I am happy to tell all users of SKGL Extension that there is a new version available (since the update in late January). In this post, I would like to mention some changes made to the API, a short usage tip, and then let you know how it is going to change in future.

Changes

• Ability to sign pid, uid, activation date: Based on user feedback, the Web API now allows pid, uid and hsum to be added into the signature. This is particularly important for users that protect more than one product. Before, it was possible to use the same KeyInformation file (serialized by SaveKeyInformationToFile) to unlock other products (that used the same Public Key, i.e. by the same software vendor). For some, it worked out by specifying this information in the Notes field. This change makes it more simple. The activation date is intended for offline key validation; it’s a way to keep track the date of the last activation in order to force the user to activate the software periodically.
• Deactivation: There is a new method that allows you to deactivate a license key. (method info, web api)
• Optional Field: Finally you can access the optional field using .NET.  It’s a new type of method that takes in a ProductVariables object instead of separate strings for pid, uid, hsum, etc. Read more below Future ideas  (more info).
• Machine code fix: The getEightDigitsLongHash was modified to fix a bug that generated nine digits instead of eight. Read more here.
• Proxy: Get Parameters method allows you to specify the proxy settings.
• Load Product Variables: A new method, LoadProductVariablesFromString allows you to load a serialized version of the ProductVariables object. Read more below Future ideas.

Usage tip

Some users have encountered problems when validating/activating keys because of a wrong code snippet (NullReferenceException). Basically, you should not check the .IsValid field as way to deduce whether the key is valid or invalid. Instead, check if the KeyInformation object is null.

SKGL.KeyInformation keyInfo = new SKGL.KeyInformation();
string machineID = SKGL.SKM.getMachineCode(SKGL.SKM.getSHA1);
keyInfo = SKGL.SKM.KeyActivation("pid", "uid", "hsum", "serialkey", "machine code");
 
if (keyInfo != null)
{
    //valid key
}
else
{
    //invalid key
}

Future ideas

As new functionality is added to the Web API,  more parameters have to be added to each method. In the long run, this is bad because it can be quite repetitive/confusing to add all the parameters all over again. My plan on how this can be resolved is by adding specialized classes, such as ProductVariables to facilitate reuse of existing variables in other methods. The goal is to make it as easy as possible to use SKGL Extension.