Dear Julian,
Thank you very much for your interesting explanation and details. I have passed on the questions and issues regarding the AppStore payments internally to ensure the team is aware and hope that they will be able to clarify.
Cheers
Jeremy
Developer Advocacy and Support + The Building Coder + Autodesk Developer Network + ADN Open
The last Autodesk DevCon had some conversation about improving the Autodesk App Store, the roadmap has some items about the App Store: https://aps.autodesk.com/aps-roadmap.
About the licensing, I created my entitlement API using the Autodesk UserId to identify the user connected inside Revit, without an account connected the plugin does not work.
I have some plugins in the App Store with Trial or Free, and the payment is done outside the Autodesk App Store on my website using a platform that manages the tax depending on the region the user is buying the license.
Is kinda simple to recreate a simple API using the Entitlement API as a reference to validate your plugin/user.
public class EntitlementResponse
{
public string UserId { get; set; }
public string AppId { get; set; }
public bool IsValid { get; set; }
public string Message { get; set; }
}
Here is a simple sample with a command and the AppEntitlement: https://gist.github.com/ricaun/e86e63c42bd1a5add1f8d08d6fa84aff
@gerhard.pawlat wrote:So from you experience you would say users are comfortable with the Autodesk ID check on every Revit startup? Because then I would just do the same and skip implementing an additional mechanism with a local file and just tell the users beeing logged in is necessary.
Yes, by default you need to have an account connected to use Revit. The plugin checks if the User is connected, and if that is the case check online to validate the license and create a temp file to enable work offline for some time.
@gerhard.pawlat wrote:@ricaun how is it possible that you use the appstore licencing mechanism with an external payment service. How does the appstore know if a users has payed and has an active license?
I don't use the default Autodesk App Store licensing mechanism, because is not flexible. I kinda don't need to have the plugins in App Store, all the payments and licenses are managed by my API system.
Ok, thank you for the explananation!
I now found out how the Autodesk licensing is called that even made me start this thread: flexnet license.
I have worked in a company with 100 Revit users where logging in to an autodesk account was not necessary.
But if you had no connection to the company server you got that message:
I wonder what Revit version of the flexnet license works without a user connected, I suppose the newer Revit version you need to have an account.
Without an Autodesk account connected most of the plugins in the Autodesk App Store just not gonna work.
@ricaunI was thinking about making my own page with selling options, but right now being seen on the market is probably the biggest source of costumers for me. Especially after recently Drafter got marked as one of the most popular paid apps for Revit. It also helps customers trust me as they are downloading the product from Autodesk App Store. So I see plenty of benefits of being here
Still, I will probably end up with a cheaper version on my webpage which will collects correct info as per your page and more expensive on an Autodesk App Store. So far I prefer to spend my free time coding something cool ๐
@gerhard.pawlat How the Autodesk app store works (if you use entitlement class provided by Autodesk and their system)
1. You submit the app - after revision by Autodesk, the app is being published on the market.
2. Someone wants to buy your app:
a) On PayPal - the process is automated with problems mentioned above. Customers are redirected to PayPal, pay there, and then the system brings them back to the page informing the Autodesk App Store about the successful transaction.
b) You have a possibility to simply add new users:
this is how it looks for my Drafter. Autodesk doesn't care why you are adding these and what are you doing with them - You can add or delete them however you like (they are marked below as Published Added):
So far I hit 2 problems with it.
A) people need to log into the market.
B) they need to agree to the market rules - to do it they need to download something ๐ really ๐ It is another reasons why I made trial for Drafter - before I had to tell people to download randomly something free.
3. Only after that, you will be able to add them a licence.
4. After that, they will be able to download your app and install it.
5. While starting the app, the correctly implemented entitlement class will try to connect with market server with userId and AppId. In return, you will get an error, true or false - it is up to you what you want to do with it or how you're going to manage problems. Personally, after checking, I am creating a hashed licence file with result. Depending on result, I am freezing and blocking the possibility of using my tools. Also, each command will double-check the licence from my files. That is more or less what's going on there.
6. Users can normally use the app. If they log out, they will be log-out by Autodesk and the revit will stop working;)
7. Each time they start Revit the process will repeat from point 5. You can implement some code to stay offline and so you don't have to check online every time, as it makes Revit starts slowly.
@Julian.Wandzilakin your case, it does not make sense to add an option to your website, and yes adding the plugin to the App Store is a great way to get exposure, I have some plugins in there as well.
That image with an option to Add Download Entitlement is new, never saw any tutorial with that image about the Entitlement API.
@gerhard.pawlatif you use PayPal as a payment and use Entitlement API with the @Julian.Wandzilak examination, this is the way.
Autodesk is planing to add some Multi-user license.
The question is if using flexnet licencing in a modern Revit is possible to run without a user connected. I don't think that is possible.
Today I only have a single user license in my plugins, I can swap to another user manually. A floating license is a thing that planing to create, would be really handy to enable a floating license to all the users with the same domain email.
Hello Ricaun,
please see snapshots of the flexnet licence , notice there is no user signed in to autodesk and Revit fully runs, the bottom right photograph is when you have not connected to the server that is hosting the flex net licence.
i think the idea of using the domain is the right way to go I think Rushforth tools use this approach. The below text is from the licencing section of Rushforth website, see enterprise licences at the bottom.
- Summary
- For individual licenses, install and click the activation button to complete an individual activation request. Check your spam folder or send a follow up email if your registration key is not sent within 24 hours of sending your activation request email.
- For Site licenses, all users can input the same key or that process can be automated by deploying a windows registy key.
- Installation
- The .exe installer is a per-user installer and does not require any admin install privileges. Don't "Run as Admin" or it may not appear on the current user's profile.
- The .msi installer is a per-machine installer and will require admin install privileges.
- Both installers have a -quiet switch for silent installation by deployment software.
- Single-User Licenses:
- Purchase
- Purchase the quantity of licenses needed for your team.
- All licenses purchased are attributed to the company email domain name (unless using a personal email).
- Each single user license authorizes you to register two computers for the same user. A unique registration code must be requested from each computer. A separate license should be purchased for each user that will use the tools.
- Notify Users
- You can immediately notify users that they can install and activate the software.
- Each user license request will be counted toward the total number purchased for the company on a first come, first served basis. If you would like to submit a list of authorized users via email to control who can request activations, that can be accommodated as well.
- Click Activate
- Your user(s) can immediately install the tools and click the Licensing/Activation button on the RF Tools ribbon in Revit to generate and send in an individual activation request code via email to get back a machine-specific registration key. As long as the user email address domain matches the purchasing company email address domain, the activation will be attributed to the purchase.
- Purchase
- Enterprise Site License:
- Description
- Install the tools on an unlimited number of computers on a network. A single network license key code can be used to activate any number of computers in any number of offices around the world that share a common network domain name. This license code can be deployed as a windows registry key to all users as well. Site license also includes authorization to request individual activation codes for up to 20 non-network connected computers such as personal laptops or home computers. Previously purchased single-user licenses can be applied toward the purchase of an Enterprise Site License of the same version.
- To receive the Network License Key:
- Have one of your users click the 'Licensing/Activation' button on the RF Tools tab in Revit (after they have installed the tools). Click the Enterprise Site License button to request your Network License Key. This will prepare an email with the name of the domain to be registered. Once verified, you will receive a reply with a license key that will work for all computers connected to the same domain name.
- Description
โ
