How do I make software products?

Here is a screencast on x8 speed of all processes are required to create the software product and to publish it online:

As you see coding takes less than half of time. Making of screenshots is more important than programming. Pages in social networks are more important than pretty looking website. And so on...

Program in this video is a first public version of Missing Buttons software

New software for hidden features

I was not able to find "Monitor Off" feature on any notebook while are using external keyboard. Lots of PCs have no "Hibernate" button even if this feature is turned on. Working on computers using remote desktop software disallows many of system shortcuts. You cannot switch Num Lock or Scroll Lock if there is no hardware buttons for that. And so on...

I've created small software utility to have all missing features right under the hand. Missing Buttons is software for Windows, maybe I'll create a Mac OS version in the future.

The product is distributed as try before you buy, the license costs $9.95 per user.

If you have ideas for other "missing buttons", let me know. I'll add them into the future versions.

Software product in less than 1 hour!

There were about 3 hours of free time before visit to the cinema. So, just for fun, I've decided to measure the speed of my work. Also I was planning to record a screencast movie "how to make software products" :)

Unfortunately CamStudio recorder sucks for high resolution screen, so there is no movie :( But in less than 1 hour I've finished following tasks:

• Purchase domain for new site and setup Wordpress there
• Create Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts for new software
• Make a copy of Caps Lock Indicator software for Scroll Lock key
• Setup trial protection routines
• Build installation package and upload it to the website

Not bad, isn't it? ;)

So, here it is: Scroll Lock Indicator software for Windows.

Software offers two Scroll Lock state indicators: Tray Icon and On-Screen Display. Notifications by different sound when On and Off are also available.

The product is distributed as try before you buy (shareware) with 30-day trial period. The license costs $2.95 per user.

Back to Shareware :)

I have never ever planned back to shareware business, but one of my technical tasks requests testing of modern software protection and integration with billing services. So I've decided to make a small utility and push it to all required tests.

I have many ideas and feature requests form users of free Keyboard LEDs software, so there was no problem with idea of new software. So, here it is: Caps Lock Indicator

Software for Windows, offers two Caps Lock state indicators: Tray Icon and On-Screen Floating Text. Notifications by sound are also available. The product is distributed as shareware with 30-day trial period. The license costs $9.95 per user.

Keyboard Leds 2.0

Keyboard LEDs version 2.0 has been released.

Program allows you to see the current state of keyboard locks (Caps, Num, Scroll). Information is shown in the system tray or on a floating window over your screen. Also there is an option to indicate the locks state changing with sound.

You can download and use Keyboard Leds program absolutely free!

Function IsValidEmail for Delphi

It's hard to believe, but there is no standard function in Delphi to verify the email address. Also there is no native RegExp support. So I have to create own routine for email verification. It is not fully RFC compatible (there is no support for user@[10.20.30.40] and John Dow <a@b.c>) but is good enough for 99% of end-user programs.

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------ // Verifies is the given string valid email address or not. Domain names without // dots (user@localhost) are acceptable if AllowRootDomain is True. function IsValidEmail(const Value: string; AllowRootDomain: Boolean = False): Boolean; //------------------------------------- function _Verify(const S: string): Boolean; var i: Integer; begin Result := False; for i := 1 to Length(S) do if not (S[i] in ['a'..'z' ,'A'..'Z', '0'..'9', '_', '-', '.']) then Exit; Result := True; end;{Internal _Verify} //------------------------------------- var i: Integer; User, Domain: string; begin Result:= False; // @ is must, but not first i := Pos('@', Value); if i < 2 then Exit; User := Copy(Value, 1, i - 1); if User = '' then Exit; Domain := Copy(Value, i + 1, MaxInt); if Domain = '' then Exit; if not AllowRootDomain then begin // Dot is must, but not first i := Pos('.', Domain); if i < 2 then Exit; end; // Dot should not be first and the last if (Domain[1] = '.') or (Domain[Length(Domain)] = '.') then Exit; // Verify each char of User and Domain Result:= _Verify(User) and _Verify(Domain); end;

Click on code, press Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+C to copy the text.

P.S. Does anybody use Delphi in 2011? :)