Tag Archives: license

OLE server only

When I try to start the software I get the message: ‘This program can be used as OLE server only!’. What does that mean?

The program has been installed with a passport file which allows to run the program as OLE server only. It cannot be started as a normal desktop application.

Very likely you have downloaded the software from our website and installed it on your system. The download packages do not contain valid passport files, i.e. valid user licences. After the installation, you have to copy a valid passport file into the program directory.
In the case of SCOUT, the passport file is called scout_passport.wtp. If you installed CODE the name is code_passport.wtp.

In the case of a software purchase you should have received a passport file from us either by e-mail or with the setup CD. If you are evaluating the software you should have received a passport file with a demo licence by e-mail.

Licence information

When I start the software I get the message ‘Licence information for TF1Book is invalid’. What should I do?

In our products we used to work with a workbook component named TF1Book. This is replaced now by a more modern workbook component supporting Unicode characters and Excel files, but the software still contains the TF1Book component in order to be able to read old configuration files.

TF1Book is a so-called ActiveX control which sits in the file vcf132.ocx. During the installation, this file is copied to the program directory and the setup program then registers the ActiveX component using the windows program regsvr32. You will get the above mentioned error message if another software package registers an older version of vcf132.ocx. This happens even if the other program copied its version of vcf132.ocx to a totally different directory. Due to the registration Windows will start the wrong version of the component when our software needs to generate the workbook component.
In this case you should unregister all older versions of the component and work with the latest version only. You unregister an ActiveX component with a command like
regsvr32 “c:\program files\software_xyz\vcf132.ocx” /U
where the specified path should be the installation path of the software package that uses the older version of the component. When all older versions are un-registered, you should register the latest version with the command
regsvr32 “c:\program files\scout\vcf132.ocx”

Check-out managed license

You can now check-out a managed license for offline use. The typical scenario is that you plan to travel with your laptop and expect to have no internet connection for a while. In this situation you can use the menu command “?/Check out managed license for offline use” while you still have a connection to the internet. You have to specify the number of hours for which you will be offline. During this time you can work without connection to the license server.

The license server blocks your license for the indicated offline time for other users. If your license is one license of a pool shared by several users act responsibly and declare reasonable offline periods only.

If your offline time is over earlier than expected you can use the menu command “?/Un-do managed license check-out” to tell the server that you are online again. Your license will then be available for other users if you do not use if for some minutes.