Deploying Licensed Software

In this section we discuss how to deploy your licensed applications.

Deploying Your Licensed Application with IronWrapping

If you are using IronWrapping, deployment is a matter of using the contents of the Release directory in your installer. The IronWrap linker will ensure that everything required for your installation will be included in this directory. (Except of course anything that is normally outside this directory, such as files placed in the system directory).

Deploying your application with IronWrapping is relatively simple and involves one or two steps:

Your installer package must put the distributed license file (Main License File) in a location that can be determined by your application either in absolute terms or relative to the host applications directory. For simplicity we recommend that you deploy it to the same directory as the host application executable. (See the StartUp function in the ClientProtector Reference for information about relative vs. absolute paths of the Main License File.)

Note: the Main License File must be deployed on the client machine. It is not supported to deploy the Main License File (or the application itself) to any other machine through either a UNC path or a mapped drive.|
The entire contents of the Release directory created when you compiled your license project may used as the source for your installer.
If you use a steganographic alias file with your license, your installer package must put the original bitmap file inside the same directory where you chose to place the Main License File. Again - for simplicity, we recommend that you deploy this and the Main License File to the same directory as the host application executable.

Deploying Your Licensed Application without IronWrapping

Deploying the license for your application without IronWrapping is relatively simple and involves two or three main steps:

Your installer package must put the distributed license file (Main License File) in a location that can be determined by your application either in absolute terms or relative to the host applications directory. For simplicity we recommend that you deploy it to the same directory as the host application executable. (See the StartUp function in the ClientProtector Reference for information about relative vs. absolute paths of the Main License File.)

Note: the Main License File must be deployed on the client machine. It is not supported to deploy the Main License File (or the application itself) to any other machine through either a UNC path or a mapped drive.
Your installer package must register the SSCProt.dll with the Windows system, and (as usual) it can deployed in the directory where you would normally place shared components or dlls. (See your installers documentation for instructions how to register dlls). Note, by contrast, when using IronWrapping you do not have to deploy the ClientProtector, even if you access it just like a regular COM server since it is virtualized to your application.
If you use a steganographic alias file with your license, your installer package must put the original bitmap file inside the same directory where you chose to place the Main License File. Again - for simplicity, we recommend that you deploy this and the Main License File to the same directory as the host application executable.

General Deployment Considerations

Regardless of which method you use (IronWrapping, Embedded, or Hybrid) you will must consider which Files To Deploy with your licensed software, how you should go about Creating Your Installer, as well as several categories of special deployment considerations, including: