Using LexFloatClient with Delphi

First of all, login to your Cryptlex account and download the LexFloatClient library for Windows:

• Download LexFloatClient for Windows

The above download package contains the library which you will be using to add licensing to your app.

Adding licensing to your app

After you've added a product for your app in the dashboard, go to the product page of the product you will be adding licensing to. You will need to do two things:

• Note the product id for the product.

• Download the example project from Github

The product id is the identifier of your product that is to be used in the code. The product id of the LexFloatServer and LexFloatClient must match.

Adding the library to your app

LexFloatClient example project for Delphi (7 or newer) contains the LexFloatClient.pas unit file. In addition to that, it includes LexFloatClient.DelphiFeatures.pas unit file used internally.

You need to add these files to your app in order to use LexFloatClient API in your app. Both units must be added, but only the LexFloatClient unit must be added to the uses list.

LexFloatClient has a dependency on VS2015 runtime on Windows. On the target machines where you will deploy your app, you can install the VS2015 runtime, if not present, using the link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=48145

Setting product id

The first LexFloatClient API procedure you need to use in your code is LexFloatClient.SetHostProductId. It sets the product id of the product you will be adding licensing to.

SetHostProductId('PASTE_PRODUCT_ID');

Requesting license lease

To receive a floating license, you will use LexFloatClient.SetHostUrl, LexFloatClient.SetFloatingLicenseCallback and LexFloatClient.RequestFloatingLicense LexFloatClient API methods. It sets the LexFloatServer address, the callback for status notifications, contacts the server and receives the floating license.

var
  Step: string;
begin
  try
    Step := 'SetHostProductId';
    SetHostProductId('PASTE_PRODUCT_ID');
    Step := 'SetHostUrl'; SetHostUrl('http://localhost:8090');
    Step := 'SetFloatingLicenseCallback';
    // console application has no message loop, thus Synchronized is False
    SetFloatingLicenseCallback(OnLexFloatClient, False);
    try
      Step := 'RequestFloatingLicense'; RequestFloatingLicense;
      try
        WriteLn;
        Write('Success! License Acquired. Press Enter to continue...'); ReadLn;
        //
        // do some work here
        //
        WriteLn;
        Write('Press Enter to drop the license...'); ReadLn;
        Step := 'DropFloatingLicense';
      finally
        DropFloatingLicense; // drop acquired license
      end;
      WriteLn;
      WriteLn('Success! License dropped.');
      Step := 'ResetFloatingLicenseCallback';
    finally
      ResetFloatingLicenseCallback; // remove callback
    end;
    Write('Press Enter to continue...'); ReadLn;
  except
    on E: Exception do
    begin
      WriteLn;
      WriteLn('Exception from ', Step, ': ', ScopedClassName(E.ClassType));
      WriteLn(E.Message);
      raise;
    end;
  end;
end;

The above code can be executed every time user starts the app or needs a new license.

The second argument of LexFloatClient.SetFloatingLicenseCallback is False because console applications have no message loop. In GUI applications Synchronized is recommended to be True to enforce execution in the main thread.

Renewing license lease

License lease automatically renews itself in a background thread. When something goes wrong, the callback is invoked (from the background thread). The callback can be either procedure, object method, class method or a closure (also known as an anonymous function). Note that GUI applications cannot safely interact with GUI elements from a thread other than GUI one. System.Classes.TThread.Synchronize will be used if Synchronized was True when the callback was set. On another hand, Synchronized cannot work without a message loop in the main thread (e.g. in console applications), so synchronization must be performed in another way then.

procedure OnLexFloatClient(const Error: Exception);
begin
  // No synchronization, write everything to console
  WriteLn;
  if Assigned(Error) then
  begin
    WriteLn('Asynchronous exception: ',
      ScopedClassName(Error.ClassType));
    WriteLn(Error.Message);
  end else begin
    WriteLn('Asynchronous success');
  end;
end;

You would ideally request a new license if the callback gets invoked.

Dropping license lease

When your user is done using the app, the app should send a request to free the license, thereby making it available for other users. If the app doesn't, the license becomes (zombie) useless until lease time is over.

GUI (e.g. VCL) applications are supposed to divide the code into initialization and finalization. LexFloatClient.ResetFloatingLicenseCallback should be called before the callback is going to become invalid. E.g. form method is invalid after the form is destroyed, so putting ResetFloatingLicenseCallback in TForm.OnDestroy is a proper place. LexFloatClient.DropFloatingLicense should also be invoked, but beware of exceptions it can raise. Sample code:

procedure TForm1.OnDestroy;
begin
  try
    DropFloatingLicense;
  except
    // write to log, display warning dialog, ignore or handle any other way
  end;
  ResetFloatingLicenseCallback;
end;

The above code should be executed every time user closes the app.

Need more help

In case you need more help with adding LexActivator to your app, we'll be glad to help you make the integration. You can either post your questions on our support forum or can contact us through email.