Products are a way of connecting the actual functionality of your software to a structure that Zarqon can write Licenses against.

Zarqon supports several strategies for Licensing your software and they all hinge upon the way you describe your Product. Here are the basic approaches:

• The 'Ignition Key' approach. A valid License unlocks all functionality, just like a car key. This is the simplest approach, you just need to give your Product a name, description and Product ID and you're ready to issue Licenses; it's really that easy.

• The 'Ala Carte' approach. Individual Features are license-controlled and each Feature is added manually to the license, just like filling your tray at a cafeteria. Depending on the number of Features, how many you include in a license and whether they have separate maximums or expiry periods, the process of issuing a license could take a little time, but it will give you the most flexibility for each Feature of the License.

• The 'Gift Basket' approach. Individual Features are license-controlled, but in predefined 'Feature Sets'. By grouping Features like this, you can issue Licenses quickly but still control individual Features. Zarqon is Licensed in this way, and it seems to be about the most common approach in the industry.

Maintaining Products

From the Overview Panel, there are two ways to access the Product Maintenance Panel.

If you already have Products defined and you want to edit one of them, you can select one from the combo-box and click the big, handy 'Manage Product' button on the Overview Panel.

If you haven't defined any Products yet, or you just want to create a new one, then click the 'Products' link on the Main Menu at the bottom right of the screen.

Adding a Product

For this exercise, we'll start with a blank slate, and go through the steps of creating the Product for the Zarqon AIR demo, which uses Features and Feature Sets. You may want to have a brief look at that project before proceeding.

Clicking the 'Products' link on the Main Menu at the bottom right of the screen, you'll navigate to the Product Maintenance Panel where your only option is to add a Product.

Product Details Form

After clicking 'Add Product', you'll see the Product Details Form. Fill in a Product Name, Description and Product ID.

You can use up to 5 alpha characters for your Product ID. You'll see this ID prepended to the License Keys you issue for this Product. The License Key will always be unique, so you don't need to worry about someone else using the same Product ID, it must only be unique among your Zarqon products.

Adding Features

Once you've entered the descriptive information about your Product, you're done if you're going with the 'Ignition Key' licensing approach, and you can just click 'Save Product'. In this case, we're going to forge onward and add some Features to this Product.

Click the 'New Feature' icon above the (currently empty) Features list. This will pop up the New Feature dialog. A Feature simply needs a name and a description.

If you are using the 'Ala Carte' approach to licensing, (we're not) you can  also define a default expiry period for the Feature. If you are using the 'Gift Basket' licensing approach (as we are here), this period is ignored if set, and is instead inherited from the Feature Set it is a part of.

Adding Feature Sets

Once we've added a few Features, we can create Feature Sets.

We follow a similar process. Click the 'New Feature Set' button above the (currently empty) Feature Set list.

New Feature Set Dialog

As with defining Features, you need only give a Feature Set a name and description, and optionally an expiry period.

Below, we've shown a thirty day expiration for a Feature Set. This would be useful for instance, if you are adding an expiring trial (or subscription) of a new set of Features to an existing license. If the user pays to keep the service, you can just go back into their License and clear the expiry, or set it forward to a new date (if its a subscription).

Working with Features and Feature Sets

If you have many Features and Feature Sets, you can give yourself more turf on the Product Maintenance Form by clicking the icon in the center of the form (selected the screenshot below) for hiding the Product details (name, description and Product ID).

When Features or Feature sets are selected you also see some more icons above those lists for editing (a pencil) or deleting (a red minus).

In the Feature list, those simply edit or delete the selected Feature. In the Feature Set list, they operate a little differently. The Feature Set list is actually a tree that displays Feature Sets and their Features. If a Feature Set is selected the delete icon deletes the entire Feature Set. If a Feature of a Feature Set is selected, the delete icon removes that Feature from the Feature Set, and the edit Feature Set icon (pencil) isn't available.

Adding Features to a Feature Set

Once you have some Features and Feature Sets defined, you can add the Features to the Feature Sets.

Below you can see that when you have both a Feature and a Feature Set selected, if the Feature is not already in the Feature Set, you see a green, left-pointing arrow between the Feature Set and Feature lists. Clicking that button will copy the Feature into the Feature Set. It is important to remember it is a copy of the Feature.

If you delete that Feature from the Feature List, it will still be present in any Feature Sets you've added it to. The Feature was just a template. Within the Feature Set you'll be able to set a maximum for the Feature that is specific to that Feature Set.

Editing a Feature Set and its Features

Once you've added some Features to a Feature Set, make sure the Feature Set is selected and click the pencil icon over the Feature Set list to edit the Feature Set and its Features.

On the Edit Feature Set dialog, you can adjust the expiry period of the Feature Set and optionally set maximums for each Feature. To dismiss the dialog, click the Update button to accept your changes to the Feature Set, or Cancel to discard your changes.

Saving the Product

Once you've created your Product with any Features and Feature Sets, you can save the Product to your Amazon S3 account by clicking the 'Save Product' button, or you can discard your changes by clicking 'Cancel' on the Product Maintenance Form.

When it is saved, the Product will be placed in a protected bucket that only you can access with your AWS credentials. Zarqon stored these credentials (encrypted) locally when you configured it, so you're never asked for them again unless they fail to work. If your S3 credentials are ever compromised, you can easily change them at Amazon's site and Zarqon will ask for them again when it starts up.