Upgrading from Protection PLUS 4 SDK

Upgrading from Protection PLUS 4 SDK to Protection PLUS 5 SDK can be handled a number of different ways that vary based on your requirements, and the way this is handled is typically determined by the nature of how customers will upgrade the new version of your protected application.

Paid Upgrades

If your customers will be required to purchase an upgrade to the new version of your protected application, then your upgrade would most likely require the customer to activate the new version already. In this scenario, simply updating your application to use Protection PLUS 5 SDK is all that is typically necessary, as there is no need to avoid asking users to activate again. This is often the most convenient approach for upgrading from Protection PLUS 4 SDK to Protection PLUS 5 SDK, as it is an opportunity to gain what amounts to a fresh start with the protected application's license.

Modules, Features, and Free Upgrades

There are some different approaches to consider if the new version of your protected application fits any criteria similar to the following:

The new version of your application requires payment to upgrade while carrying-over features and modules that were activated previously.
The new version of your application is free and does not require payment if a customer's previously activated license is still valid.

Create a Utility Program

If the updated version of your protected application uses a writable license file, it is possible for you to automate the upgrade from the Protection PLUS 4 SDK license file to the Protection PLUS 5 SDK license file for your customers by creating a small utility program that runs during the installation of your application's update. Here is how this utility program would work using both Protection PLUS 4 SDK and Protection PLUS 5 SDK APIs:

First, use the Protection PLUS 4 SDK APIs to open and validate the old license file to ensure that it is authorized for the current computer. If the license is present and valid, then your utility program can proceed with the automatic upgrade to the new license file. Otherwise, it should skip the upgrade process so the new version of your application installs and initially runs the same way it would on a machine on which the previous version was not installed.
Next, look for the new license file to see if the customer has already installed or upgraded. This step is especially important if you are using a license that can be configured with additional features or modules for your application, where you might not want a user to accidentally overwrite the new version's license file when running the updated version's installer a second time. Of course, you would want to be careful to allow this to overwrite evaluation/trial licenses just in case customers used that before purchasing the upgrade to your new version. Furthermore, if your application does not offer extra complexities in its license such as additional features or modules, then this extra check might be moot, and you might find it acceptable to just always overwrite the new version's license in the case of an upgrade. You ultimately need to determine what is right for you, and you can always get help should you find the need for additional guidance.
Now that your utility program knows it is appropriate to proceed with the upgrade, the next step is to use the Protection PLUS 4 SDK APIs to read any relevant licensing information from the old license file and store it in memory. Once again, be mindful of how you would prefer to have things work in the case of evaluation licenses. For example, it may be ideal to skip the rest this upgrade process if the old license is an evaluation license, which could allow users to obtain a fresh evaluation of the new version.
The next logical step is for your utility program to use the Protection PLUS 5 SDK APIs to create the license file for the new version of the application, and store the data retrieved in the previous step as appropriate. This requires that you use a writable license file, and you will also need to authorize the current computer's system identifiers so your protected application does not require activation.
Finally, if you wish to allow users to run both the old version and the new version of your protected application, or if you want to allow users to downgrade to the previous version, then no further action is required. Otherwise, you can use the Protection PLUS 4 SDK APIs to remove or disable the old version's license from the system (which will cause it to require activate if the user downgrades to the previous version).

Require Activation

An alternative to creating a utility program is to require customers to activate the new version of your application. This has the benefit of being very simple, and allows you to upgrade from a Protection PLUS 4 SDK license file to a read-only Protection PLUS 5 SDK license file.You can allow customers to activate using their existing License ID and Password through SOLO Server; however, this does have a few potential drawbacks to consider...

It is possible that customers may have forgotten their password since purchasing. There is a way for customers to retrieve their passwords through SOLO Server's customer license portal, so this is an easy concern to address.
Any existing licenses being reused in this manner will need to have at least one additional activation left. Especially if you have a large number of licenses eligible for a free upgrade, it may be necessary to contact us for assistance with incrementing the number of activations left on licenses eligible for the upgrade.
Internet connectivity is usually required for activation (though it is possible to activate using a secondary computer or device with Internet connectivity). This could result in some additional support overhead if your customers do not generally have reliable connections.

It is also possible to leverage SOLO Server's shopping cart and rules engine to allow customer to acquire a free upgrade license only when they have a valid license for the previous version. However, there are fees associated with adding licenses like this when using our hosted SOLO Server, so please do not hesitate to contact us should you need any clarification on the cost associated with this option.