- Basics
- Getting started with LimeLM
- Types of software licensing
- What are Activations & Deactivations?
- How hardware-locked licensing and online activation works
- How to switch your licensing to LimeLM, TurboActivate, and TurboFloat
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
- Adding users to manage your LimeLM account
- Custom license fields
- Extra activation data
- Using TurboActivate
- Timed trials in your app
- Basics for TurboFloat (floating licenses)
- TurboFloat Server
- Using TurboFloat
- Advanced
- Account security
- Offline activation
- How to generate product keys after an order
- SaaS and time-limited licensing
- Proxies in TurboActivate
- Licensing multiple products per process
- Licensing from inside a virtual machine or hypervisor
- Web API
- LimeLM web API functions
- Overview
- Encoding
- Response Formats
- REST
- JSON
- feature
- add
- delete
- edit
- getAll
- pkey
- activity
- advancedSearch
- deactivate
- delete
- find
- generate
- getDetails
- getID
- manualActivation
- manualDeactivation
- removeTag
- revoke
- setDetails
- setTags
- prod
- getAll
- create
- createVers
- changeName
- editVers
- tag
- delete
- test
- echo
- trial
- advancedSearch
- manualVerifiedTrial
- trialExtension
- delete
- generate
- getDetails
- getID
- search
Getting started with LimeLM
This tutorial will get you up and running with LimeLM. In this walkthrough we'll cover how to signup to LimeLM, create your first product, integrate TurboActivate with your product, and integrating web API with your order processing.
In short, you'll learn everything you need to know about adding both timed trials and professional licensing to your products.
Signing up
The first step is to sign up to LimeLM. Each plan has a 30-day free trial. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel your account at any time. The signup is so short it takes under a minute:
After you've signed up you'll see your dashboard. This is where you add your first product.
Create your first product
On your dashboard click the big "Create new product" link:
On the "new product page" enter all the values for the first product to which you'll be adding licensing:
Note: If you don't have this information finalized yet, don't worry — just enter your temporary values. You can change all of these values later.
Adding TurboActivate to your product
TurboActivate is what you use to add licensing, online/offline activation, and timed trials to your app. It comes in 2 pieces:
The TurboActivate library (TurboActivate.dll on Windows, libTurboActivate.dylib on Mac, libTurboActivate.so on Unix)
The TurboActivate wizard (TurboActivate.exe on Windows)
The TurboActivate library is required. However, the TurboActivate wizard (shown on the right) is completely optional. If you want to create your own user interface for getting the product key and activating, then simply use the TurboActivate library.
Here are some tutorials on how to use TurboActivate:
- Using TurboActivate with Adobe AIR
- Using TurboActivate with C#
- Using TurboActivate with C, C++, & Objective-C
- Using TurboActivate with Delphi
- Using TurboActivate with Go
- Using TurboActivate with NodeJS or Electron
- Using TurboActivate with Java
- Using TurboActivate with Python
- Using TurboActivate with Xojo (Real Studio / Real Basic)
- Using TurboActivate with Visual Basic 6 (VB6)
- Using TurboActivate with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
- Using TurboActivate with Visual Basic .NET
If you're making a Mac OS X or Linux app, you should also check out these articles:
You can also integrate TurboActivate within your installer:
- Using TurboActivate with Inno Setup
- Using TurboActivate with NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System)
Need to integrate TurboActivate with another language and you're not sure how? Ask us on the forum.
How to add trials to your app
In addition to licensing and online activation, LimeLM fully support timed trials. Timed trials can be used within your application to allow prospective customers to try your application for a limited time.
The timed trial has tamper protection and isn't reset on re-installation of your app. Plus, if your user needs more time to try your app, you can generate a trial extension and send it to your user.
In short, you can offer trials to your customers without worrying about the details. Learn how to add timed trials to your app.
Product keys & license fields
Generating product keys is simple. Simply click the "Make a product key" link on the sidebar:
After you've clicked that link you be presented with the new product key screen:
When you create new product keys you can:
Associate an email for quick searching later.
Set the number of times the product key can be activated. You can increase or decrease the number later based on new orders, etc.
Add any custom license field data.
License fields are custom fields you can add when you generate product keys. After the user has activated, you can read the custom field values within your app.
You can use these fields to limit parts of your app, license individual components, time-limit your app or parts of it, etc. There are no bounds to what you can do with license fields.
Learn more about custom license fields.
How to integrate the licensing within your company
Use the web API to integrate licensing within all of your companies processes. Some of the things you can do with the web API:
Automate your order processes — creating new product keys the moment an order is validated.
Change license fields, the number of activations, and all product key details on the fly.
Let your users find lost licenses using just their email.
Create trial extensions.
Create a self-serve offline activation form for users with limited internet connections.
Plus, to simplify development, we have examples written for PHP, C#, and VB.NET showing various uses of the LimeLM web API. And because our API is completely open, you can integrate LimeLM web API no matter what language you use.
- All available web API functions.
- Get the LimeLM Web API Pack (C#, VB.NET, and PHP). (Requires login).