windows store app trial period implementation

Question

On windows store app submission there is a place where it lets you specify a trial period (24 hours or 7 days...). In order to use this feature do i have to implement a code that kills the app after the specified time (The windows store option being just a declaration of the intention) or does the windows run-time handles the killing.

Answer 1

The following is from the MSDN document How to create a trial version of your app:

Here are a few common expiration scenarios and your options for handling them:

• Trial license expires while the app is running, you can:

  1. Do nothing.
  2. Display a message to your customer.
  3. Close.
  4. Prompt your customer to buy the app.

 

• If the trial expires before the user launches the app, your app won't launch. Instead, users see a dialog box that gives them the option to purchase your app from the Store.

 

• If the customer buys your app while it is running, here are some actions your app can take:
  1. Do nothing and let them continue in trial mode until they restart the app.
  2. Thank them for buying or display a message.
  3. Silently enable the features that are available with a full-license (or disable the trial-only notices).

Answer 2

When you upload an app to the store you specify how long you would like a free trial to last for (a few days, all the way up to never expire).

When the trial expires the application will stop running and the user will be prompted to buy the application to continue using it.

Microsoft have a great sample showing you how to integrate a trial feature in your app. I suggest reading that.

MSDN also documents the different types of licenses available to you:

• Collect full price before download
• Time-limited trial
• Feature-limited trial
• In-app purchases
• Advertising
• Third-party transactions

Answer 3

You can check the expiration date with CurrentApp.LicenseInformation.ExpirationDate. CurrentApp.LicenseInformation.IsActive "may return false if the license is expired", which would indicate that you can run the app with an inactive license with say the purpose of displaying a custom UI asking the user to buy the app. That said - I haven't tested it to verify the correctness of the documentation.