License Features in Trial mode

Hey Shan,

Although trial extensions look a lot like product keys, they are very different beasts. The product keys, when activated using TurboActivate, are hardware-locked -- that is, they can only be used on that physical hardware. Trial extensions are not hardware locked.

So, you can do this a few ways.

Continue to use trials / trial extensions

The first option is to hard-code some default feature values for when a customer is in "trial mode". This is the easiest option.

Use product keys for trials

If you want more flexibility (different trial levels with different features enabled) then the only real option is to use regular product keys. You can mark the product keys as "trial keys" by creating a custom license feature like "is_trial" or "trial_expires" and only set it for your trial keys.

Then you can set other trial-specific features.

Does this help?

Hi Wyatt,

looks like the second option you suggested is the only solution at this point. Hardcoding default values is not an option for us. Here is one use case where we use Custom License Feature.

Since Flash/Flex swf's can be decompiled very easily, we encrypt the swf and use a preloader to load them. The key for decryption is not stored locallly. We could use Custom License Feature to get the key at the time of activation and use the key to decrypt. The issue here is, this is not possible in the case of Trial mode, since License Feature values are not sent to the product. Any idea if this can be achieved with out using the Product keys like you suggested.

ThanksShan

Any idea if this can be achieved with out using the Product keys like you suggested.

No, it can't. You'll have to use product keys. The trial extension system wasn't built for feature data. However, regular product keys should fit your needs perfectly. Plus you simplify the purchase process -- you can just clear a "trial_expires" feature for their product key and they'll be immediately using the full version.

Does that make sense?