm not a developer.

I can only assume the file itself is just a long string of JSON that's been encoded and placed into a downloadable file.

gotcha. Thanks! I was thinking of seeing if I could have someone make me some plugin's externally that would be more tailored to my liking.

[Quozzo]

I tried opening one in my text editor. Saying it looked like hieroglyphs would be an understatement. Not sure on the type of compression/encryption, but would it be something that should be released. When exporting a plugin it gives the option to be editable by others. There wouldnt be much point in that if all it took was flipping a bit in a binary file.

[Brian]

Nov 17, 2015 9:33:45 GMT -8 Quozzo said:

I tried opening one in my text editor. Saying it looked like hieroglyphs would be an understatement. Not sure on the type of compression/encryption, but would it be something that should be released. When exporting a plugin it gives the option to be editable by others. There wouldnt be much point in that if all it took was flipping a bit in a binary file.

Or just viewing the source of the page, finding the Javascript embed that has a data-plugin attribute that matches the plugin's numerical ID in the URL of its settings page, and referencing that.

Plugins are built on client-side languages and thus are not secure as the browser needs access to the actual code to run it.

[Quozzo]

Nov 17, 2015 9:39:13 GMT -8 Brian said:

Nov 17, 2015 9:33:45 GMT -8 Quozzo said:

I tried opening one in my text editor. Saying it looked like hieroglyphs would be an understatement. Not sure on the type of compression/encryption, but would it be something that should be released. When exporting a plugin it gives the option to be editable by others. There wouldnt be much point in that if all it took was flipping a bit in a binary file.

Or just viewing the source of the page, finding the Javascript embed that has a data-plugin attribute that matches the plugin's numerical ID in the URL of its settings page, and referencing that.

Plugins are built on client-side languages and thus are not secure as the browser needs access to the actual code to run it.

The various modules, the default settings, the awesome hints and text in the settings pages. They all contribute to the plugin, not just the JS, and they're not visible at client side.

[Brian]

Nov 17, 2015 9:49:08 GMT -8 Quozzo said:

Nov 17, 2015 9:39:13 GMT -8 Brian said:

Or just viewing the source of the page, finding the Javascript embed that has a data-plugin attribute that matches the plugin's numerical ID in the URL of its settings page, and referencing that.

Plugins are built on client-side languages and thus are not secure as the browser needs access to the actual code to run it.

The various modules, the default settings, the awesome hints and text in the settings pages. They all contribute to the plugin, not just the JS, and they're not visible at client side.

I thought the entire purpose of the plugin settings was that they were client-side.

[Former Member]

The reason the file(s) are binary is because it is quicker to parse binary than it is to parse and (un)serialize text. It's not because the creators wanted to encrypt any of its content. It is done for performance reasons.  

If you open the file in a hex editor, I'm sure you will see some strings that look familiar. integers and floats would there too, just as their HEX equivalent.