How can I capture the name of the machine that Alpha is running on?

[Ted Giles]

It's in the Registry and I'd appreciate being able to get at it through the REGISTRY.SYS_GET() method.
I'm having a syntax moment.

[csda1]

Re: How can I capture the name of the machine that Alpha is running on?

It's in the Registry and I'd appreciate being able to get at it through the REGISTRY.SYS_GET() method.
I'm having a syntax moment.

' In Alpha Five
?API_GetMachineName()

I'm sure it's stored in the registry at some locations, but I wouldn't think that would be a good way to get the machine name.

[Ted Giles]

Re: How can I capture the name of the machine that Alpha is running on?

Thanks Ira.
I'd thought that Alpha used something like that for their license check.
That's what I'm hoping to do for an app I'm selling.

[Ray in Capetown]

Re: How can I capture the name of the machine that Alpha is running on?

Ted, I use this kind of thing;-..

if win_machinesid() = "S-1-5-21-2857940466-688431176-422931637"
	wflashmessage("OK",1,"","")
else	
wFlashSTOP("Unregisered",10)
end if

When I install I hardcode the machine ID
In place of the flash stop message it can send me an email with the SID. If the client has installed on a new machine I will know.
If authorised - I email an authorisation txt file back with that number.

[Ted Giles]

Re: How can I capture the name of the machine that Alpha is running on?

Thanks Ray, good thinking. However, I'm looking at ways of distributing without any hard coding - with luck I'll be on the beach.
My current thinking is something that allows 30 days trial, after which a license needs to be purchased.
I can use the SID and the name to build an e-mail which needs to be sent to me so I can capture the installation and supply a unique license key.
Once I get the data, I'll be building an automated response from an Alpha instance so this bit will run unattended. (I hope).

[Steve Wood]

Re: How can I capture the name of the machine that Alpha is running on?

I use(d to use) a "registration server" for this purpose. The user entered their license in the application and clicked Activate. That sent the machine name and the license to my server. It looked for their license number (added to my database when they purchased the product) and used an algorithm to create a "key". The Key was sent back to the user machine and you can either embed it in your program, in a text file or in the registry. Then you check the Key against the machine name each time some important action takes place. If the decrypted Key does not match the License + machine name, that fires up a nag or halt screen.

Above I said "used to" because its not really worth the effort. Users feel restricted, and the process breaks down (key is lost, user cannot find their license, etc) and you spend all of your time in maintenance mode or worrying that you will be. And if you are on the beach, they will come find you.

[Ted Giles]

Re: How can I capture the name of the machine that Alpha is running on?

I'm thinking of something a bit less sophisticated Steve.
The key that goes back has to be entered by the user, and it should match the machine name so there is no embedding.
What I had anticipated happening is that if the machine name doesn't match the key, the registration screen fires up.
I'll need a way of resending the key if it gets lost.

How do you lock down your DeskTop apps now then?