Getting Started
Understanding Protection
Understanding Obfuscation
Understanding Checks
Understanding Instrumentation
Using the GUI
References
The reflection sample demonstrates issues that occur when using Dotfuscator with applications that make use of dynamic class loading and method invocation. These powerful technologies allow applications to delay specification of code to be executed until runtime. In these cases, it is impossible to statically predict what classes and methods might be invoked at runtime; therefore, it is impossible for Dotfuscator to infallibly determine which identifiers should be excluded from renaming. Fortunately, Dotfuscator has rich facilities for the fine-tuning of renaming rules.
The reflection sample demonstrates how to configure Dotfuscator to selectively exclude types and methods from renaming. Instructions are included for using both the command line and the graphical interface of Dotfuscator.
The reflection sample assumes that the C# compiler (csc.exe) is reachable from your PATH environment variable. If you are using Visual Studio, you can make sure that it is in your path by executing the Visual Studio Command Prompt shortcut in your start menu.
From the command prompt, change your current directory to the directory containing the reflection sample.
Build the application by executing build.bat. This batch file will invoke the Visual C# compiler to produce the output file - Reflection.exe.
The reflection sample can be run by executing the Reflection.exe assembly produced by the build.bat command. The reflection program dynamically loads a class from the current assembly with the following code:
Reflection Sample Code:
//get the requested type from current assembly
assembly = this.GetType().Assembly;
type = assembly.GetType(typename, true);
instance = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
It is worth noting that the class that is loaded is specified by the string variable typename.
Looking closer at the sample code shows us that typename
is initialized to the value Samples.Greeting
.
Further on in the program, the SayGreetings
method of Samples.Greeting
is invoked dynamically with similar code:
Sample.Greeting Code:
MethodInfo method = type.GetMethod(methodname);
…
method.Invoke(instance,methodargs);
As its name suggests, the SayGreetings
method displays some friendly messages on the console:
SayGreetings Friendly Messages:
Hello Bob!
Goodbye Bob!
The reflection sample contains a sample Dotfuscator configuration file that demonstrates using exclusion rules to exclude these items invoked by reflection. This file is named reflection\reflection_config.xml and can be located in the same directory as the rest of the reflection samples. The section of the file that excludes these references is:
Using Exclusion Rules to Exclude Items Invoked by Reflection:
<renaming>
<excludelist>
<type name="Samples.Greetings">
<method name="SayGreetings" signature="string" />
</type>
</excludelist>
…
</renaming>
The <renaming>
tag indicates that the exclusion rules contained within pertain specifically to identifier renaming, as opposed to other Dotfuscator features which can also be selectively turned on or off.
The <excludelist>
tag defines a list of items that must be excluded from the renaming process.
The <type name="Samples.Greetings">
tag instructs Dotfuscator to exclude the class name Samples.Greetings
from the renaming process.
Note that this only refers to the class name itself.
All methods and fields belonging to the Greetings
class are still eligible to be renamed unless they are specifically excluded.
We can see an example of this with the <method name="SayGreetings" signature="string" />
entry.
Executing the dotfuscator.bat file will run Dotfuscator with this configuration file. The output of this process is a Reflection.exe assembly in the "obfuscatedoutput" subdirectory. This location can be controlled by modifying the following section in the configuration file:
Modifying Location of the Output:
<output>
<file dir="${projectdir}\obfuscatedoutput" />
</output>
Running the new assembly verifies that Dotfuscator correctly excluded the required items from the renaming process:
Friendly Messages Excluded from Renaming Process:
Hello Bob!
Goodbye Bob!
The Dotfuscator graphical interface provides a visual means to produce a configuration file. Run this by executing dotfuscatorGUI.bat in the command prompt. Items to be excluded from renaming can be specified using the Rename tab of the interface:
Expanding the assembly node in the tree shows a graphical view of the application structure, including all namespaces, types, and methods:
Graphically generating a renaming exclusion list is a simple matter of checking the boxes next to the item to be excluded.
In our reflection example, the required exclusions are made by checking the box next to the type Greetings
and the method SayGreetings
:
Building the project produces the correct output that can be verified with the Output tab of the application:
In order for you to successfully obfuscate an application that loads classes by name, invokes methods by name, or references fields by name, you need to manually exclude the appropriate identifiers from renaming. Dotfuscator provides a fine-grained, rule based facility for doing this.
Dotfuscator Version 4.33.0.6680. Copyright © 2017 PreEmptive Solutions, LLC