If distributing a CSPro application to users, one simple, though not rigorous, way of preventing the users from modifying the applications from within the CSPro Designer is to manually edit a specification file to add a property signaling that the file should not be edited. The files that support this functionality include:

For JSON specification files, set the "editable" property to false. For non-JSON specification files, add the command "[NoEdit]" at the top of the file.

For example:

When the user tries to open any such file, the CSPro Designer will give an error message. However, the user can open the files in the context of running an application, whether that is running a batch program or exporting data. This setting only affects the CSPro Designer. It is not particularly robust protection, as a knowledgeable user can remove the "editable" property from the file, but it will protect against most users modifying specification files. With data entry applications, .pen files can be distributed for more protection against editing.