How does the 1 month trial expiration date in the FM

downloadable sw work? Is there some script or FM file

which does this ? Or is this a secret of FM that noone knows

or talks about....?

I wanted to maybe do something similar in my FM app so that

either user gets an automatic notice after 1 month or year or something

like that.

Can someone explain how this works?

The way you would go about making an FM solution or runtime time dependant is to have it store a date when it is first opened by the user, then on subsequent openings, to compare the stored date to the current system date - and if the difference is equal to your chosen period, to take some specified action. Loosely speaking, the script would run along the following lines:

If ["IsEmpty(FirstOpenDate)"]

Set Field ["FirstOpenDate", "Status(CurrentDate)"]

EndIf

If ["(Status(CurrentDate) - FirstOpenDate) > 30"]

Beep

Send Mail ["The mail you want to send"]

Show Message ["This is where your message goes"]

Do Stuff ["This is where the other stuff you want to do goes"]

Exit Application

EndIf

---

The above steps can be included in a script which is defined as a start-up script (ie it is selected to run every time the file is opened, from within the Edit > Preferences > Document dialog.

While some aspects of the technique may be broadly similar to those used by FMP to place a time limit on their trial version of v6, it resides within the application code/resources and, accordingly, will be structured rather differently.

I'm afraid that 30 days may not be enough time for me to try and test out my needs...

Can I re-download (a second time) the "trial" FM sw after the first 30 days expire ? Does FM put a block or something on my particular IP address of my particular pc so that I can never and never again get a free 30 day trial : Or do they drop in some kind of flagged file or something which checks with the pc's clock to kick off and kill the FM app from ever being able to run again ?? Could I just completely delete all FM files on my pc and then re-download the trial sw ?

Anybody ever experiment or know about this?

Thanks

FileMaker has some flaws and limitations, but - as most of the people on this forum have figured out - it's nevertheless one of the best around. I must say that back in 1991, it took me a *lot* less than 30 days to decide that I wanted to own a copy - and FM back then was a far less impressive contender than it is today! So I guess I've never come up against the problem you are anticipating.

I reckon that the folks at FMI probably figure that if you haven't been convinced that it's value for money within that period, it is unlikely to be the right application for you. They may have a point?!

Ray, I went to your site for the first time.

------ WOW ------

Where do you find the time to manage all this AND your lengthy replies?

How long is the average day in Australia? 35 hours?

Anatoli

Thanks for the compliment Anatoli - much appreciated!

Long replies -- who me? Nah - write them in my lunch break

Ray, I admire you as artist and FM expert!

Amazing or even better: "Fascinating Jim" (as would Mr. Spock say for the FM logic, not for the art bit).