Add Expire Period Authorization Definitions

SoftwareShield System Feature Guide > Authorization Definitions > Authorization Definition Types > Add Expire Period Authorization Definitions

## Add Expire Period Authorization Definition

An Add Expire Period Authorization Definition adds a specific number of allowable days to the expire period of an expiring license that uses an expire period.

Once activated, the Expire Period of the license is changed to be equal to the old limit plus the number of days passed as a parameter.

The Activation Code that is generated for a Add Expire Period Authorization Definition does give you the option of using a shelf-life. The resulting Activation Code must be used within the shelf-life after the date it has been issued, or the code itself will expire and will cease to work. Note you can override the shelf-life you defined when you created the license at the time you generate an Activation Code with the Manual-Activator.

The Activation Code that is generated for a Add Expire Period Authorization Definition is a "single-use" code by default. If single-use is enabled, they can only be used once. However, note that you may reissue it to the same customer on another day, and the code will be different (due to the embedded shelf-life date) and therefore may be used by the customer. You have the option of turning off single-use when you define your license, but do not have the option of overriding it later.

Add Expire Period Authorization Definitions do require a parameter to be sent (implicitly). The parameter will be the number of days to add to the licenses Expire Period. You may add between 1 and 65536 days.

Add Expire Period Authorization Definitions can be used only as a payload for Design-Time Composite Authorization Definitions. They may not be used as a Run-Time payload.

### When To Use An Add Expire Period Definition

Create an Add Expire Period Authorization Definition only if you have enabled expiration by using an expire period limit for a specific license.

Create an Add Expire Period Authorization Definition if you have a license that you want to repeatedly execute over a limited number of days (regardless of how many time it is executed during this period). This is an excellent way to implement a lease model. The customers license could be set to an arbitrary expiration period. Every time they run out of time, they pay for more as they wish, you issue them a new Add Expire Period Activation Code with the correct parameter and their expire duration is set to the new (incremented) value.

### More Information

For help in understanding expiring license features (including expire periods), see Expiring Licenses in this feature reference.

For help in actually creating an Add Expire Period Authorization Definition, please see Authorization Definition Dialog in the SoftwareShield License Manager Reference.

For help in actually setting the expire period in your licenses, see Expiration Tab in the SoftwareShield License Manager Reference.