Stand Alone Applications - Unlock Code

[warrenk]

I created a Stand Alone Application and am looking at setting up a trial version (limited function) with a unlock code for the full version. I have a few questions:

Are there any tutorials or articles on how to do this?

Do developers usually create an algorithim based off the the user name?

When a user enters the correct unlock code, how is this stored so the user doesn't have to re-enter the unlock code everytime they use the software?

Also...I read about password protected stacks. What is this and when is this used?

Thanks for any help!
Warren

[FourthWorld]

Hello Warren -

Welcome aboard.

For where to store the files, the specialFolderPath function is your friend. I store reg into in Preferences on Mac and Application Data on Windows, e.g.:

Code: Select all

if the platform is "MacOS" then
   put specialFolderPath("preferences") into tPath
else
   put specialFolderPath(26) into tPath
end if
put "/MyApp/prefs.dat" after tPath

"What's 26?"

Each OS provides constants for special folders like "Applications", "Application Data", etc. Rev provides constants for some of these like "preferences", "desktop", etc., but there are more. Many more. Ken Ray took the time to test them all and documented his findings in this extraordinarily useful tip:
http://sonsothunder.com/devres/revoluti ... ile010.htm

I don't create my reg codes based on user info, but some do and that method is considered somewhat more secure. I have distributors so, like Adobe and others I use reg codes pre-generated without user info.

The scripts in a stack can be protected by password, so that anyone who drops the app on a raw binary editor won't be able to read your scripts. There's a setting for this in Rev's Standalone Maker, but you can also do this via script:

Code: Select all

set the password of stack "MyStack" to "password"

To edit scripts just set the passkey:

Code: Select all

set the passkey of stack "MyStack" to "password"

Note that setting a password for a stack protects the scripts in that stack only. To protect substacks within the stack file you'll want to set the password for each.

[SparkOut]

Mark is obviously too modest to have mentioned that the topic of registrations would be coming up in the RevUp newsletter:

http://www.runrev.com/newsletter/septem ... W57S445981

[FourthWorld]

Nice article, Mark - good work!

[Mark]

Hi Richard,

Thanks, I'm glad you like the article. Part II should become available soon.

Best,

Mark