A Pre-Condition is only applicable to a Deactivate License Authorization Definition. It is a reference to another (different) Authorization Definition in the license which must have already been activated (have an Activated state of true) before the Deactivate License can even be requested.

If a Pre-Condition is specified, it simply is a reference to an Authorization ID in the same license. The Authorization Definition corresponding to this ID must be activated before the license can be deactivated. This will prevent the Deactivation Confirmation Code from being generated unless that other specific Authorization Definition has its activated state set to true.

This allows you to be sure that the machine for which the license was deactivated had already been "activated" at least once.

For example: You use Copy-Protection on your license. A customer pays you and you give them an Activation Code to release the copy-protection. A few months later, they call in for a new Activation Code because they bought a new machine. You want to be sure they have deactivated their old machine first - so you ask them to go to your programs "move license dialog" that you have programmed using the old machine. There, a button you have programmed calls the "RequestDeactivation" function on the ClientProtector. The ClientProtector will (among other things) fire an event back to your program OnAttemptDeactivate. You can use this to give the user a last warning. If they agree, the ClientProtector will check that the pre-condition is met. You have set the pre-condition to be the Authorization ID for Release Copy Protection. As long as it was released on this machine - a Deactivation Confirmation Code will be given back to the user through your program. They communicate this to you and you enter it into the Manual-Activator confirming that indeed - their machine for which they were already activated was deactivated. You give them a new Activation Code for the new machine confident that they still only have one working copy of your program.

You may only specify a single Authorization ID for a Pre-Condition.

More Information

For help on understanding the Deactivate License Authorization Definition, see Deactivate License Authorization Definition in this Feature Guide.

For help in understanding the activated state of an Authorization Definition see, Authorization Definition Activation in this Feature Guide.

For help in actually setting the Pre-Condition of a Deactivate License Authorization Definition, see Setting An Authorization Definitions Pre-Condition in the SoftwareShield License Manager Reference.