INFO: Do users of XLLs need licenses?

Reference: Q0012

Article Last Modified on 31-Aug-2004

The information in this article applies to:

XLL+ for Visual Studio .NET - 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.1
XLL+ for Visual Studio 6 - 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.1
Excel - all versions

Do users of XLLs need licenses?

Issue

I build an XLL using the trial version of XLL+ and it runs on my development machine. When the XLL is copied to a user's machine, it fails to load, and Excel shows a dialog box, saying: "The XLL+ license for this machine has expired. Visit http://... to register for a license", or a similar warning about licenses.

Do users of XLLs need licenses?

Summary

XLLs built using the retail (i.e. purchased) version of XLL+ do not require run-time licenses to run on any machine equipped with Excel.
An XLL built using the trial version (or demo version) of XLL+ requires a run-time license. The free run-time license supplied with the trial version expires 30 days after it's first use on a particular machine.
If your trial process is incomplete, and you need a renewal of one or more trial licenses, send an email to sales@planatechsolutions.com. Include the machine name or names for which you need extensions of your license, and we will mail you machine-specific licenses for a further 30 days.
If you have now installed the retail version of the XLL+ toolkit, and if you have previously supplied users with XLLs built using the trial version, then you must rebuild all your XLLs and deliver the new versions to your users.

Trial version

The only difference between the trial version and the retail version is in the XLL+ run-time libraries - the common code that is built into all XLLs produced using XLL+.

The trial version libraries include code that checks for a valid XLL+ license on the current machine, and will not allow an XLL to be loaded if the license has expired or is otherwise invalid.

The retail version libraries do not include this code: an XLL built with the retail version of XLL+ will run on any machine without restriction, and users of these XLLs do not require any form of XLL+ license.

Trial licenses

On a developer's machine, a trial run-time license is installed when the trial version of the XLL+ toolkit is installed. On a user's machine, a 30-day run-time license is automatically generated the first time an XLL (built using the trial version of XLL+) is run on the machine.

All trial licenses expire after 30 days. On a developer's machine, this means that the XLL+ development tools stop working, and XLLs built using XLL+ will not load. Similarly, on a user's machine, all XLLs built using the trial version of XLL+ will not load.

Trial licenses on a user's machine will stop working 30 days after the first time any XLL built using the trial version of XLL+ is run on that machine.

Extending a trial license

We can supply extensions for trial licenses for further 30-day periods. If your trial license has expired, send an email to sales@planatechsolutions.com. Include the machine name or names for which you need extensions, and we can mail you machine-specific licenses for a further 30 days.

If you are developing on one machine, and testing on another, remember to include both machine names.

The machine name can be found by running winmsd at the Windows Start/Run... menu, and looking at "System Name" on the "System Summary" node.

Upgrading from the trial version to the retail version

When you install the retail version of the XLL+ toolkit, you should completely rebuild any XLLs you have created using the trial version. These new versions will not have any run-time license requirement.

If you have already supplied users with XLLs built using the trial version, then you should deliver the new build to your users, so that they do not require licenses, and so that their copies do not stop working after 30 days.