WinLicense > Licensing with WinLicense

Text keys is a more complex way to license an application, but it gives much transparency for the final user, who installs the license.

The problem with File or Registry keys is that for File keys, the final user needs to explicitly place the File key into the same folder as your protected application and for Registry keys, the user needs to double-click on a .reg file to insert the license information into the Registry.

To solve the above problems, WinLicense introduces Text keys. Text keys are given in ASCII format and give the developer the chance to create a Registration form in his application where the Text key can be introduced. The final user will insert the Text key in the Registration form and the developer will call the WinLicense SDK function WLRegNormalKeyCheck to check if the introduced Text key is correct.

Once that the Text key has been checked and it's correct, the developer can either insert the Text key as File key (calling WLRegNormalKeyInstallToFile) or as Registry key (calling WLRegNormalKeyInstallToRegistry). Notice that if you decide to install a Text key as File key, you have to enable the option "Single file" in the Registration panel and if you decide to install the Text key as Registry key, you have to enable the option "Registry" in the Registration panel.

Basically, what we are doing with Text keys is to avoid the final user to place a File key or a Registry key into a specific place, so you do all those steps from inside your application, giving the final user more transparency to register your applications.