A complete software protection system is formed by several key components.
License Manager
The SoftwareShield License Manager is a feature-rich, powerful editor for your licenses. It gives you complete control over what features you include in your license and how they should behave. The SoftwareShield License Manager assists you during development with a variety of features and functions; from automating tasks such as COM server registration and un-registration to writing sample code for your projects to help you get started. The License Manager comes with all editions of SoftwareShield.
Run-Time Components
The SoftwareShield ClientProtector™ component is a cross-platform COM server that can be used in exactly the same way from any high level language. The ClientProtector™ provides a rich interface for your applications to manipulate and control your licenses. The ClientProtector itself does all the work of enforcing your license terms based on a sophisticated set of enforcement logic. The ClientProtector then feeds back the result of this work to your applications so they can take appropriate action. The ClientProtector™ comes with all editions of SoftwareShield.
Diagnostic Tools
To assist your software teams during development and maintenance, the SoftwareShield system comes with a variety of tools. Most of these tools are integrated into the License Manager. However, you also get the SoftwareShield FingerPrint Viewer.
The FingerPrint Viewer is a utility program that allows you to inspect intermediate and final FingerPrint values. Its features are also available internally in the License Manager, but used as a stand-alone application (FingerPrintViewer.exe) it can be run on any machine - even where the SoftwareShield SDK is not installed. This allows you to take the program into the field at a customers location if you need to field test or in some cases pre-configure a copy-protected license, or quickly test a variety of machine configurations in your testing process. The FingerPrint Viewer comes with all editions of SoftwareShield.
Activation Code Generators
To control your licensed applications after you have deployed them - you will use Activation Codes. In the simplest sense, an Activation Code "unlocks" your application. However, SoftwareShield is much more powerful than that. Activation Codes have a variety of features built in to them (such as "shelf-life" or "single-use") as well as potentially being the carriers of the client computers FingerPrint - and more.
To generate these Activation Codes, you must use an Activation Code Generator. There are two Activation Code Generators that ship with SoftwareShield:
1. The SoftwareShield Manual-Activator™ which is a simple desktop application that you can use to "manually" generate Activation Codes for your clients. It has powerful features that enable you to see what the client has requested, and fine tune how your Activation Code will be configured to respond. The Manual-Activator™ comes with all editions of SoftwareShield.
2.The SoftwareShield Web-Activator™ which is a Windows CGI web server executable that you deploy on the web for a completely hands-off solution. This allows you to automatically generate Activation Codes for your clients behind your purchasing sub-system - completely automated. The Web-Activator™ only comes with the Internet Edition of SoftwareShield.
