This tutorial will show you how to configure a product that can be sold through an eCommerce solution that supports subscription payments, such as FastSpring. The integrated eCommerce solution will communicate to SOLO Server to create a license when a customer starts a new subscription, and it will notify SOLO Serverif a recurring subscription payment fails.
As long as the customer is successfully making their scheduled payments, their license will remain valid. If a payment fails or if the customer cancels their subscription, the integrated eCommerce provider can notify SOLO Server so that the license can be voided. Once your application validates with SOLO Server and sees the voided status, it will disable use of the software.
You will need a Product Option configured in SOLO Server. If you have not set up a product in SOLO Server yet, please refer to the SOLO Server manual under the section Adding a Product and Product Option.
The Product Option needs to use a Trigger Code # that is non-expiring, such as Trigger Code 1. You would not use Trigger Code 10 or Trigger Code 11 in this case. Only the local license file is non-expiring, which is why you must configure the Instant Protection PLUS 3 wizard settings to periodically validate with SOLO Server to enforce an expiration (see the next section).
In the Instant Protection PLUS 3 wizard, your project will need to use the following settings on these steps:
To enforce the expiration of a license in this scenario, your application must validate with SOLO Server. The Validate with server every Y days option will fail silently, but the Require validation every M days option must be met, otherwise it will disable use of the software until it is able to validate with SOLO Server. If you don't require validation, it would be possible for a customer to block connection to SOLO Server, and then your application would have no way of knowing if the licensed has been voided.
While you can potentially integrate with a variety of eCommerce solutions, an integration is currently available with FastSpring. You can view the SOLO Server manual topic on Configuring FastSpring, which includes instructions on automatically voiding a license in SOLO Server once a subscription has been canceled in FastSpring.
If you have questions about integrating with another eCommerce solution, please contact us.