This question comes up often. Atalasoft has 2 main categories of licenses:
SDK Licenses
These are used by developers and automated build machines to Develop, Build, Test, and Run desktop / console apps (EXEs) and also to develop and test (LOCALHOST ONLY) web applications.
Identifying an SDK License
If you look at a serial number for an Atalasoft product it will follow a general pattern
A group of letters and numbers at the beginning followed by 4 groups of 4 Hexidecimal characters each.
The first group of letters and numbers identifies the product
DID2 = DotImage Document Imaging SDK
PRP2 = PdfReader ADDON (11.0 and newer)
BARD = BarCode Reader Addon (All 1D and 2D)
This group is the key to knowing SDK or server:
If there is NO "X" in the first group, it's an SDK license.
More about SDK Licenses
Standard SDK licenses allow a single developer to have up to 2 machines licensed for their exclusive use.
This may be a work machine and home machine, or a desktop and laptop.
The license is bound to the machine and to to the user.
In order to receive SDK support, an individual must be licensed under an SDK license with active maintenance.
SDK licenses can be embedded into EXE (not class libraries or Web apps) by setting up the correct licenses.licx entries
HOWTO: License an EXE for Deployment (.NET Framework)
HOWTO:License a .NET 6 / 8 Application (embedding license in an exe)
NOTE: An automated build machine counts (for licensing purposes) as if it is a separate developer
So if you have developer "Joe Dev" and he's manually building your exe on one of his two allowed machines in Visual Studio - even if that app is for redistribution/sale, that is OK, but if your actual production builds are being done on a TeamCity or some form of Continuous integration or build machine, that machine would need a license separate from "Joe Dev" even if Joe menages the builds. Its about whether the builds are being done by Joe manually in Visual Studio or if he's set up an automated build process that determines whether it needs separate licensing
SERVER Licenses
Server licenses are run-time licenses for server deployment.They do not confer any right to develop or receive any support outside of assistance with licensing and deployment.
Identifying a Server License
If you look at a serial number for an Atalasoft product it will follow a general pattern
A group of letters and numbers at the beginning followed by 4 groups of 4 Hexidecimal characters each.
The first group of letters and numbers identifies the product
DIDX2 = DotImage Document Imaging SERVER
PRPX2 = PdfReader ADDON (11.0 and newer) SERVER
BADX2 = BarCode Reader Addon (All 1D and 2D) SERVER
This group is the key to knowing SDK or server:
If there is an "X" in the first group, then it is a server license
More About Server Licenses
They are required for hosting web applications that will be accessed from any URL other than localhost.
Standard server licenses allow activation on up to 2 machines... of which only one may be for production use. Thus if you have 2 production servers, you need 2 separate server licenses. However, in such a case your production licenses allow 1 additional activation each which could be used for TESTING, QA, UAT, even Disaster Recovery. (but not Load Balancing - that counts as separate servers)
Server licenses CAN NOT be embedded into exes (they will not work with licenses.licx embedding)
Server licenses can be bound to MachineID or IP address. When activating we usually recommend binding to IP address because when you bind to IP on a server license, you do not need to run the activation ON the server itself... You can run the activation from any windows machine with Internet Access.
General Licensing
We have a detailed guide for HOWTO: Activate DotImage SDK or Server (Including Offline Activation)
Special Agreements
Above, we've described the standard licensing agreements. If your organization has a large team, a large number of servers, requires a "special license" for Com-Callable Wrappers, or is using certain "cloud based" solutions, or needs to embed licensing in a class library, please contact your sales account rep to discuss your needs.