A few questions about extensions and the licensing API

Developers
1

Hey, all. So, a few questions on the licensing API:

  • Does the licensing API provide information on whether or not the user has purchased SketchUp Pro, or is it designed for licenses which are provided by the extension itself?

  • Is it required that it is used, even if a developer (assuming the API pertains to extension licenses) submits their extension with a custom tailored EULA - or does the API only apply to extensions which are distributed with the general EULA, as shown here?

2

@Bryceosaurus - can you take the question about the EULA?

To detect if the user is using Pro you have Sketchup.is_pro?. The licensing API is for extension licenses.

3

Thanks; that certainly clears a few things.

Any info on which EULA the API pertains to?

4

Hi There

The Licensing API is separate from any legal aspects of your extension.

The General Purpose EULA governs if the developer does not specify a EULA. See the first paragraph. You, the developer are free to provide your own EULA. If you go this route you should mention and link to your EULA in the Extension details. You can also provide this info in you extension using and “about” dialog. We also have some improvements planned for extension warehouse that will allow you to better present your EULA to your users. I hope that feature available in a few months.

~Bryce

5

Thank you, @Bryceosaurus.

So, hypothetically speaking, if I release a plugin with using my own licensing scheme, I would be able to use the SketchUp Licensing API to record when a user has in fact licensed the extension?

This would be under the assumption that, as soon as the customer has made the purchase (and the record has hence forth been made), the next time they load the extension the Licensing API would then be aware of that purchase. Once the check has been made for confirmation, the API would return true, where as if they hadn’t made the purchase, the licensing check would then return false. My assumption is correct?

Please forgive my pedantry; I’m already aware of the EULA terms as I’ve read them - what I’m looking to understand is the process behind the licensing itself: my employer is considering the release of an extension, however they want to make sure their bases are already properly covered before doing so.

6

Sorry for the confusion, I’m working on a public page in our developer center that will explain e-commerce better.

The answer to your first question is: “No”. If you use your own licensing platform, you must also set up your own store.

Extension Warehouse licenses only work with purchases processed via Extension Warehouse. For Trials and purchases, Extension Warehouse installs a license file when the extension is installed or updated. We can’t deliver licenses based on purchases made outside of EW. We are working on a system to allow developers to migrate their existing users to EW. For example if you wanted to provide a discount for your existing customers on a new version, we plan to provide a way to do that.

Are you already selling your extension somewhere? BTW you are free to sell an extension in EW and on your own store but that means you have to support multiple licensing systems.