DllActivation shows how to activate a Dll, and helps understand the 2 dll activation mode available in dotNet Protector: activate to run and activate to reference.
NOTE: Protected dlls need the runtime to work.
1. PvLogiciels.dotNetProtector.Runtime.dll is the common runtime
2. PvLogiciels.dotNetProtector.RuntimeV1 is the v1.1 (x86 only) runtime
3. PvLogiciels.dotNetProtector.RuntimeX86 is the v2/x86 runtime
4. PvLogiciels.dotNetProtector.RuntimeAMD64 is the v2/x64 runtime
5. PvLogiciels.dotNetProtector.RuntimeItanium is the v2/IA64 runtime
This is a v2 project. 1 and 3 are needed if you run in a 32bit process, 1 and 4 on x64, 1 and 5 on ia64
DllToActivate : This is the dummy dll we are supposed to protect.
ActivateToRun : a simple exe that consumes the dll. This exe references the ‘activate to run’ protected version of the dll.
ActivateToReference : the same as above, but references the ‘activate to reference’ version.
Notice the ActivateToReference.licx file in project: it tells VS to launch LicenseCompiler (LC.EXE) to build a runtime license resource.
The licx syntax for dotNet Protector is straightforward:
The licensed type is always <dotNetProtector>, followed by your component assembly name.
In this case : <dotNetProtector>, DllToProtect
Keygen : the same as in ActivationSample.
ActivateToRun.dpp : dotNet Protector Project that protects the dll with ‘activate to run’ option
ActivateToReference.dpp : dotNet Protector Project that protects the dll with ‘activate to Reference’ option
Building the solution
1. Export your keyset (from dotNet Protector’s menu Tools/Export Keyset) to the keygen directory.
2. Rebuild keygen and protect it (keygen.dpp)
3. Protect the dll using ActivateToRun.dpp and ActivateToReference.dpp
4. Run Keygen for each protected dll
. keygen 1000 ActivateToRun\DllToActivate.dll
. keygen 1001 ActivateToReference\DllToActivate.dll
5. Rebuild ActivateToRefence.exe
6. Run ActivateToRun.exe : An exception should occur when you click ‘Dll Invoke’
7. Copy ActivateToRun\DllToActivate.dll.license to ActivateToRun\bin\debug. ActivateToRun should run without exception. (‘Dll Invoke’ should display a dialog saying ‘Hello, world’)
8. Run ActivateToReference.exe. No license needed at run time. It should work without a license file.