Floating Features

Similar to Floating Licenses, LicenseSpring supports Floating Features.

In this guide you can find an overview of the floating features functionality: registering and releasing floating features and setting up the Floating Features Watchdog.

Check if a feature is floating

As with floating licenses, you can check if a feature is floating using properties for cloud, as well as offline floating features. To start, use the following code to check if a license feature is floating:

C#

foreach (ILicenseFeature licenseFeature in license.Features())
{
  if(licenseFeature.IsFloating || licenseFeature.IsOfflineFloating)
  {
    // DO SOMETHING WITH A FLOATING FEATURE
  }
}

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Floating slots

Developers will want to know the maximum number of users that can simultaneously use a floating feature and the current number of users using the feature. That can be done with:

C#

uint maxUsers = licenseFeature.FloatingSlotsCount;
uint currentUsers = licenseFeature.FloatingSlotsInUse;

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Floating timeout

You can get information on the floating feature timeout (in minutes) and the point in time until which a registered feature is valid (time of registration + floating feature timeout). After that time, LicenseSpring server will automatically release the feature - if it's not registered again.

C#

uint floatingTimeout = license.FloatingTimeout;
DateTime floatingEndDateTime = license.FloatingEndDateTime;
DateTime floatingEndDateTimeUtc = license.FloatingEndDateTimeUtc;

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Registering and releasing floating features

Similar to floating licenses, floating features have to be periodically registered on the server for them to take up a floating slot.

C#

ILicenseManager licenseManager = LicenseManager.GetInstance();
ILicense license = licenseManager.CurrentLicense();
ILicenseFeature feature = license.Features().First(e => e.IsFloating);
license.RegisterFloatingFeature(feature);
// You can find a similar sample in the console sample app 
// that is a part of the SDK.

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Note that in the C++ SDK you need to pass the feature code instead of the feature object to License::registerFloatingFeature

Likewise, if you wish to release a feature before its timeout, you can do it like so:

C#

ILicenseManager licenseManager = LicenseManager.GetInstance();
ILicense license = licenseManager.CurrentLicense();
ILicenseFeature feature = license
                           .Features()
                           .First(e => e.FloatingEndDateTime > DateTime.Now);
license.ReleaseFloatingFeature(feature);
// You can find a similar sample in the console sample app 
// that is a part of the SDK.

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Python

Go

Java

Swift

In .NET SDK, ILicenseFeature data is not refreshed after registering and releasing the feature. In order to get updated values like FloatingSlotsInUse and FloatingEndDateTime you have to call ILicense.Features() method again.

The same applies to the C++ SDK. You have to call license->features() again to get updated feature values.

Floating feature borrowing

If the license user is planning to be offline for a longer period of time, they can borrow a floating feature instead. Borrowing a feature removes it from the feature watchdog.

For user-based licenses, the application must collect the user's password or initiate an SSO login via their Identity Provider:

C++

std::string featureCode = "floatingfeature";
license->borrowFloatingFeature(featureCode);

std::string accountCode;
bool useAuthCode = true;
auto url = manager->getSSOUrl(accountCode, useAuthCode);

std::string authCode; // extracted from the redirect URI
std::string borrowEndDateTime; // empty timestamp indicates maximum allowed borrow length
std::string redirectUri; // set when using alternative redirect URI
license->borrowFloatingFeature(featureCode, borrowEndDateTime, accountCode, useAuthCode, redirectUri);

Watchdog setup

Similar to a floating license watchdog, floating features have to initialize the watchdog in order to use its functionalities. See: Floating Licensing.

Once configured, floating features only need to be registered once. The watchdog ensures they remain active until they are manually released. Be sure to release them when the application shuts down to free up the slots.

You initialize the watchdog like so:

C#

void WatchdogCallbackMethod(LicenseSpringException e)
{
  // DO SOMETHING
}

license.SetupFloatingFeatureWatchdog(WatchdogCallbackMethod);

// Callback method will be invoked only if an exception in a watchdog thread
// is raised. If you want to invoke the callback on every feature
// registration you can pass an optional parameter to the method:
license.SetupFloatingFeatureWatchdog(WatchdogCallbackMethod, true);

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Setting up the watchdog will also start the thread. If you wish to stop automatically extending your floating features, you can stop the watchdog:

C#

license.StopFloatingFeatureWatchdog();

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And once stopped, it can be restarted again:

C#

license.StartFloatingFeatureWatchdog();

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Swift