protect dll with license key

[alexis23]

Hi,

how can i protect my dll with a license key, i already have my licensing scheme but i dont know where to put it.

thanks,

Alexis

[tsungik]

This is what I do if i'll implement this.
Create a private function to validate the license key.

From the public functions of your DLL, call the private function to check if the user has a valid license key. Of course, provide the user a property where they can input the license key or any mechanism to enter the key.

Just my one cent.

[alexis23]

Hi,

where can i place the property for the license key, do you any sample code? please. thanks, i already have my licensing scheme, but i just don't know where to place the validation of the license key in my assemblies.

Thanks,

[formlesstree4]

He just told you where to place it. You place the validating sub/function inside the dll file, call it from the main application, and see if it is valid or not. If the key fails to pass through the dll, error out the program.

[kleinma]

when you say you have a "licensing scheme" is this some customer scheme you made, or some other protection from something like a 3rd party?

[Pc_Not_Mac]

What i do is just put all the keys to a server.
If you think about it is a safe way to protect keys and also you can blacklist keys if the user starts sharing the key.

[kleinma]

That would require an always available internet connection to validate the keys. While sometimes you can require that of your customers, many times you can not.

[Pc_Not_Mac]

This is just my way of doing it.
When you install windows they also require internet connection or by phone.
As i said before this is my way. I'm sure that you can do this with other methods like encryption.

[alexis23]

He just told you where to place it. You place the validating sub/function inside the dll file, call it from the main application, and see if it is valid or not. If the key fails to pass through the dll, error out the program.

Hi,

is so sorry, if it was too complicated for me, just newbie in vs2008. just want to clear it out if i can place it in the assemblyinfo.vb or somewhere so when the assembly was loaded, it will automatically check the license, from a text file maybe.

Thanks,

alexis