• Compact Framework Protection Mode - Enable this option if you wish to use the Compact .NET Framework with your assembly. Please note that in Compact Framework Protection Mode, the powerful licensing facilities of .NET Reactor are not available.
• Digital Certificate - This node enables you to sign your protected assembly with a digital certificate.
• Merge Assemblies - This option is used only in Library protection mode. Enable this option to merge multiple .NET assemblies into one .NET assembly. Disable this option to protect all Additional Files separately. In Application Protection mode all Additional Files (*.dll and *.pdb files only) are embedded automatically into the protected application.
• Native Library Filename - This option is used only in Library protection mode, when NecroBit protection or a Lock is enabled. Native Library Filename should be left blank, unless you want to specify a unique protected output filename.
• NecroBit - Enable this option to use NecroBit protection. NecroBit can be used with both Application and Library protection mode. In Library protection mode an additional file will be created.
• Obfuscation - This node allows you to enable Control Flow Obsfucation, to Create a Mapping file, to enable general obsfucation of class, method, property and variable names, to obfuscate public types, to use unprintable characters in obsfucated names, and/or to perform string encryption.
  
  • Enable "Control Flow Obfuscation" to mangle program flow, making it extremely difficult for humans to follow the program logic. Most decompiler are unable to decompile control flow obfuscated methods.
  • Enable "Mapping file" to create a file which cross reference unobfuscated names with obfuscated ones, which is used by the Stack Trace Deobfuscator.
  • Set "Enabled" to True to obfuscate non public class and member names.
  • Enable "Obsfucate Public Types" to obfuscate all type and member names in an assembly.
  • Unprintable characters uses unprintable strings to obfuscate type and member names, but cannot be used if your assembly must run as safe code.
  • String Encryption disguises internalized text, making it all the more difficult to decipher the interaction of your CIL.
• Protection Mode tells .NET Reactor if you are protecting an application or a library
• • In Application protection mode, Additional Files (*.dll and *.pdb files only) may be embedded into the protected application.
  • In Library protection mode, Additional Files (*.dll and *.exe files only) are protected separately or merged with the main assembly. In contrast to Application protection mode, the protected library can be referenced and used from other assemblies.
    
• String Encryption - Enable this option to have .NET Reactor encrypt your string constants and variables. This encryption makes it much more difficult for a hacker to attempt a native code patch of your application, as he will be unable to identify the text of messages or other useful strings, making it much more difficult to identify where to patch your code.
• Strong Name Key Pair File - .NET Reactor automates the handling of strongly named assemblies. Select your key file and specify your password, and .NET Reactor does the rest.
  
  

Once you have protected your intellectual property from theft or unintended disclosure using the .NET Reactor protection options, the next step in maximising your revenue stream is to ensure your full version application cannot be used without the purchase of a license. This is where the feature rich .NET Reactor licensing system comes in. Using a variety of "locks", .NET Reactor gives you the ability to control use of your application in a variety of ways - trial versions, software rental, software as a service - all are possible using .NET Reactor locks, and all without any modifications to your source code. We recommend that you spend some time to understand these license enforcement options as the time you invest in doing so will be time well spent.

The Lock Settings node is where you specify the licensing controls you want .NET Reactor to build into your assembly when you protect it. These locks are implemented by additional code which .NET Reactor includes in the protected assembly and requires no changes to your application source code to implement. One of the powerful features of .NET Reactor licensing is that the settings you inbuild into your assembly can be overridden by providing a license file to your customer, meaning you do not need to supply a separate licensed version of your program - the trial version and full version are exactly the same, the only difference being the license file you provide to paying customers.

Note: These options are ignored when you set "Compact Framework Protection Mode", in the "Protection Settings" node to True.

• Expiration Behavior All
• • When set to True  causes the expiration of the assembly only when all other enabled locks have expired.
  • When set to False the assembly expires when any one of the locks expires. This is a very powerful option, enabling you to (for example) implement a trial period which is either 30 days or 50 uses. It is worth spending a little time considering the flexibility which this option offers.
    
  
  
• Inbuild Lock - Evaluation Period
  
  The Evaluation period lock enables the creation of trial versions of your application, limiting the use of your trial in a variety of ways :
  • Dialog - Specifies whether a dialog box should be displayed to the user when the Evaluation Period expires and the message to display
  • • Enabled - set to true to display an evaluation period expired dialog box
    • Message - Enter the text of the message you would like to display to the user when the Evaluation Period expires. The message can be customised by .NET Reactor based on the evaluation settings, by substituting various strings as follows :
    • • [current_minutes_days] is replaced by the current days since your application was installed (for evaluation type = Trial_Days) or the number of minutes the application has run for (for evaluation type = Runtime_Minutes)
      • [max_minutes_days] is replaced by the value specified in the "Time" field
  • Enable - Enables this lock.
  • Evaluation Type - Allows you to specify 2 different types of trial versions :
  • • Trial_Days - your application will work for the specified number of days from the date of first installation on a computer
    • Runtime_Minutes - The use can run the application an unlimited number of time, for an unlimited number of days, but the apllication will shut down each time it is run, after the specified number of minutes.
  • Time - Specify the number of days or minutes for the evaluation period.
  • Message - Evaluation period expired message.
  
  
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• Inbuild lock - Expiration Date
  
  The Expiration Date lock allows you to specify the exact date on which your application should expire. This is useful for example for beta test versions and for software rental (where you can specify the expiration date as the day following the last date the customer has paid for the use of your software).

• Inbuild Lock -  Number of Uses
  
  This lock, if enabled, causes your application to expire after the specified number of uses.
  
  • Dialog - Specifies whether a dialog box should be displayed to the user when your application has been used the specified number of times, and the message to display
  • • Enabled - set to true to display a "number of uses exceeded" dialog box
    • Message - Enter the text of the message you would like to display to the user when the number of uses has been exceeded. The message can be customised by .NET Reactor based on the evaluation settings, by substituting various strings as follows :
    • • [current_uses] is replaced by the number of times your application has been run by the user
      • [max_uses] is replaced by the value set in the "Uses" field for this lock.
  • Enable - Enable this lock.
  • Uses - Specify the number of times the user can run your application before it expires.
  
  
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• Max Number Of Instances
  
  The max number of instances lock allows you to specify the maximum number of copies of your application the user is allowed to start at the same time. Please note that exceeding the specified number of instances does NOT cause your application to expire.
   
  • Dialog - Specifies whether a dialog box should be displayed to the user when they attempt to run more than the specified number of instances of your application, and the message to display
  • • Enabled - set to true to display a "number of instances exceeded" dialog box
    • Message - Enter the text of the message you would like to display to the user when the number of instances has been exceeded. The message can be customised by .NET Reactor based on the evaluation settings, by substituting various strings as follows :
    • • [max_processes] is replaced by the value set in the "Instances" field for this lock
  • Enabled - Enable ths lock.
  • Instances - The maximum number of instances.
  
  
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• Nag Screen
  
  We are all familiar with nag screens in applications, reminding us to purchase the product before the trial period expires. This option allows you to specify whether to display a nag screen to your user, again without any modification to the source code of your assembly.
   
  • Enable - Enable the Nag Screen..
  • Message - The text of the message to display in the nag screen.
  • XDays - .NET Reactor can either display the nag screen every time the application is started (in which case set the value of this option to -1), or a specified number of days before the end of the Evaluation Period or Expiry Date. This is useful to allow the user a period to experience your application as if it were properly licensed, but then start to nag him as the end of the trial period or expiration date approaches.
  
  
• Run Another Process After Expiration - Opens or launches another application, file, or web site upon expiration. Usually used to send evaluation users to a web page.
  
  
• Run Without License File - Set to false to require a valid license for operation. If true, enabled Inbuild Locks are honored. If a valid license file is found the Inbuild Locks settings are overriden with the license file settings.
  
  
• Shut Down Process After Expiration - Terminates your application upon expiration.
  
  
• Static License FileName - Specifies a license file name or extension (*.myextension). Leave blank to allow .NET Reactor to determine a *.license file name from your assembly name. To avoid conflicts with optional methods of extending license behavior, binary .NET Reactor licenses do not use the .LIC extension reserved to .NET license classes.
  
  
• V3 Licensing Mode - .NET Reactor v3.x uses a new encryption technique which is not backward compatible with previous versions of .NET Reactor. Set this option to True to use .NET Reactor v3 license encryption technique, or False to use the V2.x compatible encryption method.
  
  

• Dialog Box Interface - .NET Reactor will display a default dialog box whenever a message is to be displayed to the user. However you can design your own dialog box for .NET Reactor to display. Specify the fully qualified name (namespace.dialogname) of the dialog box .NET Reactor should use. There are example C# and Visual Basic projects in the SDK/Customisable MessageBox folder win the .NET Reactor installation folder.
  
• Dialog Caption - Title for message window.
  
  
• Gradient Color Begin - Gradient Color of the message windows.
  
  
• Gradient Color End - Gradient Color of the message windows.
  
  
• License Not Found - The text of the message which is issued when a license file is not found (if "Run Without License" is set to false), is found but is corrupt or otherwise invalid.
  
  

So many dialog boxes !

The number of possible dialog boxes may seem large, and you may worry that your customer will see numerous dialog boxes when the locks expire. This is not the case, the .NET Reactor licensing system will only ever display one dialog to your user. .NET Reactor determines which is the most important dialog and displays that one only. The dialog box to display is determined as follows :

• If "Run Without License File" is set to "True" and .NET Reactor cannot find the License file, or a License file is present (regardless of whether "Run Without License File" is true or false) and that License file is invalid, corrupt, not for the Hardware ID of the PC on which the application is run, or is invalid for some other reason, .NET Reactor will display the "Invalid License File" dialog;
• If the application has expired, .NET Reactor will display the dialog box for the first lock which triggered the expiry of the application in this order :
• • Expiration Date
  • Evaluation Expired
  • Number of uses Exceeded
• If the application has not expired, the Nag screen is enabled, and the XDAYS setting is such that the NAG screen should be displayed, then the NAG screen is displayed.