Service components such as DataConnectors, DataEngine, and TextParser support design-time verification-based licensing through the NuGet package build scripts within the components. Each developer needs a license to build their project. When a valid key is found, the app is properly licensed during the build action.

.NET Framework App Licensing

In order to license a .NET Framework application, follow these steps:

1. Activate a valid serial key using the GrapeCity License Manager, which can be found in the Visual Studio add-in menu.
2. Add a reference to the ComponentOne NuGet packages to be used
3. Right click the packages.config file and click "migrate packages.config to PackageReference..."

This enables the application to build and license the ComponentOne Service Components. The app is successfully licensed by generating a unique and valid .gclicx file in the build output (obj/Debug or obj/Release). This file must be distributed with the application.

.NET Core App Licensing

Applications that are created on Service Components require a unique runtime license. If you have a 2020 v1 or earlier key (issued prior to July 29, 2020), you must generate a runtime app key using the GrapeCity Visual Studio Extension. For detailed steps to generate a runtime app key using the GrapeCity Visual Studio Extension, see Generate License using GrapeCity Visual Studio Extension.

If you have a 2020 v2 or newer key (issued after July 29, 2020), you may continue to use generated runtime app keys, or you may allow the latest ComponentOne NuGet packages to automatically license your app at build. This is quicker and recommended for users with newer keys. For more information, see Generate License Automatically at Build.

Generate License using GrapeCity Visual Studio Extension

If you are using ComponentOne controls with Visual Studio 2017 or above, you can use the GrapeCity Visual Studio Extension to license applications, open Sample Explorer, update projects and contact Technical Support. After installation, it gets available with various options as shown below.

To use GrapeCity License Manager Extension, follow these steps:

1. From the Tools menu, select GrapeCity. You will see four options as shown in the image below
   
   
2. Select GrapeCity License Manager. It prompts you to login to the GrapeCity account as shown in the image below.
   
   

   You need to login your GrapeCity account. In case you do not have an account, you can create it using the Register option. Once you register, the License Manager window appears as shown in the image below:

   
   
3. Select Create RunTime License. It allows the users to generate runtime license for the project(s). On clicking this option, the following window appears:
   
4. From the above window, you can select the license and the project for which license needs to be generated. On clicking the Generate button, a success message appears and a license file GCDTLicenses.xml is generated.

Generate License Automatically at Build

Starting with 2020 v2, ComponentOne Service Component controls support application licensing through the NuGet package build scripts. Each developer or build machine needs a license to build the project and properly license the application.

In order to license Service Component application using ComponentOne NuGet packages, all you must do is activate a 2020 v2 (or newer) serial key for the Service Components Edition or Studio Enterprise through the GrapeCity License Manager. For the detailed steps, see Using GrapeCity License Manager Tool. 

This enables the application to build and license the ComponentOne Service Components Edition controls. The app is successfully licensed by generating a unique and valid .gclicx file in the build output (obj/Debug or obj/Release). This file must be distributed with the application.

Note that this method licensing is only supported in Visual Studio 2019 and above.