Trial Limits and Extensions

When you create a trial version of your product using InstallShield, you set the trial limit—either a specific number of days or a specific number of uses. Note the following details about the trial limit:

If you set the trial limit to a specific number of days, the trial period starts on the day that the end user launches your trialware product for the first time. The trial period starts on that first day even if the end user clicks the Cancel button on one of the trialware run-time dialogs and does not start using the product.

If you set the trial limit to a specific number of uses, the countdown for the number of trial uses starts with the first time that the end user launches your product. If an end user clicks the Cancel button on one of the trialware run-time dialogs and does not start using the product, the number of uses does not change.

Note that for per-user installations of trialware, the trialware usage count is per machine—not per user on the same machine.

In addition to specifying the trial limit, you can specify whether end users are allowed to extend the trial limit. If you allow trial extensions, you must specify the number of days or the number of uses that the trial can be extended. You also must specify the extension serial number that all end users should use to extend the trial.

If you want to prevent end users from evaluating or activating your trialware after a specific date, you can specify the expiration date. To learn more, see Expiration Dates for Trialware.

Trial Limit and Extension Example for Try and Buy/Product Activation

To illustrate how the trial limit and a trial extension affect the Try and Buy/Product Activation type of trialware, consider the following properties and the corresponding values that are specified on the Advanced tab of the Trialware view:

The following table shows what happens in this example when an end user chooses to evaluate your trialware product without activating it.

Trial Limit and Extension Example for Try and Buy/Product Activation
Usage Number	Description
1 through 20	For the first 20 times that the end user launches the product, a trialware run-time dialog is displayed before the product starts, informing the end user how many more times the y can use the product without activating it. If the Product Purchase URL property contains a URL, the run-time dialog displays a hyperlink that the end user can click to visit a Web page for information on purchasing the product. If the end user chooses to evaluate the product without activating it, the end user can click Finish. Then the trialware run-time dialog closes and the product starts.
21	When the end user launches the product for the twenty-first time, a trialware run-time dialog is displayed before the product starts, informing the end user that the trial has expired and they must activate it to continue using it. If the end user clicks Cancel, the trialware run-time dialog closes and the product cannot be started. The end user can launch the product again, which again displays this same run-time dialog. If the end user clicks Next, the trialware run-time dialog prompts the end user for a serial number that will activate the product. If the end user enters the correct extension serial number, the trial is extended, and the end user can continue using the product 10 more times. When the end user clicks Next, the trialware run-time dialog closes and the product starts. If the end user does not enter the correct extension serial number (as specified in the Extension Serial Number property in the Trialware view), the trialware run-time dialog does not permit the end user to start the product. The end user can try to re-enter the extension serial number. If the end user enters a serial number that was added to the license through the InstallShield Activation Service Publisher Web Site, the end user can activate the product. The trialware run-time dialog closes and the product starts. The trialware run-time dialogs are no longer displayed.
22 through 30	When the end user launches the product for the twenty-second through thirtieth times, a trialware run-time dialog is displayed before the product starts. The dialog informs the end user how many more times the end user can use the product without activating it. If the end user chooses to evaluate the product without activating it, the end user can click Finish. Then the trialware run-time dialog closes and the product starts.
31	When the end user launches the product for the thirty-first time, a trialware run-time dialog is displayed before the product starts. The dialog informs the end user that the trial has expired and the product must be activated if they want to continue using it. If the Product Purchase URL property contains a URL, the run-time dialog displays a hyperlink that the end user can click to visit a Web page for information on purchasing the product.

If the end user activates the product, the trialware run-time dialogs are never displayed again. For details about the end-user experience with activation, see Overview of the Activation Process.

Trial Limit and Extension Example for Try and Die

To illustrate how the trial limit and a trial extension affect the Try and Die type of trialware, consider the following properties and the corresponding values that are specified on the Advanced tab of the Trialware view:

The following table shows what happens in this example if an end user starts using your trialware product on January 1:

Trial Limit and Extension Example for Try and Die
Date	Description
January 1	An end user launches the trialware for the first time on this day. Therefore, the trial period begins on this day, regardless of what day the trialware was actually installed on the target machine.
January 1 through January 20	Whenever the end user launches the product, a trialware run-time dialog is displayed before the product starts, informing the end user how many days remain in the trial period. For example, on January 18, there are 3 days left in the trial period. If the Product Purchase URL property contains a URL, the run-time dialog displays a hyperlink that the end user can click to visit a Web page for information on purchasing the product. When the end user clicks Next, the trialware run-time dialog closes and the product starts.
January 21 through January 30	If the end user launches the product during this period, the trialware run-time dialog is displayed to inform the end user that the trial period has expired. If the Product Purchase URL property contains a URL, the run-time dialog displays a hyperlink that the end user can click to visit a Web page for information on purchasing the product. If the end user clicks the icon in the upper-left corner of the dialog and then clicks Sales Support, the run-time dialog prompts the end user for the extension serial number: If the end user enters the correct extension serial number, the trial period is extended through January 30 (even if the end user waits until January 30 to extend the trial). When the end user clicks Next, the trialware run-time dialog closes and the product starts. If the end user does not enter the correct extension serial number, the trialware run-time dialog does not permit the end user to start the product. The end user can try to re-enter the extension serial number. Note that the countdown for the number of days in the trial extension period starts the day after the initial trial period ends. This occurs even if the end user does not immediately extend the trial, but instead waits several days after the trial period is over to extend it.
January 31 or anytime afterward	If the end user tries to use the product, the product cannot be started. A trialware run-time dialog is displayed to inform the end user that the trial period has ended. If the Product Purchase URL property contains a URL, the run-time dialog displays a hyperlink that the end user can click to visit a Web page for information on purchasing the product. Note that the end user can no longer extend the trial.