Last Modified September 29, 2026
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- Offering Trials
With software_DNA you can securily offer Demo and Trial Versions of your software and distribute
your application widely across the Internet and Download sites allowing many users to
Try before they Buy your
application knowing your are fully protected against
piracy.
You can offer "limited feature" demos, "fully featured" trial versions, etc. with or without Evaluation License
Codes and with or without the capture of the user's email address, which can be used for follow-on Sales and
Marketing efforts. The following are some of the possible approaches:
| Limited Feature DEMO |
This option is straightforward and an easy trial
strategy to implement within your Application.
Whenever one of the DNA API calls returns an error code, you
run your application in DEMO mode, which offers whatever functionality you have decided would be
available in the DEMO mode.
If the user wants to access the full functionality, the user would need to
activate the software with a valid License Activation Code. Once activated, you can open up the full
functionality of the application.
|
| Full Featured Timed Trial - anonymous |
This option uses an Evaluation License
Code in order to control the expiry period and expiry date of the Trial and the
Evaluate Now method for
Evaluation License.
You set the <Expiry Period> as part of the
Product configuration.
The Evaluation License Code is generated in real-time and used to immediately activate
the software and locking it to the user's computer using a hardware based hash called the
<MachineID>. Since
the evaluation license will expire, you can confidently make available all the functionality of your application.
|
| Full Featured Timed Trial - with user email |
This option uses an
Evaluation License Code in order to control the expiry period and expiry date of the Trial, and the
Request
Evaluation Code method for Evaluation Licenses. The user needs to provide an email address to which the
Evaluation License Code will be sent.
|
API Calls for implementing Trials using Evaluation License Codes
If you decide to use Evaluation License Codes, you can set the expiration period to 1 to 60 days in the Product
Configuration screens. This is a product-wide setting by default, but you can change the expiration period for an
individual Evalution License Code from the Code View screens if required.
The following API calls are used:
DNA_EvaluateNow()
(DNA Library)
WEB_EvaluateNow()
(Activation API V1)
|
Will request the DNA Server to generate a random
Evaluation Code and immediately activate the software using the
<MachineID> of the user's computer. No Email
will be required from the user.
You would typically implement a button or menu selection in your application
for Evaluate.
The <MachineID> will be stored in the Evaluation License History and no other Evaluation License
Code will be issued for that <MachineID> for this product.
|
DNA_SendEvalCode()
(DNA Library)
WEB_SendEvalCode()
(Activation API V1)
|
Requires an email address as one of its parameters.
The DNA Server will generate an Evaluation License Code, reserve the code and issue an email to the address provided
containing the code.
The Code Generation settings of the product will be used when generating the Evaluation
License Code, including the expiry period.
The Email address will be stored in the Evaluation License
History and no other Evaluation License Code will be issued for that Email Address for this product
|
DNA_ProtectionOK()
(DNA Library) |
Requires a parameter indicating if the Evaluate Now or the
Request Eval Code method will be used.
The DNA_ProtectionOK() API will then display the appropriate button
during the activaiton process, capture the user's email address if required, and issue the
DNA_EvaluateNow() or DNA_SendEvalCode() API call
|
See Evaluation Codes and Evaluation History
for additional
information on the History and resetting the History of Evaluation Licenses.