FilePro License Manager

[Richard Kreiss]

>From what I understand, the license is not hit when at a menu.  The license
manager increments when *clerk or *report are run.  As Tim pointed out, a
system call to another *clerk or *report does not hit the LM.

For those of you who are on *nix, prior to the license manager, a system
call to *report would hit you license.  Therefore someone running a report
from a *clerk session used 2 sessions now they only use 1.

I have and application which selects all of the records from one file using
report and for each of using the code number in a record selects all of the
associated records in the other file which meet the report criteria.  The
reason for this is simple, the reports run through PrintWizard to create a
PDF file in a given directory.  Another process then moves the PDF into the
proper directory.  There are about 300-400 hundred reports generated this
way.  

One upside of the license manager for developers is that is can keep your
software form being pirated.

Yes, I agree with Mark, it could be easier to install and manage.  There
also needs to be some way to see what sessions are being used and how many
are left.  Not sure why this can't be part of the program to view the
license information.

One thing, there are some instances where a session is not released and the
license manager must be stopped and restarted.  On restart the LM gets the
proper count.  The only issue is if someone tries to run a *clerk or
*report, they will not be allowed access until the LM restarts.

Tis can be handled with a simple batch file using, on Windows, the sc
command to stop on one line and then on the next, the start command.  This
batch file can sit on the server or on an administrators computer and be
pointed at the server.

Again, if one has applications running on older version of FP without a
problem, then don't upgrade.  If you want to add new functionality to your
application, then consider upgrading.  My clients needed some of the new
functionality and I therefore upgraded them.

Richard

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Filepro-list [mailto:filepro-list-
> bounces+rkreiss=verizon.net at lists.celestial.com] On Behalf Of Timothy R
Barr
> via Filepro-list
> Sent: Friday, August 18, 2017 2:02 PM
> To: 0 Filepro List <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
> Subject: FilePro License Manager
> 
> Mike Fedkiw, Your concern is a valid one.  You need predictability as to
"exactly
> what will use up a license and what won't."
> I can shed some more light on that for you and the group.
> 
> I did some extensive testing yesterday (on Windows Filepro 5.8.02, 50
user) to
> explore how "splitting" an existing session into multiples would behave.
In
> short, it creates and counts new sessions.  This does not change the fact
that
> nested *clerk or *report executions do *not* count against the license.
> 
> I can also report from my testing that the license manager completely
handled
> my repeated launching of up to 200 *clerks and then rudely killing them -
> without any need for restarting the service.  Clearly it successfully
traps the
> terminations and frees the count.
> 
> 
> 
> So here are clear license guidelines (as I have experienced them)....
> 
> 
> 1) A filepro license is per "session", not per user, device, or port.
> 
> 2) Licenses are concurrent and can be shared across all users, up to the
> purchased quantity.
> 
> 3) The license manager will free up licenses as sessions are closed or
terminated.
> 
> 4) A "session" is defined as an interactive execution of the programs.
> The user can browse the menus to select between clerk, report, expand, etc
> (one program at a time) - using a single license.
> 
> 5) FilePro programs can be "nested" without using additional licenses.
> 
> A processing table can include "system" launches of nested dclerk/rclerk
or
> dreport/rreport executables without taking another session license.  In
other
> words, the programmer can design a system which can "jump" from one data
> entry or report processing table to an entirely different filepro file.
The parent
> will wait for execution of the child to complete before continuing.
> [Ex: This can be used to "jump" to another file for data entry, to
repeatedly
> launch a report/export, etc.  It is still better to use LOOKUP POPUP, or
CALL
> where possible, but there are times when you may want complete *clerk
> capability] zz="%pfprog%\fp\rclerk.exe" ; system noredraw (zz)
> 
> 6) Splitting a session into multiple sessions is possible (Windows text
only), but
> will use a license for each session.
> zz="START %pfprog%\fp\rclerk.exe" ; system noredraw (zz)
> 
> 7) Development licenses include an equal number of Runtime sessions.
> Therefore a 5-user Dev ($349 x 5=$1745) combined with a 15 user Runtime
> ($145 x 15=$2175) = 20 total sessions.  ($3920)
> 
> 8) GI clients are optional and do not need to match the number of Dev+RT
> licenses.
> For example, the above 20-total session license could add just 10 GI
licenses
> ($225 x 10 = $2250) if only half the sessions were GI-based.  The other 10
> sessions can run in "text mode".
> 
> 9) A quick dreport/rreport execution only uses one license and only for as
long
> as it runs.
> This is helpful when using Filepro for data manipulation or math while
calling the
> filepro processing from a third-party application (e.g. Visual Studio,
cgi, etc).  In
> practice, a limited number of RT licenses can support a larger number of
> interactive users in this case.
> 
> 10) If filepro Data is stored/exported to a SQL database, no licenses are
involved
> in third-party queries of that SQL table.
> An update to SQL with each ESCAPE processing will maintain parallel data
> allowing outside programs a "view" (to borrow a SQL-server term) of
filepro-
> originated data.
> 
> 11) Since filepro can read SQL databases as well as write to them, the
> programmer can integrate external SQL-based data into a FilePro
application
> using processing tables.
> 
> I could add more I suppose, but hopefully this helps.
> 
> -Tim Barr
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: Mike Fedkiw <mfedkiwfp at gmail.com>
> > To: Timothy R Barr <tim.barr at evalsvs.com>, 0 Filepro List <
> filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
> > Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2017 22:23:26 -0400
> 
> > Subject: Re: FilePro License Manager
> 
> > And this is exactly my problem with any version that includes their
> > license manager.
> >
> > /"If you open 3-5 windows for development or runtime, each opened from
> > scratch (i.e., not from an already open filepro execution), then I
> > believe they count as separate sessions.  We have based our license
> > purchases on this assumption."
> >
> > /Apparently you're running a newer version with the license manager
> > but you can't tell me how it actually handles the licensing. This is
> > nothing negative towards you, I'm just back to where I
> > started...having no clue to exactly what will use up a license and what
won't.
> >
> > This is a problem because if I were looking to purchase a version with
> > the licensing manager, I certainly wouldn't want to be purchasing
> > extra licenses just in case. I'd need to know exactly what uses a
> > license and what doesn't. Nowhere have I ever seen something that can
> > clearly explain this.
> >
> > Mike
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