Limitations for trial version

[RomanAge]

Hello,

Could anyone point me to the right direction on how to create a trial version of an application either limited in time or in number of uses?
I'm completely stuck with that.

I'm posting here because my app is FlashLite, but would I have to look into Symbian in order to do that?

And finally, are this type of limitations reliable? Can't a user reinstall the trial and have the limitation start over again from the beginning?

Thank you.

[manikantan]

Trial versions can be of 2 types : Based on number of uses or time-based.

For time-based, you can create an entry in the local Filesystem ( using SharedLocal Object) and check for completion of a fixed number of days. But changing the System time in the phone can cause this mode to fail. Instead you can store the date of install of the app in a server(tagged with the IMEI) and let the app connect everytime and check it the user plays it.

For the number of executions/runs, you can use similar policies of storing in local database or remote server.
Hope it helps.

[RomanAge]

Yes it does help. Thans you Manikantan.

[shpe11]

for trial with days, you can also use only SharedLocal Object; but you store the date/time every time the user run the app...; if the user before running change the date to last date/time plus some minutes it will escape the trial verifications, but who does that?
if you see the date/time of the phone is earlier than what you have stored, then the user cheat and end his trial immediately...

I personally made with 2min running full aplication, then a popup with activate comes...

beware if your app is .swf distributed, this could be easily decompiled and cracked... so try to hide your code in movieclips... or something...

[RomanAge]

Is the SharedLocal Object the same as the SharedObject?
I've used the SharedObject before, to save highscores.
If the app is just a .swf file, there's no install/uninstall so the SharedObject can't be deleted (at least not easily), but if packaged as a .sis file the data is lost when the application is uninstalled (or may be when installed again, I don't know, but the result is the same).
Which is not a problem for highscores, but for a trial version check (based on time or number of uses), knowing that a trial version by definition is free so the user can download and install it as many times as he wants, it is a problem.

So is using a server to store each IMEI the only alternative when using a .sis file (for the OVI Store)? And does reading the IMEI require any special capability?

Thanks.