Selecting a Solution

Application Characteristics

The SoftwareKey System^tm is a large, flexible system, which makes a great deal of options available in order to provide the best solutions possible for simple licensing needs, complex licensing needs, and everything in between. If you find that selecting the correct solution is confusing or overwhelming, contact us for guidance. Otherwise, the first step is to identify some key characteristics of your application, which you can accomplish by answering some or all of the questions below. If you are not a developer, then this is something you can send to your developer(s) to get answered.

Is the application a .NET/managed application (written with C# or VB.NET), or an application written in native code (such as C/C++).
What is the nature of the application which needs to be licensed? For example, is it a standard Windows GUI application, component, service, web application, etc...?
How critical is security and integrity of the license?
How critical is the availability of your application to its users? This can impact decisions on how or when to prompt and/or lock-out users when license validation fails.

In addition to the questions above, it is also helpful (and often necessary) to know your application's licensing requirements to select the most appropriate solution.

Instant Protection PLUS 3

Protection PLUS 5 SDK offers robust application programming interfaces (APIs), which are typically simple to use. However, Instant Protection PLUS 3 is an alternative which provides a wizard-based interface, and requires little to no source code changes. You should consider Instant Protection PLUS 3 under the following conditions:

The application is a standard Windows GUI application (or is not a service or web application, and is not a component that should not show Windows GUI dialogs).
The application does not have many or any requirements which would require a customized implementation.
The application does not need to support volume licensing.
The application does not need access to highly customized license data (such as custom string or XML formatted data).
The application is a native application (written in C/C++), a .NET/managed application, or consists of a mix of both native and managed code.
The application licensing dialogs do not need to be customized, and do not need to support UNICODE characters.

Protection PLUS 5 SDK

If Instant Protection PLUS 3 does not suit your needs as described above, or if you simply prefer more control, one of the Protection PLUS 5 SDK application programming interfaces (APIs) is the best choice.

Selecting the Correct Edition(s)

Protection PLUS 5 SDK offers many editions to choose from, and the edition(s) you need will vary based on what language (or combination of languages) you use to write your application(s), and what platforms you need to support.

Edition	Designed for...
.NET Edition	.NET Framework (2.0 or later) or Mono (2.8 or later) applications (written in C#, Visual Basic .NET, etc...) that run in Windows, macOS, Linux. Note that this does not include mobile or embedded device support.
Native Edition for Windows	Native applications (writen in C/C++, Delphi, etc...), or applications that can call native C APIs,/Dynamic Link Libraries (*.dll files), that run in 32 bit (x86) and 64 bit (x64) versions of Windows.
Native Edition for macOS	Native applications (written in C/C++, Delphi, Objective C, Swift, etc...), or applications that can call native C APIs/Dynamic Libraries (*.dylib files), that run in macOS.
Native Edition for Linux	Native applications (written in C/C++, Delphi, etc...), or applications that can call native C APIs/Shared Object libraries (*.so files), that run in 32 bit (x86) and 64 bit (x64) versions of Linux.
LabVIEW Edition	LabVIEW 2014 or later applications that run in 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) versions of Windows, macOS, or Linux.
Java Edition	Java 7 or later applications that run in 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) versions of Windows, macOS, or Linux. Java 7 or later applications that run in Arm32 and Arm64 versions of Linux. Java 7 or later applications that run in Apple silicon (Arm64) versions of macOS.
Android Edition	Android applications that run in Android 6.0 or later that run on 32 bit ARMv7, 64-bit ARMv8, x86, or x64 devices.
ARM Edition	Native applications (written in C/C++, Delphi, etc...), or applications that can call native C APIs/Shared Object libraries (*.so files), that run in 32 bit (ARMv7) and 64 bit (ARMv8) versions of Linux.

If you still are not sure what edition(s) may be right for you, contact us. Likewise, contact us if you do not see an item listed above that fits your requirements (e.g. you use another language, platform, architecture), as we may still be able to fulfill your licensing needs.

Understanding the APIs

Once you have acquired the correct edition(s), you can then begin reviewing the samples for the APIs (described below) that apply to you.

PLUSManaged

If your application is written using the .NET Framework (C# or Visual Basic .NET), then PLUSManaged is the rich, object-oriented, fully managed API designed for you. This applies to Protection PLUS 5 SDK .NET Edition.

PLUSManaged for .NET Standard

If your .NET application is written using the .NET Framework, .NET Core, Xamarin, Mono or Universal Windows Platform (C# or Visual Basic .NET), then PLUSManaged for .NET Standard is the rich, object-oriented, fully managed API designed for you. This applies to Protection PLUS 5 SDK .NET Edition.

PLUSManagedGui

Creating user interfaces to allow users to manage your application licenses involves design, development, and testing. PLUSManagedGui is a fully managed, .NET component that provides you with an easy-to-use, pre-built GUI that you can simply plug right into your applications. PLUSManagedGui is designed for use with applications that use PLUSManaged and are built on or able to use System.Windows.Forms GUIs (PLUSManagedGui is not designed to be integrated into services or web applications directly). This applies to Protection PLUS 5 SDK .NET Edition.

PLUSNative

If your application is anything other than a .NET application, or is written in a language which can make calls to shared/dynamic-link libraries, then PLUSNative is the API designed for your needs. This applies to Protection PLUS 5 SDK Native, LabVIEW, Java, and Android Editions.