Regex Hero Blog

Awhile back I began working on an HTML5 / JavaScript version of Regex Hero . However, it was a huge undertaking essentially requiring a complete rewrite of the entire application. I have not had enough time to dedicate to this lately. So I've begun again, this time rewriting Regex Hero to work in WPF. It'll be usable in Windows 10 and downloadable from the Microsoft Store. This is a much easier task that also has the advantage of running the .NET regex library from the application itself. This will allow for the same speedy experience of testing your regular expressions and getting instant feedback that Regex Hero users have always enjoyed. I expect the first release to be ready in Q4 of 2019.

Regex Hero is now completely free!  I've been working on this tool off and on for the past 8 years. I spent a lot of time making it very powerful and easy for developers to create efficient regular expressions. Throughout most of this time it's been a paid product. However, with the added pressure of other free tools out there getting better all the time, I've finally decided to make Regex Hero free as well. Enjoy! Try Regex Hero at http://regexhero.net/tester/

As Firefox just dropped support for Silverlight I really needed a solution for Regex Hero. So I created an installer for it. It's still Silverlight, but by using the installer you can install it directly to your computer and never need to open it in a browser. If you visit regexhero.net/tester and don't have a browser that supports Silverlight (IE is the only one left), then you'll see download links for 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the installer. When you install it you'll see a link over on the right hand side that says "Activate Regex Hero". This process connects your desktop version of Regex Hero with your online account. So if you're a licensed user this is how you'll gain access to all of those licensed features. Note: Currently there will be a security warning when you try to run either one of these installers. I'm in the process of obtaining a code signing certificate and will update them as soon as possible. You may be wondering a...

In the next few months I'll be working on a JavaScript version of Regex Hero. The need to do this comes from the fact that Chrome has dropped support for Silverlight. It's also not supported by the new Microsoft Edge web browser. So the pressure is mounting. Forgive me for not doing something about this sooner. I've had a very busy and exciting year. Recently I moved to a new city and just a few weeks ago I got married. Nonetheless, my plans are to make Regex Hero better than ever and usable on more browsers and devices than ever. Fortunately, there now exists Javascript libraries that'll emulate the .NET framework (even the .NET Regex Class library). The Regex Class library is the main thing I really need to build Regex Hero in JavaScript. JavaScript wasn't an option 6 years ago when I first built Regex Hero in Silverlight. But now that it is, I'm excited about it. I will post updates on this blog as the new development progresses.

Windows Live Login A couple of customers have pointed out recently that the Windows Live Login on Regex Hero prompts you for access to your contacts. This wasn't intentional. I'm not actually using this contact information for anything. The code literally doesn't touch it. This will be addressed soon so you won't even see that prompt. Google OpenID The Google login I'm using is being phased out for an OpenAuth replacement. I will be interfacing with the new system soon. And the upgrade will be seamless for existing Google users. New Username and Password I've thought about this one for awhile. I would like to have the option for a username and password on the site. I was a relatively early adopter of OpenID back in 2009. And back then good standard login interfaces hadn't yet surfaced. Nowadays it's most common to see just a few options: Login with Google, Facebook, or Username and Password. Obviously I can't get rid of options that users a...

100% Accuracy Today I built an automated test so I can verify that the new regex recommendations engine is producing valid recommendations. In other words, I want to make sure that all of the recommended changes coming out of it do not affect the text that your regular expression matches. So I'm running the engine on about 2,000 regular expressions and target strings to verify its accuracy. I found a couple mistakes it was making and today's update takes care of that so we're up to 100% accuracy. Other recommendations I'm still working on making this feature better. And as I continue to expand on this functionality I want to also establish a concept of confidence with the recommendation engine. Thanks to today's test, I have 100% confidence in the recommendations that are in Regex Hero Professional today. But there are other recommendations I want to create that I couldn't possibly have such confidence in. For instance, there's the issue of capturing ...

This feature has been in the works for awhile now. I released a beta version of it a couple weeks ago. But today it's all grown up and available to users of Regex Hero Professional. It essentially analyzes your regular expression, finds common mistakes, and suggests performance improvements that won't affect your matching results. I just created a demo video of the new  Performance Recommendations Feature in action.