How does Licensing Work?

ComponentOne uses a licensing model based on the standard set by Microsoft, which works with all types of components.

Note: The Compact Framework components use a slightly different mechanism for run-time licensing than the other ComponentOne components due to platform differences.

When a user decides to purchase a product, he receives an installation program and a Serial Number. During the installation process, the user is prompted for the serial number that is saved on the system. (Users can also enter the serial number by clicking the License button on the About Box of any ComponentOne product, if available, or by rerunning the installation and entering the serial number in the licensing dialog.)

ActiveX licensing is handled transparently by .NET in C#.NET and VB.NET, so special consideration is not required when adding ActiveX controls to a form or user control in .NET.

However, if you put an unlicensed version of the control on a form, or you wish to change licenses, you must remove the old control and add it back again to get the new licensing. The behavior is identical to that of a VC++ project using an ActiveX control.

For information on dynamically adding ActiveX controls that require run-time licenses, see the Microsoft Support site.

All ComponentOne products are designed to display licensing information if the product is not licensed. None will throw licensing exceptions and prevent applications from running.