Introduction to Tiny Hexer

Here you can find some basic information about Tiny Hexer.

• Features
• License
• Credits
• About the author
• Version history

Features

• Search and replace of text or hex bytes (also with wildcard byte and regular expressions)
• File statistics and graphical data representation
• Editable file size up to 2 GB (depends on available virtual memory)
• Native 32 Bit Windows application, MDI
• Ascii, Ansi, EBCDIC (Codepage 38), Mac and custom character conversion
• Scripting engine (Tiny Hexer Script language)
• Insert and delete half bytes (nibbles or nybbles)
• Insert, Overwrite and Readonly modes
• Common bookmarks and keyboard bookmarks per file
• Unicode support (character display, search and replace)
• Cutting and pasting of binary data (also Zero bytes)
• Automatic backups of modified files
• Configurable keyboard, shortcuts and toolbar
• Value editor to modify bytes, words, IEEE floating point numbers, single bits...
• Structure viewer to better understand file structures (with sample structure scripts for .bmp, .exe and .zip files)
• Multiple Undo, single Redo capabilities
• OLE Drag 'n' Drop support
• Disk editing (Windows NT/2000/XP only)
• Modifying of other processes' memory
• Configurable editor appearance
• Save and reload sets of options
• Scriptable file import and export (with sample import scripts for hex text, Intel hex and Motorola S-record and sample export scripts for c-source file, pascal-source file, hex text, Intel hex and Motorola S-record)
• Absolutely free of charge!
• and more...

License

mirkes.de's Tiny Hexer ("the software") license agreement:

by unpacking or running any application from this package, you agree to be
bound by and are becoming a party to this agreement. if you do not agree to
all of the terms of this license agreement, you must destroy the package.

markus stephany ("the author") grants you a non-exclusive license to use the
software free of charge.

this agreement shall be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the
federal republic of germany without application of that states choice of law
provisions. any actions arising from this license or the use of this
software shall be commenced and maintained in the brd (frg).

* limitations on installation and use of the software:

you may lend or copy and distribute the software free of charge to other
people provided always that the terms and conditions of this agreement
accompany to each copy so lent or distributed.

you must not charge a fee, exchange goods or services, barter or otherwise
profit in a commercial way from the lending, leasing, selling or
distribution of the software.

you may not modify, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, dissassemble any
part of the software or create derivative works based on the software.

* disclaimer of warranty:

this software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties
of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. the entire risk as
to the quality and performance of this software is with you. should the
software prove defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary
servicing, repair, and correction.

the author does not warrant that the functions contained in the software
will meet your requirements or that the operation of the program will be
uninterrupted or error free.

under no circumstances and under no legal theory, tort, contract, or
otherwise, can the author be liable to you or any other person for any
indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character
including, without limitation, damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage,
computer failure or malfunction, or any and all other commercial damages or
losses. in no event will the author be liable for any damages in excess of
the amount the author received from you for a license to the software, even
if the author should have been informed of the possibility of such damages,
or for any claim by any other party. this limitation of liability shall not
apply to liability for death or personal injury to the extent applicable law
prohibits such limitation. furthermore, some jurisdictions do not allow the
exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so this
limitation and exclusion may not apply to you. no dealer, agent, or employee
of the author is authorized to make any modifications, extensions, or
additions to this warranty.

title, ownership rights, ownership of all derivative works, and intellectual
property rights in the software remain with the author. the software is
protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws and by
international treaties. title and related rights in the content accessed
through the software is the property of the applicable content owner and may
be protected by applicable law. this license gives you no rights to such
content.

* termination of the license

the license will terminate automatically if you fail to comply with the
limitations described herein. on termination, you must destroy all copies of
the software and documentation. your obligations to pay accrued charges and
fees shall survive any termination of this agreement.

* acknowledgement

you acknowledge that you have read this agreement, understand it and agree
to be bound by its terms and conditions. you further agree that it is the
complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between yourself and the
author.

Credits

Search for regular expressions is based on the Regex Library by Niche Software.
Note: I modified the original code to (hopefully) work with different character sets and unicode files. After some (little) testing I decided to use the code I modified in Tiny Hexer. Please inform me if searching for regular expressions does not work as expected. Do not blame the author of the original library for possible mistakes in my derivative implementation!

Boyer-Moore-Horspool search algorithm based on Angus Johnson's TSearch Delphi VCL.
Note: I modified the original code to work with wildcards. After successful testing, I decided to use this modified code. Please inform me if searching does not work as expected. To disable the new searching algorithm, see the FAQ.

Windows XP Themes support by Mike Lischke's TThemeManager Delphi VCL.

The scripting engine has been written using a derivative of the unit expression.pas found on http://www.blacky.co.nz/free/index.htm.

HTML Help support by Delphi units written by The Helpware Group.

The SHELL() function is based on the unit ConsoleApp.pas by Martin Lafferty.

The editor is a special version of my component TMPHexEditorEx, available at http://www.mirkes.de/en/delphi/vcls/hexedit.php. Many people helped me with this component, so credits go to John Hamm, Christophe Le Corfec, Philippe Chessa, Daniel Jensen, Shmuel Zeigerman, Vaf, Eugene Tarasov, FuseBurner, Motzi, Martin Hsiao and others.

The graph in the Statistics Window is drawn using the free TMathImage component by Renate Schaaf.

RTF Export is based on the unit Ctltortf.pas by K. Nishita.

The setup is created using Jordan Russell's famous Inno Setup and Bjørnar Henden's ISTool.

Executable file's sizes are shrinked using Jordan Russell's StripReloc (no "Exe compressor"!).

Unicode enabled Value Editor using TNT Delphi Unicode Controls by TNT Software Products.

About the author

This free binary file editor has been written by Markus Stephany, 66679 Losheim am See, Saarland, Germany. It is written using Borland Delphi™ 6 Professional. You can reach Markus via EMail at mailto:tinyhexer@mirkes.de.

Version history

• 1.0.1.29, June 16, 2004:
  
  
  • Fixed an exception in the File statistics window when only a few bytes of data were used
  • Fixed missing icons in the Window Bar
  • Fixed wrong separator width after customizing the Tool Bar buttons
  • The Window Bar is now displayed only when two or more files are opened
  • The Ruler now displays numbers using the current Editor Offset Format
  • The caret is set to a bottom line in No Editing mode
  • The File statistics window supports more data types
  • The Editor Offset Format can be adjusted independently for each open file
  • Rearranged View and Options menu
  • Split the Options dialog into a global and an editor specific options dialog
  • View/Synchronize command added
  • Tools/Compare/Compare command changed to synchronize the view of the compared editors
  • The Value Editor now can also display and edit 16 bit unicode characters (NT platforms only)
  
  
• 1.0.1.27 - 1.0.1.28, June 07, 2004:
  
  
  • Fixed some drawing bugs
  • Using the mouse wheel scrolls a page rather than a single line
  • Implemented a Window Bar
  • The scrollbars in editor windows have proportional thumbs now
  • Added an option to configure default Insert/Overwrite mode
  
  
• 1.0.1.26, May 30, 2004:
  
  
  • Fixed a bug that caused all files to be opened read-only
  • The "Copy" popup menu command in the Structure Viewer now (hopefully) works
  • Printing the Structure Viewer contents now produces more meaningfull page headers and footers
  • Fixed some minor format strings related bugs
  
  
• 1.0.1.25, May 16, 2004:
  
  
  • Added in Tiny Hexer Script: ERRORHANDLER, ERRORLINE, ERRORMESSAGE, ERRORNUMBER, IFGOTO
  
  
• 1.0.1.24, May 09, 2004:
  
  
  • Fixed a bug that could raise an error message when starting another instance of Tiny Hexer while the previous instance was terminating
  • Slightly modified the format of configuration files (but still backward compatible)
  • Added an option to force maximized creation of new editor windows
  
  
• 1.0.1.23, May 05, 2004:
  
  
  • When loading settings from a file, tiny hexer now searches for a specific value in the configuration file. If this value is not found, a warning is displayed (to distinguish Tiny Hexer config files from other .ini-files which could mess up the Tiny Hexer registry key).
  • Tiny Hexer isn't associated with all file types anymore (see the FAQ for details)
  • Tiny Hexer can now be forced to load a default configuration file at startup (see the FAQ for details)
  
  
• 1.0.1.22, May 02, 2004:
  
  
  • Hopefully fixed a possible bug ("Invalid property value") on startup (Problem was reported anonymously without enough details)
  • The "File/Open Group" command can get cancelled using the ALT or ESC key
  • Fixed active editor window if the "File/Open Group" command shows an error message
  • Removed some stuff from the small edition (toolbar configuration, images, keyboard mapping, configurable menu shortcuts, start/stop-script) to further reduce its size and resource usage
  
  
• 1.0.1.21, May 01, 2004:
  
  
  • Shrunk the size of Tiny Hexer small edition
  • The "Open in Tiny Hexer" shell context menu could lead an already running instance of Tiny Hexer to hang if it was showing a modal dialog
  
  
• 1.0.1.20, Apr. 28, 2004:
  
  
  • Fixed a bug that brought up an error message when resizing the "File/Statistics" window
  • An error message is now displayed when some files couldn't get opened via drag and drop
  • Added the "File/Open Group" and "File/Save Group" commands
  
  
• 1.0.1.19, Apr. 25, 2004:
  
  
  • The "File/Open" command now allows to open multiple files at once
  • Added the "File/Reload" command
  • Added the "File/Statistics" command
  • Added the ability to search for regular expressions
  • The Position List and per-file-bookmarks do store selections, not just positions
  • Position 0 can now get bookmarked
  • Fixed a bug that caused Tiny Hexer to forget the Find Dialog's settings
  • Fixed a bug that caused Tiny Hexer to crash when editing bookmarks
  
  
• 1.0.1.18, Jan. 11, 2004:
  
  
  • "Insert Nibble" and "Delete Nibble" commands disabled in fixed filesize mode
  
  
• 1.0.1.17, Dec. 24, 2003:
  
  
  • Added a Position list window
  • Added in Tiny Hexer Script: AbsolutePosition, AbsoluteSize, ASKFINDOPTIONS(), POSITIONS(), POSITION_ADD(), POSITION_COUNT(), POSITION_DESC, POSITION_SELECTED(), CMD.EditFindStore, CMD.PosListDeleteSelected, CMD.PosListLoad, CMD.PosListSave, CMD.PosListSelectAll, CMD.PosListShiftSelected, CMD.ToolsPosList
  • Added a "Find All and Store" command to the Edit Menu
  • Added Help menu commands for direct access to version history and the Tiny Hexer Script reference
  • Added a "Print" command in the Structure viewer
  • The status bar panels are now sized automatically
  • Some commands (like "Find Next") sometimes were not available when they should have been
  • Some other minor code fixes
  
  
• 1.0.1.16, Dec. 16, 2003:
  
  
  • Changing a data file's size via script is undoable now
  • "Fixed file size" option cannot be changed when editing disk sectors or process memory
  • The statusbar now shows whether a file's size is fixed or not
  • Two file properties added: FillByte and FixedSize
  • Script for file resizing added
  
  
• 1.0.1.15, Dec. 10, 2003:
  
  
  • Fixed a bug when doublecklicking the ruler bar (sometimes line 0 -1 has been displayed)
  
  
• 1.0.1.14, Dec. 07, 2003:
  
  
  • Removed some code from the small edition, so it is even smaller now
  • On closing editor windows containing unsaved changes, Tiny Hexer know displays the correct dialog when editing disk data or process memory blocks (not just the "Save As" dialog)
  
  
• 1.0.1.13, Nov. 29, 2003:
  
  
  • The new search algorithm now also works in unicode mode
  • If the Open process dialog's hex editor is in unicode mode, the process range will be opened in tiny hexer in unicode mode automatically
  • Changed behaviour of shortcuts, so shortcuts like 'CTRL+C' work in non modal active windows
  
  
• 1.0.1.12, Nov. 27, 2003:
  
  
  • Faster searching by using a Boyer-Moore-Horspool algorithm
    Note: I modified the original algorithm to work with wildcards. After successful testing, I decided to use this modified code. Please inform me if searching does not work as expected. To disable the new searching algorithm, see the FAQ.
  • During disk editing, the absolute address on disk is also displayed on the status bar
  • Bookmarks now store absolute disk addresses
  • "Goto Sector" in the disk menu renamed to "Goto Sector/Position", now byte based absolute disk positions can be entered in this dialog
  • The wildcard in the Find dialog now can be typed as a character, not only a hex value
  • Some more drawing bugs on themed XP fixed
  • More settings are now saved when using the "Options/Save Settings" command (file settings, search/replace history...)
  
  
• 1.0.1.11, Nov. 23, 2003:
  
  
  • Improved Windows XP themes support
  • Some other GUI fixes
  • Search/replace can be cancelled by pressing the ALT key
  • More than 4096 disc sectors can be read at once
  • Whole partitions/volumes can be searched for data
  • A default value for disk sectors to be read at a time can be set
  • Progress bar during search/replace
  
  
• 1.0.1.10, Nov. 15, 2003: the Drive/Partition dialog now allows you to show more than one single sector at once in the hex editor window.
• 1.0.1.9, Oct. 24, 2003: changed the Drive/Partition dialog's list to display a horizontal scroll bar if necessary.
• 1.0.1.8, Oct. 17, 2003: added TEXTCHOP() function, added commands to compare two open files
• 1.0.1.7, Oct. 14, 2003: somewhat faster scripting engine, added output parameter to the SHELL() function, added TEXTBOX command
• 1.0.1.0 - 1.0.1.6: some minor bugs fixed, german language user interface added.