Information - Products Archives - Page 9 of 11

2013-07-192019-07-07

Visual Installer: Prime number based license keys

One important key feature in Visual Installer is the ability to create and handle license keys (installation keys). Visual Installer can handle both static license keys and prime number based license keys.

Prime number based license keys
Prime number based license keys are license keys that are created by using a formula that includes prime numbers. By combining this with a checksum, Visual Installer can very easy check that an entered license key is correct or wrong. You don’t need to include your license keys with the installation; pure mathematics is used to verify the license key.

It is also very difficult for a person to manipulate the license key and create false license keys. Not all combinations are allowed and besides that, also the checksum must be correct. So a “cracker” must consider two things in the same time, which makes it difficult to “crack” the key.

How to create prime number based license keys?
If you want to use prime number based license keys in your installation, follow the steps below to create the keys:

1. Start Visual Installer
2. Open the Dialog boxes tab in the editor
3. Click on the ”…” button to the right of the License key option
4. Click the Prime number based license keys button
5. In the dialog box that is shown you can create prime number based license keys

You can create prime number based license keys with Visual Installer

When does Visual Installer ask for the prime number based license key?
Before the actual installation of files starts, a setup wizard with dialog boxes is shown for the end-user. Among these dialog boxes there is one dialog box that asks for a license key. In the picture below you can see how the dialog box looks like:

The 'License Key' dialog box

The installation will not continue until correct license key has been entered. If the end-user enters wrong license key too many times the installation is stopped.

Note
Handling of prime number based license keys is only included in the Professional version of Visual Installer, not in the Standard version. If you have the Standard version and want to change to the Professional version, read this blog post.

2013-05-302021-11-05

Free HTML editor from Microsoft: Expression Web

Microsoft Expression Web is a powerful and feature-rich HTML editor from Microsoft. The first version came in 2006 as a successor to the very popular and widely spread HTML tool Microsoft FrontPage. Expression Web is aimed for more experienced web developers. It is a competitor to Adobe DreamWeaver and just like DreamWeaver it is a HTML tool that is primarily designed to develop more sophisticated websites. HTML tools can also be used to create newsletters if you have a good knowledge of HTML and you know what works for e-mail.

Download Microsoft Expression Web for free
In December 2012 stopped Microsoft with further development of Expression Web and as a result they decided to release he program for free. It is therefore possible to download it for free from Microsoft website. However, Microsoft will continue to maintain the product and release possible security updates up until 2015. The program can be downloaded through this website:
> Microsoft Expression Web 4 – Free Version

More information about Microsoft Expression Web
> Microsoft Expression Web – Wikipedia

Templates that can be used together with Microsoft Expression Web
> Expression Templates | REVIEWED Expression Web Template Resources
> Over 20,000 Professional Business Templates for Microsoft Expression Web & WebMatrix
> Expression Web Tutorials / Expression Web Free Templates

2013-04-202019-07-07

Visual Installer supports PFX (Personal Information Exchange) files

We have updated Visual Installer so you can choose a PFX file (Personal Information Exchange file) directly from the Visual Installer editor, when you want to code sign a setup package. You don’t need to split the PFX file in a SPC file and a PVK file as before.

The Code Signing tab in the Setup options dialog box in the Visual Installer editor has been updated. In the picture above you can see how the new updated Code Signing tab looks like.

In the Code Signing tab there is now two sub tabs: PFX and SPC / PVK. In these tabs you can choose if you want to use a PFX file or a SPC and a PVK file during the code signing process. If you have specified a PFX file you don’t need to to specify a SPC and a PVK file. And vice versa.

More information about code signing in Visual Installer
More general information about code signing in Visual Installer is available on this web page:

> Visual Installer – Can create a code signed setup package

2013-03-292019-07-07

ActiveX Component for Twitter

Twitter is a popular social networking and microblogging service on the Web that let users send and read short text-based messages (up to 140 characters), also known as a “tweets”. We have now created an ActiveX component (Active control) that can be used to send messages (tweets) directly from desktop applications.

URL shortener
We have also inluded a URL shortering function in the Twitter ActiveX. The function uses the Bitly service to shorten URLs, but it is also possible to the let Twitter shorten the URLs. Both systems are supported by the Twitter component.

More information
You can read more about the Twitter ActiveX component on this web page on our web site:
> SamLogic’s Twitter Component: SLTwitCtrl ActiveX Control

Other news: Also our desktop applications will support Twitter soon
We will also add support for Twitter in our other software. We will first add support to our e-mail marketing tool MultiMailer. You will soon be able to send tweets directly from the program. You can for example tweet about your latest newsletter that you just sent out, or currently is delivering! We will also add this functionality to Visual Installer, so you can tweet about new versions of your software directly from Visual Installer. Same function will be added to CD-Menu Creator.

More information about this new feature in our desktop applications will be coming soon.

2013-02-272019-07-07

Visual Installer: You can set a relative size for the setup window

We have updated Visual Installer with a new function; you can now set a relative size for the setup window. The size is specified with a percent value, so the setup window will always cover a specified percentage of the screen. The percentage is easily specified using a visual slider (as shown in the picture to the right).

Below is a picture that shows how a setup window can cover a part of the screen.

Where to find the slider?
You can open the dialog box with the slider from two places in the program:

– Via the Object – Setup window menu item. Press the Change button to the right of the Percentage size option in the dialog box that is shown.

– When you choose a New project. Press the Settings button and Change size button.

(This function is available in Visual Installer version 9.5.20 and later.)

2013-02-262019-07-07

Review of SamLogic MultiMailer at FindMySoft

FindMySoft Review - MultiMailer Frederick Barton at the FindMySoft website has written a review of our newsletter marketing software SamLogic MultiMailer:

“Sending newsletters by email is one of the most efficient ways of marketing a product, so it is important to send newsletters to as many potential customers as possible. With SamLogic MultiMailer, you can do much more than send bulk emails. The software enables you to send personalized messages to all recipients, handle subscription requests and more.”

You can read the full review on this page on FindmySoft’s website:
> Review – SamLogic MultiMailer – Send newsletters to any number of recipients

On the web page you will also find a “quick look” video of SamLogic MultiMailer that shows some of the features in the software. The video highlights the way the application looks and works, and shows how to perform basic tasks with it.

Quick look video of SamLogic MultiMailer

2013-02-222023-01-14

Server for statistics and analysis of e-mail newsletter campaigns

If you have a newer version of the MultiMailer e-mail newsletter program you may have noticed that the program displays information about how many contacts that have opened and clicked on links in newsletters, and also who that have opened and clicked. All this is handled by two servers on the web. MultiMailer can download the information and show the statistics and data in the Statistics tab of the program.

Where are the servers?
The two servers are located in the following two domains on the Internet:

Server 1: https://www.samlogic-multimailer.com
Server 2: https://www.multimailer-statistics.com

Server 1 is dimensioned for minor e-mail campaigns and server 2 is dimensioned for larger e-mail campaigns.

2013-01-282019-07-07

Create a menu interface for a USB stick with USB Menu Creator

USB Menu Creator is a new product from SamLogic Software that can be used to create AutoRun menu interfaces for USB sticks / pen drives. The created menu interface will be opened automatically when the USB stick is plugged into a USB port in the end-user’s computer. From the menu the end-user can start a setup program, run an application, open a document, play a video or Flash animation, open a web page etc.

USB Menu Creator is a special bundle that contains the following three SamLogic programs:

– SamLogic CD-Menu Creator – A tool that can be used to design menu interfaces.
– SamLogic USB AutoRun Creator – Adds AutoRun capabilities to USB sticks.
– SamLogic Image Resizer – Resizes and adapts images for use with menus.

More information
More information about USB Menu Creator is available on the following page:

> USB Menu Creator – Creates AutoRun Menu Interfaces for USB Flash Drive Device

2013-01-232019-07-07

Review of SamLogic CD-Menu Creator at FindMySoft

Frederick Barton at the FindMySoft website has written a review of our product SamLogic CD-Menu Creator:

“The software provides a tabbed interface, on which you may customize your menu. Each element has its own tab, with various configuration options. For example, if you select the second tab, you can type the menu’s title, change its font settings and color, align it, add text effects and more. Regardless of which tab you select, you will always find the same options on the lower part of the interface. You can use them to preview your menu, on a separate window, create or execute it.”

You can read the full review on this page on the FindmySoft’s website:
> Review – SamLogic CD-Menu Creator – Create menus for CDs, DVDs and USB flash drives

On the web page you will also find a “quick look” video of SamLogic CD-Menu Creator that shows some of the program’s features. The video highlights the way the application looks and works, and shows how to perform basic tasks with it.

2013-01-192019-07-07

Visual Calendar ActiveX Components – from SamLogic Software

If you have clicked around on our web site you may have noticed that we also sell components for developers, in addition to our programs. We have two component libraries for software developers, that can be used in software development projects:

– SamLogic Calendar Components
– SamLogic Internet Components

SamLogic Calendar Components
SamLogic Calendar Components is a library that contains visual calendar ActiveX components that can be used in software (for example in desktop applications) to show years, months, dates, week numbers, holidays etc. visually. Three types of calendars are included in the calendar component library: 1 month calendar, 6 month calendar and 12 month calendar. In the picture to the right you can see how the 1 month calendar looks like.

Localized calendars
The calendars in SamLogic Calendar Components can be localized to all major western countries in the world, for example USA, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain. Also some small countries as Sweden, Norway and Finland are supported. When a calendar is localized, the calendar interface is shown with text in the country’s major language, and the holidays that are shown are based on that country’s official holidays. You can choose if you want to have Monday or Sunday as the first day of week.

SamLogic Internet Components
SamLogic Internet Components is a library with ActiveX components for the Internet. For example components for e-mail, FTP, time servers, WHOIS servers, ping tests etc. Some general components for log handling, alarm, high-resolution timers etc are also included in the tool box.

Can be used with Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Office
The ActiveX components in SamLogic Calendar Components and SamLogic Internet Components can be used in Microsoft Visual Studio (for example with Microsoft Visual Basic) and in Microsoft Office (for example with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access). Visual Studio 6.0 and Visual Studio 2002 – 2012 are supported. And all versions of Microsoft Office since Office 95 (!) until the newest Office 2013 are supported.

Can also be used with Embarcadero Delphi
The ActiveX components in the libraries can also be used with Embarcadero Delphi (former Borland Delphi). The components can be used with all tools that can handle ActiveX files.

In the next blog posts
In the next two blog posts we will show how to use a calendar ActiveX component from SamLogic Calendar Components in Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 (Microsoft Visual Studio 2010) and in Microsoft Excel 2010. It is quite easy to include an ActiveX component in an Visual Basic application and Excel sheet, when you know the necessary steps. Below are direct links to the two blog posts, where we describe this step by step:
> How to add an ActiveX component to a Visual Basic 2010 project
> How to add an ActiveX component to an Excel 2010 sheet

In a third blog post we will inform about how to install an ActiveX component in a Windows system, so other applications can access the component:
> How to install (and register) an ActiveX component