Review: HTML to AnyCode

Shareware was never one of my favourite groups of software because I always had to find a new replacement application when the 15 day trial expired. Occasionally though a piece of software comes along which seems indispensable and even the guy who hasn't paid for the last dozen pieces of software he has got, despite the fact he should, we shell out for a good bit of shareware.

Why? Because some applications really are good. The piece of software that got my digging deep (although it's a phase seen as shareware is almost always very well priced) was Exactcom's HTML to AnyCode Converter. Allowing you to insert HTML click a button and have it translated into a different language without all the complications of you having to work out how to change and update it as well as risking missing something and causing your new script to go horribly wrong.

It's a very simple application, once launched it has a title image and 3 tabs below this in which control all its function. Clicking the first tab allows you to enter your code and the language you want it to be converted to. You can also load in a source file in which will then automatically populate the code box for you - just in case you are too lazy to cut and paste; a problem which often haunts me.

One click on the convert button and suddenly your code has been transformed into the language of your choice, the default being JavaScript. The code is even wrapped in <script> tags so you can copy and paste straight into your page. These are automatically removed if you save the file so you can immediately include it into your page.

A nice help tabs also backs up the application with some information on how to use the application, how to register it, about Exactcom and contact details if you are having any problems with it - their support is good too. There is a final tab for registering the application though this disappears once done.

Although the default pages which the open file looks for are .htm and .html, all formats can be selected and imported. The code is rich text too so all your code is fully colour coded - it might be the next step up from Notepad as a web editor. It seems that they have thought of everything!

The only one complaint I would have against it is the image at the top still has a big "Buy it now!" slogan on despite the fact that I purchased and registered it many moons ago. That's not really a problem though and if they happen to change it in later versions; I have free upgrades for life so I am not worried. Free upgrades are another good reason for shareware - most applications come with it.

Twice I have asked them for support and both times I got a prompt response. The first was when I lost my registration code (wasn't my fault, well, maybe a little bit) and the second time was one of their new versions had an error in the JavaScript output, which the solved and made a new version available in around a day. Should you be worried that there was an error? I don't think so, after all its shareware not a huge corporate developing the software, and free upgrades mean all bug fixes are yours.

Though its functions are not huge I find them very useful - I have used it for around a year now and I have hardy ever used it for anything other than converting my HTML text into JavaScript - long story which I will tell shortly. I have hardy scratched the surface of the conversions to ASP, PHP, Perl and JSP.

My main use for the application is for stories on one of my websites. Back in the olden days when I was getting started with Microsoft Access I did not know how to fit all my HTML in a text field with a maximum character amount of 255 - luckily for Exactcom I had not discovered the memo field type and so my solution was to convert the stories into JavaScript, give them a file named based on their ID in the database and include them dynamically that way.

That made HTML to AnyCode Converter vital to my operation though - but that doesn't make it vital to yours. Exactcom make some great software and HTML to AnyCode is the best converter around. But the use of converting code is not a wide market. Overall, if you need converting done then this software is the only buy. But if you don't need this function then it's a product you will sadly not want to register.