A Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definition changes the expire period of a license which uses an expire period to a new duration (in days). The duration is sent implicitly as a parameter. Any already used time for an expiring license is also reset to zero.

Once activated, the expire period duration will be changed to the new duration and the remaining time will be reset to the full expire period specified. IE: The license will start from zero days used. Note that if the license uses an execution limit as well, the execution count is not re-set to zero.

For example: If you define an expiring license that uses an expire period of 60 days and the user uses the program for 50 days, the remaining time left for your application before it expires is 10 days. If you then issue a Change Expire Period Duration Activation Code (with a parameter of 365 days) to that customer, as soon as they enter it and the ClientProtector processes it as valid - the expire period will be changed from 60 to 365, the remaining time left for the license will also be reset to 365 days.

Note that all three types of expiration can be active at the same time (Hard Date, Expire Period, Execution Limit). A license expires whichever comes soonest. Be careful that you only use the type(s) of expiration you need, or else you will find that your licenses expire when you do not expect them to.

The Activation Code that is generated for a Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definition does give you the option of using a Shelf-Life. The resulting Activation Code must be used within the shelf-life after the date it has been issued, or the code itself will expire and will cease to work. Note you can override the shelf-life you defined when you created the license at the time you generate an Activation Code with the Manual-Activator.

The Activation Code that is generated for a Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definition is a "single-use" code by default. If single-use is enabled, generated Activation Codes can only be used once. However, note that you may reissue it to the same customer on another day, and the code will be different (due to the embedded shelf-life date) and therefore may be used by the customer. You have the option of turning off single-use when you define your license, but do not have the option of overriding it later.

Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definitions do require a parameter to be sent (implicitly). The parameter will be the new expire period duration.

Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definitions can only be used as a payload for a Design-Time Composite Authorization Definition. You may not use a Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definition for a Run-Time Composite payload.

When To Use A Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definition

Create a Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definition if you have a license that you want to have a brief trail period after which you want to convert to a "leased model". This is an excellent way to provide a short trial for potential customers that you can easily convert to a yearly lease fee. This ensures that the customer stays up-to-date if they are required to pay you a periodic fee (monthly or yearly for example). A demo license could be set to an expire period of 30 days. Potential customers can try it out. If they wish to purchase a years worth of use from you, you issue a Change Expire Period Duration Activation Code to change it to 1 year and reset its used days to zero. Then once a year, if they have paid their bill, you issue them a Reset Expire Period Activation Code and their expire period is reset for a new year (See: Reset Expire Period Authorization Definition). Or, if they wish to change their lease agreement with you to a different period, you can issue a new Change Expire Period Duration Activation code with a new period embedded in its parameter.

Create a Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definition if you have a license that you potentially want to change the expire period duration. You do not have to decide at design time what you wish to change it to - this can be decided at run-time.

More Information

For help in understanding expiring license features, see Expiring Licenses in this feature reference.

For help in actually creating a Change Expire Period Duration Authorization Definition, please see Authorization Definition Dialog in the SoftwareShield License Manager Reference.

For help in actually setting expiration in your licenses, see Expiration Tab in the SoftwareShield License Manager Reference.