Codenstuff.com

Pro-XLJ
*Development Title - may change*


Back in 2009 I create a little piece of software and tutorial called Product Key Manager which was something I challenged myself to do because I wanted to add trial type features to my projects but couldn't afford the leading software that cost upwards of $500 for anything that would have been effective. So I made my own and although it wasn't as sophisticated as some of the high end trial feature software it did the job well enough for my needs.

Later I made version 2 then a pro version then I made Pro-X and finally ended up with Pro-XL which included an account management system based on PHP & MySQL and I think I released that about 12-18 months ago and have been selling it on the site ever since and it hasn't brought in the mega-bucks or anything (lol) but it has sold quite well and has been my first success in regards to actually making money from something I created.

Now for the last few days I've been working on the next version "Pro-XLJ" and this is what I have so far...

New home screen


Setup screen


Product screen


Account Screen




They look almost identical to Pro-XL and that is because they are lol ..almost. When looking over Pro-XL to see what I could do to the layout to improve it I couldn't really think of anything because the layout was fine, it did the job and kept everything simple so I left most of it how it was originally (obviously updating the look a little bit).

The biggest change is I've added a home screen that shows how your software is doing:

The top 3 selling apps.
How many copies you've sold and how much you've earned in total.
How many sold and how much earned over the last 7 days and the latest buyer information.

The home screen is great because you dont need to go through manually checking accounts to see if you sold anything you can just launch Pro-XLJ and the info is right there.

One thing people who used Pro-XL had trouble with were the settings where they didn't know what information to enter into some of the fields or if they did it correctly so I added error alerts to the settings fields that indicates to the user that they forgot to enter some information or entered the wrong thing. This should help people get set up more easily.



So far things are running quite well and the speed at which it gathers and sends data has been improved but I still have quite a bit of scripting to do not just in .Net but PHP as well ..pfff lol.

So yes that Pro-XLJ so far and I'll keep you updated as I go along cooll;

looks nice

what about selling this on other websites ? softpedia,cnet

wow looks nice #CodenStuff so happy to see a next version of this great app
can't wait to have it

5 versions later... introducing Pro-XLJWBGTY :lol:

Very impressive. I had not seen XL, so I can't compare to it, but the layout is very nice and clean. And I like how the TextBoxes change color based on their completeness.

Are you planning on making a Metro version for the Windows Store?

Yes I probably will make a Windows 8 app for it once I finish the desktop version lol

Progress update

As with the account management software I am also updating the "Components.dll" again with improved code and functionality and one of the problems users of Pro-XL reported was that it was a little tricky to understand the code required to be added to their projects..even though the code was very small and was explained quite well (I thought).

So this time around I decided to make it even simpler to use and put everything into a component instead. Now instead of having to add code to your project you will simply be able to drop the component onto your project and enter the required information (trial type, number of uses, trial days, script location) in to it's properties.




When you want to add trial features to a project just drop the component onto it, enter some properties and thats it!. Want to remove trial features just delete the component..no fuss and no messy code to deal with.

I will keep you updated on future progress cooll;

Maybe you could port it to web, so it could be accessible from any device/platform. Anyways it looks awesome so far! Can't wait to see it?

PS. Will there be any beta versions posted in VIP section?

The account manager will hopefully have a web version eventually. I will need some people to test it all out for me and may post a test release in the VIP section or just give it to certain people I haven't decided yet lol.

Another feature I'll be adding to this version is "Feature Lock" that will let you disable stuff until the software is activated. So you can basically release a demo version of your software with certain features disabled until a product key is entered which will then enable those features, that way you dont have to make 2 versions of your software (demo and full) you can just use the same one and you dont have to change or add any code.

This looks promising. Keep us updated with this one

Hello all,

I've had quite a few messages and emails from people wanting to know if I'll be making a new version of my product key management software and after spending some time thinking about it I've (kind of) come to the conclusion that I probably won't be doing it.

Here's why:
Since the release of Windows 8 and the following Windows 10 we all have an opportunity to list and sell our apps in the Windows Store. The store has everything you need in order to sell your apps, add in-app purchases and even release trial versions and the store does all the hard work for you. There's no longer a need for licence keys, your own hosting or payment system.

With the introduction of Project Centennial you can also easily convert desktop Win32 software in to compatible appx packages which can then be uploaded to the store and use all the same features and payment systems as regular apps. You may wish to host and sell your software yourself but considering having a potential audience of over 400 million users ready to use/purchase your software it really is a no brainer and you would be much better off gaining maximum exposure by uploading your software to the windows store.

I managed to sell what I consider to be a good amount of my Pro-XLJ software but it was only double digit sales and my customers were mainly people who came to this site off their own backs without any advertising from me. I took a few years to get the number of sales that I got and it's nothing to dance about, I'm not saying this to put anyone off selling their own software, far from it, if you've worked hard on something and wish to sell it to get something back for all your hard work then go for it, you deserve it. I'm just saying that it is hard work and you'll have to spend a lot of time and money hosting and marketing your software and it can take years before you see any decent return.

My advice to anyone wanting to sell Windows compatible software is to get it in to the Windows Store and you will see a much higher return in a much shorter space of time and the best part is the store does all the advertising, hosting and payment processing for you which frees up your time to concentrate on improving and updating your software. With very little effort you can even include ads which will bring in some (not a huge amount) but some revenue even if people simply try but don't buy your software, at least you'll be getting something back.

Speaking of getting something back the store also gives you the chance to get feedback from users, suggestions and statistics on who is using your software and how they're using it, that's brilliant and difficult to do on your own.

I may be wrong about all this and if I am then please let me know but I feel the store opens up all kinds of possibilities to us all and even if you want to give your software away for free then the store is the way to go to reach those 400 million+ users.

I apologize to anyone who was waiting for a new version of product key manager but I just feel it is no longer needed.

I do want to thank everyone who supported the development of and purchased my product key management software. Without you it would have ended at version 1 lol.

Thank you and keep coding