Computer Productivity Book 3. Use AutoHotKey to License & Deploy Your Scripts to Sell: AutoHotKey productivity, #3

By Max Drake

Create a License wrapper for YOUR Program to Sell

This eBook follows on from the 2 previous books in the series, in which you build your personal script and then generalize it for others.

It goes step by step through creating a license script for your program that you developed in the 2 previous books and now want to sell.

It discusses one off sale of program, free trial period and subscription license setups. It then proceeds to build the license script and show how to protect your compiled script.

Create Installer/Uninstaller for Your Program for fast an d effective delivery & install to clients

We also look at an automated installer/uninstaller for the user for a quick install of files into their proper place and how to install and give free updates and update the main program.

All the scripts discussed ion the book are available for download so that you can use these scripts to build your own licensed program and sell it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: max drake
• Release date: Jul 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201654047

Max Drake

Max Drake is a registered New Zealand Architect originally from England & trained as a Draftsperson and travelled and worked as a designer in Europe USA, Asia, Australia & New Zealand. Taught at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia as an Architecture Lecturer as a NZ Volunteer with VSA. A freelance designer working in Architecture, Building Services & Structures. Worked with the UN in East Timor as UNV and UN staff working on reconstruction & Mission support. VAST Blog on Visual Asset Strategic Tools about BIM, Revit and programming & data capture (https://cr8ive.tk/)

Book preview

Computer Productivity Book 3

Use AutoHotKey to License & Deploy Your Scripts to Sell

Max Drake

Copyright © 2022 by Max Drake.

All Right Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of very brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

DEDICATION

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. WHERE CAN YOU INSTALL FILES?

CHAPTER 2. LICENSE TYPE, LOGIC & SCRIPT

CHAPTER 3. PROGRAM FIRST RUN

CHAPTER 4. BUILDING A LICENSE KEY STRUCTURE

CHAPTER 5. REQUEST A LICENSE

CHAPTER 6. COMPILING FILES

CHAPTER 7. CREATING AN INSTALLER/UNINSTALLER OVERVIEW

CHAPTER 8. THE PROCESS FOR NEW INSTALL & USING THE INSTALLER PROGRAM

CHAPTER 9.  LICENSE SPREADSHEET & TEST

CHAPTER 10. VERSIONING (AGAIN) AND FILE STRUCTURE

CHAPTER 11. PROCESS FOR FREE UPDATE TRIAL INSTALL & USING THE INSTALLER PROGRAM

CHAPTER 12. PROCESS FOR VERSION UPDATE & INSTALL & USING THE INSTALLER PROGRAM

CHAPTER-13 YOU’VE A PROGRAM, NOW WHAT? DEPLOYING

CHAPTER 14. CLOSING CHAPTER

APPENDIX 1. DOWNLOADABLE SCRIPTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am standing on the shoulders of Giants.

I wish to thank the people on AutoHotKey Forum who have shared their knowledge & scripts to help others. Specifically I’d like to mention Mehmet Demir for his Libcrypt encryption script

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this book to my daughter Zoe and her husband Karl, I wish them all the best and success with Orapharm.

INTRODUCTION

This ebook follows on from:

COMPUTER PRODUCTIVITY BOOK I Use AutoHotKey Create your own personal productivity scripts

COMPUTER PRODUCTIVITY BOOK II: Use AutoHotKey to Share your Personal Productivity Scripts

The book was initially intended to be a follow on from 2 other books I was doing on scripting with BIM (Building Information Modelling). I started to write the book from that perspective and then thought that it had a wider relevance.

When I started to work on AutoHotKey I did basic scripts but didn’t feel had to create a shareable or sellable product. Then I started to look at the BIM scripting and saw there was an opportunity to do just that.

I initially did a video course on Udemy on the BIM scripting topic and then realized that some people, rather than developing their own tools, would prefer to have a pre-made product. So I ended up developing a script and decided to create a license and sell it on my website.

I’d done a previous bit of work on building a license script that would wrap around a AutoHotKey program script and explored issues that would come up. More out of a sense of enquiry at the time as I did not find any straightforward tutorials on the topic. Then I had the challenge of deploying that script and that was an interesting process too.

After writing the main body of this book from the BIM script perspective I decided to write it for a larger audience. That led me to look at the overall message and idea that I was trying to convey, which was to take a personal idea, develop it so that it worked, then expand it and make it flexible so that it could be shared with others, then onto a method of licensing and deploying that program to others.

It ended in a 3 book series, then I thought, I‘d like to do a free marketing book & script that would demonstrate some of the simple functionality of AutoHotKey in a manner that was useful straight away, so the 3 book series ended up as 4 books.

That book is Computer Productivity AutoHotKey-Book 0: Let’s Build a Shareable Personal Productivity Script in AutoHotKey

I then hit an obstacle on where to stop. You create the script, you create a deployable program that you can share with others, but how do you market it and sell it?

That led to another pause while I considered how to manage that. Again, like the information in this book being expanded to a wider audience, when I considered how to market and sell, I realized I had to talk about websites, specifically web commerce sites.

So I will write a further book, after this one, about setting up a free website with a free domain name and moving on to setting up and building a WordPress website. This is the way I started, then looking at ways to move that website setup to another web service provider (if you wish) and to choose to purchase your own domain name. I realized that there was an extensive amount of information, especially doing it all for free, so I think a book dedicated to doing this, rather than trying to squeeze a few chapters at the end of this book is my preferred method. 

This series will end at 4 books, this being the last in the series, then I’ll write a book specifically on setting up a web commerce site and some of my marketing experiences .

It is expected that from previous books you have been able to create a script file with support files that you want to share with others and possibly sell.

This book takes the script file and:

Creates a license script around the program  with tools for users to request licenses

Looks at where support files should be located

Compiles the main program file

Creates an install/uninstall file that can be deployed to others computers

I hope it helps you and is of value with your projects.

Max Drake

CHAPTER 1. WHERE CAN YOU INSTALL FILES?

Introduction

The license script is like a car. You need to have the keys to unlock the car, then you can get in and drive it. All the car features are available, if you have the key to access them.

So too is a program license. We need to have lockable windows, doors etc. and only if you have the key can you run the program.

I want to go through the process of setting up some script to wrap around your developed script, so people can only use it if they have a license.

This is more of a practical chapter about sharing a program and getting paid for it.

The philosophy I’ve taken is:

The price will not be high for the program, so cost of trying to break the license code not really worth the effort if too complicated

Make it reasonably complicated to discourage people considering trying to crack the code

An off line registration (I do not want the computer to look for a license on a remote server, thereby requiring the user to be online to use the program)

I am specifically avoiding writing to Windows Registry- I want to avoid any errors that potentially could break the windows install and require users to re-instal their Operating System.  So a low risk install/uninstall process

You do not necessarily need to have admin privileges