LiveCode for FM Guide Ben Lui

License definitions

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LCFM Native requires end user licensing. This article covers what we mean by each type of licensing and what constitutes fair use, with some examples.

You can read our complete EULA here.

Named Users

If you or your client are able to put a name to an end user and you connect to FileMaker Cloud or Server, you are probably looking at a Named User. Typically named users are employees in an organisation, which has commissioned the app. Named users can be changed, eg when one person leaves an organisation and another one joins. To change a named user the administrator for the LCFM Native account needs to log in and delete the unwanted user, then the new user can login in via the app and take that license. Two people cannot share one named user license. However one person is permitted to log in from more than one device, provided they are not sharing the software with anyone else. Fair use in this case would be up to 3 logins from different devices in one 24 hour period by the same user.

If a named user has been inactive for 28 days an "inactive" notification will appear next to that user's name in the admin portal. However they will continue to count as one of the user seats until removed from the portal by the admin.

If your license is for Named Users, you must have the Named User script step in an appropriate location in your FileMaker solution.

Once you have reached the limit of your named user pack, no further users can be registered, and a message will be displayed to inform the attempted user that an upgrade to the user pack is required.

Concurrent Users

You probably have concurrent users if you are using syncing and have a large userbase you don't know personally. Concurrent users are anonymous, and the Named User script step is not installed in the app. For example if your app is in an app store, and anyone can purchase and log in to it, these will be concurrent users, provided your app syncs with an FM server at any point. Even if syncing only occurs once eg during first login, this will still count as concurrent use.

Multiple concurrent users can log in at the same time. You need a license that covers the largest number of users using the app at any one time. We define concurrent as two or more individuals active over a 6 hour period. So if you have 100 installs of the app, and 10 of these are active at any point between for example 9am and 3pm on a given day, then you had 10 concurrent users on that day. If all 100 users are likely to log in on a Sunday afternoon to check the sports results, you need a user pack that covers 100 concurrent users.

Note: We count users as people using the app, not as people connected to the FileMaker Server. LCFM Native apps are tracked separately for usage, and will report to a LiveCode owned server when they are used.

Note: We define online as any connection at any time to FileMaker Server or Cloud. If your app connects to eg a browser or a different database, but never connects to FM Server, it is an offline app for the purposes of LCFM Native.

Your users will be tracked over time and this tracking is visible to the administrator for your LCFM account. If the number of users of your app exceeds the size of your concurrent user pack, a dialog will be displayed to any additional users attempting to access and they will be unable to use the app until the number of users is below the limit again.

Offline Users

Your LCFM Native app is offline if it never connects to a FileMaker server. "Offline" in this instance does not mean never connects to the internet, you can use urls, access browsers, connect to eg mySQL databases, but if you connect to FM Server, then you have an online app.

For offline apps, you need a user pack that covers the total number of users who ever install the app. Licensing for offline users comes in tiers, so you can purchase eg the 500 user tier and you are covered for any amount up to that number. If you have 502 users, you will need to purchase the next tier up.

Note: offline app users are still tracked by LCFM and reported in your user portal. If you have security issues with apps being tracked at all, please contact us to discuss them.

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