EDITIONS

Creating an edition is the next step after defining a product. While the product defines the reusable licensing structure, the edition defines how that structure is offered and used in practice.

Editions are the basis for license creation. Every license in SLASCONE is created from an edition. Therefore, even if you do not offer editions commercially, you still need at least one edition in SLASCONE.

WHERE EDITIONS FIT

Editions sit between products and licenses. A product defines the reusable licensing structure, while an edition defines a specific package or configuration based on that structure.

Licenses are then created from editions. This means that the edition determines which features, limitations, variables, expiration settings, and other properties are available or preconfigured during license creation.

Editions can represent commercial packages, trial versions, special customer configurations, or internal templates for license creation.

CORE EDITION PROPERTIES

When creating an edition, you must first define the provisioning mode and the client type. These are the most fundamental properties of the edition and cannot be changed later.

These settings have a major impact on how the underlying licenses behave. For example, a floating device license follows a fundamentally different licensing logic than a named user license.

• Provisioning Mode

  • Named

  • Floating

• Client Type

  • Devices

  • Users

ACTIVATION UPON CREATION

By default, a new license is not activated immediately. It is activated when the client sends an activation event.

However, there are scenarios where requiring the client to send an activation event is either not possible or would add unnecessary complexity. For these cases, new licenses can be activated automatically during license creation.

ADJUSTABLE PROPERTIES

Editions provide a high degree of flexibility during license creation. This is based on the concept of adjustable properties.

For each relevant property, such as a feature, limitation, or variable, you can decide whether the license creator may change the value during license creation.

Adjustable: When creating a new license, the value is pre-populated from the edition, but the license creator is allowed to change it.

Not Adjustable: When creating a new license, the value is fixed by the edition and cannot be changed by the license creator.

The relationship between editions and licenses is persistent. Changes in an edition immediately affect the licenses based on that edition.

• All properties are Not Adjustable: The edition is very restrictive. License creators can create a license, but cannot modify any of the predefined values.

• All properties are Adjustable: The edition mainly serves as an initialization template. License creators can change all relevant values.

• A mixture of Adjustable and Not Adjustable properties: This provides the most flexibility. License creator can change only those values that the edition explicitly allows.

IMPLICATIONS

• New Feature: If a new version of your product introduces a new feature, you can control how existing licenses should behave. Typically, you would set the feature as not adjustable in the edition and define its value according to your product strategy. The feature may be enabled in one edition and disabled in another.

• Premium to Standard Feature: A feature that was once a premium differentiator may later become standard. Instead of updating all licenses individually, you can enable the feature in
  the relevant edition and define it as not adjustable.

REQUIRED VARIABLES

A variable can be marked as required. In that case, a value must be provided when creating a license. Otherwise, the license cannot be saved.