jocelyntremblay.comHi,
In the application I'm building, I do not want to give any trial - at least, no now. However, I plan to give to people that ask, a trialExtension.
Now, as I don't want to include a "try me" button, as to not have people see that there is trial offered. I would like people that got a trialExtension serial, to use the same process as activation. So they'll first click on activate, and enter their trialExtension in the serial text box.
As the activation and online trialExtension both use a 34 number serial, and neither use the same function call to TurboActivate.dll, is there any difference between a trialExtension serial and an activation serial so that I can parse the serial and call the corresponding function? Anything like a specific number at a specific place, or whatsover ?
Thanks
Hey Jocelyn,
Trial extensions are not serials. They look like them, but they're not. Trial extensions can be re-used, cloned, and a dozen other problems.
Serials, on the other hand, can only be activated on a single computer (if you set the activation limit to 1). (See: How hardware-locked licensing works)
jocelyntremblay.comHi Sam,
Thanks. I'm not looking for the functional differences between a trialExtension code and Activation code, but the differences about the actual numbers of those codes.
For marketing reason, I don't want people to know that there is a trial mode - available only with a trialExtension code. So I don't want a trial button, box or whatsoever in my software. People that got a trialextension code, will just click activate, enter this trialextension code.
Under the hood, I want to parse the entered code - is it a trialExtension or an activation code - and from there I will feed it to TurboActivate. I could always to 2 calls with the entered code, one as is it a valid trialExtension code ? No ? Let's try it as an activation code. But it is not an elegant solution.
Also, is there any checksum I can do to pre-validate a code so if the code could actually be a good code, the OK button will be enabled ? Or is it something that is kept secret ?
Thanks
The best way to do what you're looking for is to just use product keys. Create a license feature like "trial_expires" as a Date/Time value (and uncheck "Required"). Then you can activate it like a regular serial number, and check if it's a trial key or a regular key by using GetFeatureValue("trial_expires"). You can also use IsDateValid() to determine if the date has expired or not.
Does that make sense?
jocelyntremblay.comThanks Wyatt,
From your answer, I understand that there is no difference in the way you generate the trial codes of the activation code.
Your solution, would work. However I think it will a little bit harder to manage activated user with user that got a trial.
I think I got a solution. As the trial extension code are not sended directly by your system - I will add some code at the end of the trial extension code, for example -TRL8. That way, my application will recognize it as a trialExtension, will trim off this extra code, and forward it to turboactivate as a trialExtension code.
mcnamaraThanks Wyatt,
From your answer, I understand that there is no difference in the way you generate the trial codes of the activation code.
Your solution, would work. However I think it will a little bit harder to manage activated user with user that got a trial.
I think I got a solution. As the trial extension code are not sended directly by your system - I will add some code at the end of the trial extension code, for example -TRL8. That way, my application will recognize it as a trialExtension, will trim off this extra code, and forward it to turboactivate as a trialExtension code.
This is a good idea, I will use it in my app. However, it would be nice if it was possible to differentiate between those two.
