Introduction to the SoftwareShield COM Activator

Developing Applications Using The SoftwareShield System > Understanding The SoftwareShield System > Introduction to the SoftwareShield COM-Activator

## Introduction to the SoftwareShield COM-Activator

This section is a brief introduction to the SoftwareShield COM-Activator component. For comprehensive help on how to use the COM-Activator, you should instead see the section: COM Activator.

The SoftwareShield COM-Activator is a .dll that comes with the Enterprise, Internet and Server editions of the SoftwareShield System (SSCGen.dll). The dll exposes an interface to a COM object (SSCodeGenerator) which has only one available interface (ISSCodeGenerator). COM objects can be created and accessed in any environment that supports COM. This is virtually every Windows development IDE in widespread use. Use the COM-Activator COM component from environments like Visual Basic, MSVisual C++, MS.NET, Borland Delphi, Borland C++ Builder, and many others even script languages like VBScript and JScript.

Only use the COM-Activator if you wish build your own user interface for generating Activation Codes.

You do this by linking to the COM server DLL (SSCGen.dll) and calling functions on its exposed interface. Keep in mind that generating Activation Codes can more easily be accomplished using the Manual-Activator, Web-Activator or the CheckPoint License Server. The COM-Activator however is the best way to programmatically generate Activation Codes.

Never distribute the COM Activator to clients as part of your software. It is strictly for your own internal use as another way to generate Activation Codes.

The SoftwareShield COM-Activator component interacts with the license project files (LPJ) you create during license development. You can create a host application using the COM-Activator to implement your own UI for generating Activation Codes or even directly integrate it directly into your own in-house CRM tools to provide a seamless single interface for your support staff.

For more information on actually using the COM-Activator, see: COM Activator.