Question security (1 Viewer)

[mpj]

PS: I expressed myself wrongly earlier. In fact, my intention is to provide a service with an annual contract. For this reason I intend to protect my system in the best way possible since if I don't, a customer can easily not renew after twelve months.

 

[Pat Hartman]

That's a different problem. There are a number of ways to do this. If you are capable of building a web page, you can have the application "phone home" periodically and unless the app is authorized, it can refuse to work. That is the way O365 works.

Or, you can use a method like the one I use. I provide a "token" each year for the client to install. Encoded in the token is information on what features the client has paid for and what the expiration date of the token is. Then every time the database opens, the token is checked. It starts prompting the user three weeks out to renew. When it expires, the app refuses to go past the login screen. I can't give you the code I use but I can describe it if that is of interest.

 

[mpj]

That's a different problem. There are a number of ways to do this. If you are capable of building a web page, you can have the application "phone home" periodically and unless the app is authorized, it can refuse to work. That is the way O365 works.

Or, you can use a method like the one I use. I provide a "token" each year for the client to install. Encoded in the token is information on what features the client has paid for and what the expiration date of the token is. Then every time the database opens, the token is checked. It starts prompting the user three weeks out to renew. When it expires, the app refuses to go past the login screen. I can't give you the code I use but I can describe it if that is of interest.

I would appreciate it if you do.

 

[isladogs]

I also use the latter method but start the reminders 30 days before renewal with periodic reminders at decreasing intervals after that.

Once the user renews, they receive an authorisation code for another year which resets the renewal date for one year later.
If they choose not to renew, the application goes into restricted mode - basically read only - a few days after the deadline has passed.
That allows them to retain existing data and gives time for them to reflect on whether to renew later and restore full functionality.

I'm also not able to share my code for what I hope are obvious reasons

 

[LarryE]

In the US, you can copyright the code for about $35 through the US Patent Office. It's exactly the same process as if you wrote a song or lyrics or a book or article for a magazine. They consider code as intellectual property. You can do it online. The last time I did it, they wanted a document with the first and last 50 lines of code. I received my copyright certificate in the mail in about 10 weeks.

 

[isladogs]

In the US, you can copyright the code for about $35 through the US Patent Office. It's exactly the same process as if you wrote a song or lyrics or a book or article for a magazine. They consider code as intellectual property. You can do it online. The last time I did it, they wanted a document with the first and last 50 lines of code. I received my copyright certificate in the mail in about 10 weeks.

A long dormant thread has been woken up again ...

Maybe I'm missing the point but I'm not sure how that helps.
If you release your app as an ACCDB file and someone reuses it in their own app released as an ACCDE file, it would be very difficult to prove that it was your code being re-used

 

[The_Doc_Man]

A long dormant thread has been woken up again ...

Maybe I'm missing the point but I'm not sure how that helps.
If you release your app as an ACCDB file and someone reuses it in their own app released as an ACCDE file, it would be very difficult to prove that it was your code being re-used

It helps in that if you DO discover plagiarism, you can claim a federal copyright violation and that has at least a FEW teeth in it. Not "shark" level, where they have multiple rows of teeth, but at least alligator level, where their "big chomp" can drag you down bad.

 

[isladogs]

Yes but proving plagiarism is the difficulty faced by any developer who releases software

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Yes but proving plagiarism is the difficulty faced by any developer who releases software

Don't disagree - but it HAS been done now and then.