There are two steps to using the SoftwareShield Web-Activator in conjunction with a payment processing merchant (or your own merchant account) to activate your software. This section describes an example of step 1. (Step 2 is covered in Example Web-Activator Middle-Layer HTML) A diagram at the bottom of this page illustrates the flow of control. As mentioned, if you process your own payments, then your payment processing system must perform this step.

In the "samples\HTML" directory (normally under <program files>\SoftwareShield\samples\HTML) you will find the sample file "PostToMerchant.htm". This is a working code sample. The HTML contains valuable additional information.

The sample HTML shows the flow between steps 1 and 2 below:

1. Your user initiating a purchase at your web-site (diagram step 1)

2. A merchant services provider or your own payment processing system processing the transaction. (diagram step 1)

3. The Web-Activator receiving a request for an Activation Code.  (diagram step 2)

4. The Web-Activator remitting an Activation Code back to you or your merchant.  (diagram step 3)

5. The final Activation Code delivered to the user. (diagram step 4)

PostToMerchant.htm shows how you might gather the Authorization Request Code from your user, pre-assemble it in the "GenCode" parameter format, and post it to a merchant who will process your customers payment.

The example shows just one possible way to assemble the GenCode parameter. It could easily be done using ASP or ASP.NET or other server side code. For simplicity, the sample illustrates how you might assemble the parameter using javascript. This allows you to test the example even if you are not actively running a web-server on your localhost.