Hi
Firstly please excuse the disgusting length of this post, and thanks
to those that read it all!!
I read with interest everyone who has replied to my earlier posts,
so thanks everyone!
I must admit however to being confused over some issues,
particularly register keys, possibly as the conflicting information
regards different OSs and environments?
Can I just clarify some issues?
The app I am working on is intended to be installed by Network
Support staff in colleges and used by teachers. The app is a `try
before you buy' that functions for 21 days before requiring a
code to license it. When the app is first run, if no key is present,
it generates a code that will expire in 21 days, that code is then
saved in the newly created registry key. We can then use the OnGuard
components to generate a code that uses the school name as a
modifier, that maybe used to `unlock' the trial version by a
user.This may not be hacker proof but is a deterrent for most
colleges, at least the ones I've worked in!
The users rarely have anything except basic privileges and would
certainly NOT be admin. The networks maybe anything from win98
onwards. I was assuming that the easiest way for network staff to
install my app would be as a package and assigning it to groups of
users if the OS had ASD. This I believe would result in the app
being installed locally when it was used by the teachers. I have yet
to consider other OSs.
In this scenario what register keys could my app use? Would it be
able to use anything in HKEY_CURRENT_USER and/or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE?
It has also occurred to me that if the app is installed locally and
I store the release key in the registry that it would require
licensing by each person using the software or on each machine that
it is used on (depending on registry key?).
I would prefer that my app could be licensed by anyone using it for
the entire site. However, I'm unsure of how to write my code to
achieve this.
The above assumption and associated problem has made me consider
suggesting that the software is installed on a shared drive, with
shortcuts being placed on the users desktops. Rather than storing
the release code in the registry, it could be stored in an ini file
in the apps folder. This however makes it really easy for people to
delete the ini file that would result in my app thinking it was
being run for the first time and giving another 21 days trial.
So how about this:
look for a registry key
if the reg key is not there then
// the app hasn't been run on this machine before
begin
create the reg key
if the ini file exists then
read and use code
else
begin
generate a release code that will expire in 21 days from now
create ini file
store code in ini file
end
else // the key is in the registry so the app has run before
begin
try to read and use the code stored in the ini file,
end
The incoreect code or a missing code would then result in the trial
ending.
Hmmm my heads spinning but that seems to be sound in my mind.
Any comments appreciated.
Thanks for reading down to here! ;)
Pete
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