Encrypting Adobe Air Help

[Guest]

Two questions:

1. Is there a way to encrypt (password protect) an Adobe Air Help so that a user cannot download and access the Help file outside of the application? The application data files are encrypted, and I need to encrypt the Help file (if possible).

2. Is there a way to remove the Print icon from the Adobe Air Help file?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

1. Which flavour of AIR Help are you using - locally-installed or browser-based? I can't really see the point in encrypting something that's installed local to your workstation. If it's located on a server, then your regular security should protect outsiders from seeing it.

2. Not as far as I've seen - send in a wish list request.

[Guest]

We are installing it locally now. We want to post it to an internal server, so our customer can get automatic help updates.

However, we don’t want someone to go into the application directory and copy the Help file out (and then use it).

That is why we want to encrypt it locally too. If we cannot encrypt it locally, that is ok. However, the main concern with the encryption is that we are looking at using a browser-based help on a web server later on down the road. So, we will want to encrypt that file for obvious reasons.

Where is the "wish list"?

thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

If you encrypt it, how is the update routine going to unencrypt it for legitimate users?

You cannot remove the print button.

This link is also for the wish list.

http://www.Adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=38

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

Thanks Peter.

"If you encrypt it, how is the update routine going to unencrypt it for legitimate users"

     We were hoping the RH Adobe Air feature would allow us to encrypt the .air file and also provide an option to unencrypt it during install. But I guess that is not an option.

All of our users are internal customers, but that will not always be the case. Our servers are internal to both our users as well as to us. But we do not want someone to pull the file down and be able to run it outside of the application. Does that make sense?

I apologize if my questions were not clearer. Maybe these will help:

1) Can the help content be protected in a manner that it cannot be used outside of the application?  Password protection would be acceptable.

2) Can the Air file be updated from a web server over a SSL connection without the user having to enter credentials?  Is this built into the update mechanism?

3) Are the contents of the Air help file encrypted or protected (for sensitive information)?

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

1) Can the help content be protected in a manner that it cannot be used outside of the application?  Password protection would be acceptable.

No. See the answer to 3.

2) Can the Air file be updated from a web server over a SSL connection without the user having to enter credentials?  Is this built into the update mechanism?

The updated .AIR and the XML can be on a web server. I have an update file on my site for demo purposes. If you knew the path and file name, you would be able to download it. I would need to test everything but I don't think the user could find that path from the help or when an auto update runs. You can set up a similar test. So when auto update runs, they get the help but not the source. They do not get the new AIR file.

3) Are the contents of the Air help file encrypted or protected (for sensitive information)?

Anyone who has the AIR runtime can install it.

What is in this help file, the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken?

Joking apart, once the customer has the help file, they can print every last topic. You want to disable print. OK, I'll have a go and cut and paste. Find a way to disable that and I will take a screen capture. Stop that and I will get my camera out. If there really is something so sensitive that you need to go to these lengths, maybe you should have a word with Charlie's Angels. Being more serious, maybe auto-update doesn't suit your scenario unless your tests confirm the user does not get the path to the update location and you are happy that is sufficient.

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

Thank you for your quick response.

And yes, the information is senstive and higher ups are requesting this information. But, thanks for your input.

BTW - RoboHelp doesn't even have a print icon or command on their Adobe Community Help. Yes, we can still cut and paste it, screen shot it, etc. I get that. I didn't think that I could work around that. I was at least hoping to disable the print option, like Adobe did for the Adobe Community Help.  And thanks to your help, I created a wish list for that item.

Thanks again.

Cheers from Oklahoma!

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Adobe and Microsoft are similar in this respect. Indeed, the help viewer they use is AIR based, but it's a far cry from what we are able to use ourselves. Theirs is customized in different ways. And after all, as they are the ones that created the format, it's within their realm to easily create something unique to them. Microsoft is similar with their Office Help.

I suspect there is no print icon becuase Community help trawls through many things that aren't part of Adobe. Other blogs and web sites. So if you had an icon that allowed you to print all, there would be no telling how many reams of paper and ink refills you may need to complete the job. What Adobe did was to insert a link to a PDF that is intended for your printing pleasure.

After seeing this post I excitedly opened my RoboHelp 9. I recalled that Adobe had added an AIR Help Skin editor and that we could also customize the icons. Sadly, it appears that we are unable to pick and choose items like the Print icon. However, a thought occurred to me on this. They do allow you to choose different icons if you like. My thought was that perhaps you could create a super tiny totally transparent icon and use it for the print. If that happened, the only way printing would be discovered would be if someone randomly happened to click the hidden spot. Not sure if that's an option for you.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Yes Rick, the skin editor is a little "not ready for primetime" still (see my http://forums.adobe.com/thread/787471?tstart=0 about trying to get rid of the RSS Feeds). It was a good start, but you can't mess with much of anything except the colours. You can't delete any icons that you don't want and you can't rearrange any elements either. And to top it off - you can't even mess around with the sexy Midnight Black theme (because they don't make it available for tinkering). I've already fired off a wish list request - join me?

[Guest]

Thanks for your help too Jeff.

Yes, I will help your cause.

Why dangle a carrot in front of us if they don't intent to give us more?

[Captiv8r]

LOL, that one's easy. To perpetuate future upgrade sales!

[Guest]

Thanks Rick. It was worth a try.

You guys rock!

[RomanCat]

A transparent print icon: clearly less than ideal but - given the lack of control otherwise - love the lateral thinking.  Thanks for sharing the thought - I am going to try this.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Not quite sure what you mean by "internal server" - internal to whom? You or the client's? If it's on your server, presumably you have security set up so that only authorized users can access the .air installer. If it's on the client's server - again, presumably they have to have proper credentials to access the location where it's stored. If you don't want to leave the .air file hanging about, you could always do the installation for them as part of your updating of the application and remove the .air file after installing it.

If it's the browser-based version, it just gets installed on the web server (again, presumably secured to only authorized users) as a whole bunch of component files. It doesn't stay as 1 .air file after installation like a .chm would.