Spread Windows Forms 12.0 Product Documentation
Creating a Build License
Spread Windows Forms 12.0 Product Documentation > Developer's Guide > Getting Started > Handling Installation > Creating a Build License

You can create a build license to use on a build machine.

Licenses are built using the license compiler tool (lc.exe) to produce a special resource file with the .licenses file extension. Visual Studio VB.NET and C# projects automatically handle compiling the licenses.licx in the project to produce the .licenses resource file, which is linked into the target executable. The components’ run-time license keys in that licenses resource file are loaded and verified when the first instance of each component with the LicenseProvider attribute is created in the application. You can remove the licenses.licx from your Visual Studio project and add the .licenses resource in its place using the following steps:

  1. Build the project using the licensed components on a developer machine which is licensed for development with all the components referenced in the project (this creates the .licenses resource).
  2. Find the licenses.licx in the Solution Explorer window. You can use the Show All Files toolbar button to see it or expand the Properties folder.
  3. Right-click the licenses.licx in the Solution Explorer window, and then select Exclude From Project.

  4. Use Windows Explorer (outside Visual Studio) to find the .licenses file in the obj\{configuration} folder (obj\Debug or obj\Release). The file should have the name {target}.{ext}.licenses (for example: project1.exe.licenses).
  5. Copy that file to the project folder and rename it to remove the target name (rename it from {target}.{ext}.licenses to {ext}.licenses). For example: project1.exe.licenses to exe.licenses.
  6. In the Visual Studio Solution Explorer window, find the {ext}.licenses (you might need to refresh the window), then right-click the file and select Include In Project.

  7. Change the Build Action for the {ext}.licenses from Content to Embedded Resource.

  8. The project can now be built without requiring a developer license on the machine, since the license has already been built and linked into the project.

Note the following restrictions: