Develop solutions - ABBYY Documentation

You can develop solutions based on ABBYY FlexiCapture and sell them to third parties. A solution is a Document Definition, and it can include the following additional components:

A FlexiLayout created in FlexiLayout Studio
A rule module or a special data checking algorithm that uses rules to check data
An export module or a custom export procedure

Protect your solution from unlicensed use with a Developer’s License and a unique solution identifier. Only users with a User’s License can then use your solution.

Protect a Document Definition

Describe your solution to ABBYY

Send a message describing your solution and listing its components to the ABBYY office in your region.

Receive the unique identifiers

The ABBYY office provides unique identifiers for your solution’s components, and in some cases a developer’s license, depending on the type of solution you are developing. Include the identifiers in the source code of your components and check them against the identifiers specified in a User’s License.

Enter the solution identifier

Start ABBYY FlexiCapture and open the Document Definition editor.
On the Document Definition menu, click Document Definition Properties….
Select the General tab.
Enter the unique solution identifier you received from the ABBYY office.

Request a User's License for your client

When you sell the solution, ask the ABBYY office for a User’s License that includes the unique solution identifier. Without that license, your client cannot use the Document Definition or FlexiLayout to process documents.

Protect individual components

You can develop and protect any component independently of a complete solution. Protecting a FlexiLayout requires a Developer’s License. For more information, see Protection features for FlexiLayouts and classifiers. Export modules and rule modules are integrated into a Document Definition with a script. Protecting these modules does not require a Developer’s License. If your solution allows modules to be used with any Document Definition, include a unique identifier check in the module’s code.

Develop an external library in the .dll format and integrate it with ABBYY FlexiCapture. The source code then stays unavailable to users.

Check the license from a module

Use the IsModuleAllowedByLicense method in your module to check whether the user’s license allows the module:

IsModuleAllowedByLicense ( authorId : string, moduleName : string ) : bool

In this method, authorId is the unique identifier of the developer and moduleName is the unique identifier of the solution. The following sample checks for a parameter in a license:

private bool CheckLicense()
{
    if (FCTools.IsModuleAllowedByLicense("ABBYY RU", "ModuleName") == false)
    {
        FCTools.ShowMessage("Your license does not allow the use of this module", true);
        return false;
    }
    else
    {
        // FCTools.ShowMessage("License is OK", false);
        return true;
    }
}

Call the license check method from an export script as follows:

public void ExportDocument(ref IExportDocument docRef, ref FCTools FCTools )
{
    if (CheckLicense() == true)
    {
        …
        exportImages(docRef, FCTools, exportFolder);
            // export information about the document
        exportDocInfo(docRef, sw);
            // export fields
        exportFields(docRef.Children, sw, "");
    }
}

If the license does not include a module named ModuleName with the author ABBYY RU, exporting documents returns an error.

​Protect a Document Definition

​Protect individual components

​Check the license from a module

Protect a Document Definition

Protect individual components

Check the license from a module