5.2. License Generation
The Create License dialog is accessed with the Project/Create License menu option or by pressing F6. To create a license file, edit the dialog fields as described below, then press the Generate License button to save the license.
Custom license properties
Properties that were specified in the License Settings dialog will be shown in this grid, along with any default values. The values can be edited if required.
License expiry time
The license expiry time specifies when a license file will expire. The default is taken from the license settings, and can be modified if required.
Server restrictions
Depending on which Encoder version is being used, restrictions can be specified to bind the license file to particular domain names, IP addresses and MAC addresses. The grid may be used in the same way as on the server restrictions page.
Using server data files
Server data files are files that contain information about the network adapters and domain name of a server, and these can be used instead of manually entering restriction details. Server data can be generated by calling the ioncube_server_data() Loader API function on the target server. It is returned as a string, and for example, might then be written to a file. A PHP application may do this as part of a license request feature and then request that the user send the file to the script provider for license processing. For more details on this and other Loader API functions please see the Encoder User Guide PDF.
Once a server data file has been generated and transferred from the end-user to the script provider, the contents of the file can be decoded and made available for license generation by drag-drop. Simply drop the file onto the Create License dialog, or if using the Special Edition GUI and the dynamic fields feature, onto the grid on the Custom Settings tab of the main window.
When choosing which adapters to add to a license, it is usually best to enter only the adapter whose IP address matches the IP address which the server was using when the server data file was generated. This will be the first item in the list of adapters in the file, and the only adapter that has a non-empty 'domain' field. If all adapters have an empty 'domain' field then this means that the server did not report an IP address or domain name, and this may mean that PHP was run in CLI mode when the server data file was created and could be an error by the end-user.
Generating the license file
Once all require settings for the license file have been specified, click the Generate License button. The license file will be written to the Output path location.