Metered Licensing is a new runtime licensing option for Barcode Xpress, introduced with the release of Barcode Xpress v13.1. Instead of purchasing a traditional Toolkit license for a particular version of the application, the license provided is tied to an online customer account which stores a number of purchased transactions.

The new licensing model works transparently alongside the traditional model as an additional licensing option. If you elect to use a metered license, you will be provided with an OEM License Key to embed in your application and register via the Licensing API.

This licensing model is designed for customers who need the ability to scale their application. These licenses pull from a pool of transactions and are licensed at the application level instead of needing to license each machine that uses this application.

It will be incumbent on you to ensure that sufficient transactions remain in your account balance to allow for uninterrupted service.

Requirements

The use of a Metered License adds the following requirements to your system:

• The application must maintain an always-on internet connection with HTTPS port 443 open and not be blocked by a Firewall.
• The Starfield Services Root Certificate must be present on the system. See the certificate and installation instructions.

Overview

When using a Metered License your Accusoft customer account has an associated number of transactions. This transaction balance is reduced automatically when certain API calls of the Barcode Xpress library complete successfully. See Charged Operations.

As Metered Licenses are powered by a cloud-based solution, your application must maintain an always-on internet connection. This connection is required by the licensing during three phases of the application lifecycle:

• License Initialization - To validate your license and ensure that a positive number of transactions remain.
• Application Runtime - The license will periodically report usage back to the service. A check will also be performed to ensure that your account has a positive number of available transactions.
• Application Shutdown/Termination - The license will report any remaining unreported usage.

Acquiring A Metered License

Contact sales:

• to purchase a metered license. Once purchased, you’ll be able to sign into the Accusoft Customer Portal to access your Solution Name, Solution Key, and your License Key.

• if you need to purchase additional transactions for your application.

Licensing API

Integrating a Metered License into your application works transparently in the same manner as conventional runtime licensing variants.

To use an OEM Metered License, update the license key in your application by using BX_set_solution_name, BX_set_solution_key, and BX_set_oem_license_key, and recompile your application.

Solution Name

The solution name is assigned by Accusoft to your company or organization at the time of license purchase. Set it with the BX_set_solution_name method.

Solution Key

The solution key is a set of four numbers assigned by Accusoft at the time of license purchase. Set it with the BX_set_solution_key method.

License Key

The license key is a unique identifier of the customer, product, version, edition, and platforms for which your license is valid. Set it with the BX_set_oem_license_key method.

Example

To fully license your product, you must make all the necessary API calls above in accordance with the licensing information with which you have been provided. This can occur at any time prior to invoking Barcode Xpress, but ideally it is done during initialization.

BX_set_solution_name("YourSolutionName");
BX_set_solution_key(0x1234, 0x2345, 0x3456, 0x4567);
BX_set_oem_license_key("2.0.AStringForOEMLicensingContactAccusoftSalesForMoreInformation...");

Charged Operations

Your available transaction balance is reduced by 1 each time one of the following functions are used: 

• BX_analyze_dib
• BX_analyze_file
• BX_analyze_bmp
• BX_create_dib
• BX_create_file

Usage only accrues if the function completes successfully and you will never be charged for a failed action.