Nag Screens

[RichardKnox]

I have recently finished my first program and am wanting to know how to incorporate a "Nag" screen into this program to request from the user a donation towards future developments.

I dont want to create crippleware, just the screen that pops-up at the start of the program if it is not registered.

Thanks,

Richard

[BackWoodsCoder]

You could create a setting in my settings that's changed only if the user is registered with you. If the setting = false, then display a splash screen/form/messagebox when your application starts.

[RichardKnox]

So should the Nag Screen be the "Startup Form", determine if this is a registered product and proceed?

Or should I have the "Startup Form" be my Main Menu, which queries upon loading whether this is a registered product or not?

Thanks

[techgnome]

So should the Nag Screen be the "Startup Form", determine if this is a registered product and proceed? - no

Or should I have the "Startup Form" be my Main Menu, which queries upon loading whether this is a registered product or not? - yes

Thanks

At least that's how I'd handle it.

-tg

[Siddharth Rout]

@Richard: Would your program be be based on online registration or offline?

[RichardKnox]

I have added a Splash Screen to my app, so that it comes up just prior to the Nag screen and I was adjusting the wait time with this statement in the ApplicationEvents.vb

Protected Overrides Function OnInitialize( _
ByVal commandLineArgs As _
System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String) _
) As Boolean
' Set the display time to 5000 milliseconds (5 seconds).
Me.MinimumSplashScreenDisplayTime = 5000
Return MyBase.OnInitialize(commandLineArgs)
End Function

But, I keep getting an error message.

Statement is not valid in a namespace.

Not sure whats going wrong.

[RichardKnox]

@Richard: Would your program be be based on online registration or offline?

Offline. I would allow the user a 15 day trial, then a Nag screen would appear afterwards appealing to their compassionate nature to donate.

I would then have then give me info and then provide them with a unique key.

[Siddharth Rout]

[Off Topic]

How are you checking for whether your program is registered or not? Nag screens can be easily hacked so that they are not displayed any more....

[/Off Topic]

[RichardKnox]

[Off Topic]

How are you checking for whether your program is registered or not? Nag screens can be easily hacked so that they are not displayed any more....

[/Off Topic]

Haven't gotten that far. I have a database within my program that is password protected, so maybe once they input the correct information and serial number, I will locate it within there and use that to check.

[stanav]

If you have a DB, you could store the 1st run date in it and use that to determine whether or not to display the nag screen on later application launches. I'd have a simple table with 2 columns: firstrun (date), registered (boolean). When your application start, query the DB for any records in this table. If there is none, you know this is the 1st run, and you would insert a record to that table using the current date, and set registered to false. If there is a record returned (should never have more than 1 record returned), you test the registered field and if it's false, you subtract the current dateby the firstrun date to the current date to see if the elapsed time has exceeded your trial time and show your nag screen accordingly. When your user register the software, you set the registered field to true so that the nag screen will not be shown again.

[Smartacus]

I would use the registry for storing the GUID and determining if the App is registered. Harder to hack.

[Smartacus]

Do your countdown from there also

[7777]

Also off topic, dont use a boolean for Isregistered, thats bad practice. Then again pretty much anything can be reversed engineered and disabled/enabled. You might have better luck with a donate button on your main form that stares them in the face... Good Luck =)

[RichardKnox]

I plan on using the database method for keeping track of the first run date, but any suggestions on how I should set this up in the database?? My database keeps track of both date & time, Im just worried about the date, I dont want the time to be come an issue in this method, or something I need to also be worried about in my coding.