Trouble-Shooting ChartDirector License Installation
The unlicensed version of ChartDirector will include yellow banner lines at the bottom of all chart it produces. The licensed version of ChartDirector will not include such lines. If you install the ChartDirector license code, but the yellow banner is still there, please follow the steps below for diagnostics.
Before you try the steps below, please make sure you have read and follow the instructions in the Installation section of the ChartDirector documentation for license installation, or have read and follow the instructions in the online license installation page. About 80% of the cases can be solved by re-reading the license installation instructions.
Diagnostics Message
ChartDirector Ver 2.5 or above is distributed with a web based diagnostic script. If you are using ChartDirector on a web server, please copy the diagnostic script to your web server, and access it using a browser. This will retrun a web page explaining why the license file cannot be loaded.
| ChartDirector Edition | File Name of Diagnostic Script |
|---|---|
| ASP/COM/VB | ChartDirector/aspdemo/cdinfo.asp |
| .NET | ChartDirector/VBNetASP/cdinfo.aspx ChartDirector/CSharpASP/cdinfo.aspx |
| JSP/Java | ChartDirector/jspdemo/cdinfo.jsp |
| ColdFusion | cfdemo/cdinfo.cfm |
| PHP | ChartDirector/phpdemo/cdinfo.php |
| Perl | ChartDirector/perldemo_cgi/cdinfo.pl |
| Python | ChartDirector/pythondemo_cgi/cdinfo.py |
| Ruby | cddemo/cdinfo |
If you are not using ChartDirector with a web server, you may use the getBootLog method to retrieve the diagnostic message as a text string, and display it in somewhere you can see (eg. print to console for console applications, or print into the debugger, or display it in a suitable control on a Form, etc). The exact syntax of the getBootLog method is:
| ChartDirector Edition | File Name of Diagnostic Script |
|---|---|
| ASP/COM/VB | Dim s s = cd.getBootLog() ' cd = ChartDirector.API object |
| .NET | [VB.NET] Dim s As String = Chart.getBootLog() [C#] string s = Chart.getBootLog(); |
| JSP/Java | String s = Chart.getBootLog(); |
| PHP | $s = getBootLog(); |
| Perl | my $x = perlchartdir::getBootLog(); |
| Python | s = getBootLog() |
| Ruby | s = ChartDirector::getBootLog() |
| C++ | char s[4096]; Chart::getBootLog(s); |
Things to Check
Make sure the contents of the license file is correct
The diagnostic web page will report "license file invalid" if its contents are
not correct.
The license file should contain only the license code, with an optional line feed
at the end of the file (both UNIX and Windows style line feeds are acceptable).
Make sure your license file is in ASCII and not in Unicode (the Windows Notepad
is also capable of storing a text file as Unicode, which is not supported as a
license file format).
You may download a license file sample as a reference
on how a correct license file should look like.
Make sure your license file is called "chartdir.lic"
The diagnostic web page will report "file not found" if the license file name
is not called "chartdir.lic".
If you are using Windows Notepad to create the license file, please note that
Notepad may automatically add the "txt" extension to your file name and created
"chartdir.lic.txt" instead. When you view the file from the Windows File Explorer,
you will see "chartdir.lic", as the File Explorer may automatically hide known
extensions such as "txt". So you may get the illusion that the file name is
"chartdir.lic", whereas actually it is "chartdir.lic.txt".
To verify the file name, please use the DOS shell instead of the File Explorer.
Make sure your license file is put in the path name as
reported by the diagnostic web page.
The diagnostic web page will report "file not found" if the license file is not
in the expected subdirectory.
An exception is that for ChartDirector for .NET, you can put the license file
in [system32], despite the diagnostic web page may indicate an application
specific path for the license file.
Make sure you web server has read access to "chartdir.lic"
Depending on how your system is configured, the web server may be running under a very
low privilege account that represents the anonymous user. It may be unable to read the
"chartdir.lic" file due to insufficient privilege. The diagnostic web page will report
"permission denied" or "access denied" if ChartDirector cannot read the license file
due to security issues.
On Windows machines with the NTFS file system, it is recommended you grant the Everyone
group read access, and do not deny anyone to read the license file.
If you permit only the web server anonymous user to read "chartdir.lic", but deny the Everyone group, you may actually deny the web server anonymous user. It is because the Everyone group may include the web server anonymous user as its member. So the web server anonymous user is permitted and denied simultaneoulsy, and deny has priority over permit.
On Windows 2000, please remember to use the "Advanced" button on the security tab when
checking file security. Sometimes a user or group may be shown as permitted in the
security tab, but is actually denied when using the "Advanced" button to view the details.
Check if you need to reboot the server
If you are using ChartDirector Ver 2.5 on a web server, it is recommended you reboot
the server to ensure ChartDirector reloads the license file. From the web page
diagnostics time stamps, you can check when is the last time ChartDirector attempts
to load the license file.
If you are using ChartDirector for .NET Ver 3.0 and installs the license in [system32],
you need to reboot the server for ChartDirector to reload the license file.
Make sure your license key is valid for the ChartDirector version you are using
A ChartDirector license key is valid for the latest ChartDirector version at the time the license
key was issued, all earlier ChartDirector verions, as well as all ChartDirector versions released
within 1 year of the license issued date.
Contact ChartDirector Support
If the steps above could not solve the problem, please email support@advsofteng.net for support. Please include the output of the diagnostic message, your license file, your ChartDirector version, programming language edition (ASP/COM/VB, .NET, JSP/Java, ColdFusion, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, C++), and platform (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, ...) in your email.