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Client (AS3) API

This article discusses licenses for ElectroServer4: how to choose the one you need, how to request it, and how to install it.

Contents 1 Demo License 2 Choosing a License to Purchase 3 Request the License 4 Install the License 5 Set New Number of Concurrent Users 6 Multiple Licenses

Demo License

By default ElectroServer has a demo license (limit of 25 users, any IP address) installed. For development purposes this is likely all you need.

Choosing a License to Purchase

When your project reaches the point where you need to start testing with more than 25 users at a time, it is time to purchase a license. The first question to ask is how many users you predict that your project will need in the long run, because if you know that you will eventually need to use a distributed ES4 system, it is much easier to start with a distributed ES4 system than it would be to change later after your application is in production. If you do need to use distributed mode, you will want ElectroServer 4 Enterprise. Next, estimate the number of concurrent users you expect to see after the project ramps up. If your application becomes more popular than you expected, you can upgrade your license by paying the difference in prices.

Request the License

After purchasing, contact ElectroServer Support to request the license. Be sure to include:

• Correct, valid email address for sending the license
• Transaction ID from PayPal or other way to verify that you have paid
• Type of license, such as ES4 Pro500 or ES4 EX100K
• IP address of the gateway listeners on Standalone or Registry. If the ES4 is behind a router, this will be the internal IP address, not the global IP address. If you aren't sure which IP address to use, set up the ES4 on the server using the demo license and get it working, then look at the Gateways tab in the web admin.

Your license will arrive via email, usually the same day that you requested it. Save it to your hard drive in a location that you will remember.

Install the License

• From the web admin's General tab, click Manage Licenses.
• Browse to find the license file that arrived via email.
• Click Upload
• Notice that the license is now listed in the Available Licenses section.
• Click the green + next to the new license.
• Click Activate License
• Restart ElectroServer
• Check the console and web admin for error messages, just in case there was a problem with the license

Note: If you need to install a license without using the web admin, contact ElectroServer Support and ask for a command line utility to install your license.

Set New Number of Concurrent Users

• From the web admin's General tab, click Edit Server Settings.
• Change the Concurrent User Limit to the maximum number of users that you wish to allow at the same time on your ES4. Normally this will be the size of the license purchased, such as 500 if you purchased ES4 Pro500.
• Click Save
• Restart ElectroServer
• Check the console and the web admin for error messages
• Check the web admin's server settings to verify that your new Concurrent User Limit persisted

Multiple Licenses

The same ES4 can have multiple installed licenses, but only one is active at any given time. If you know you won't need an inactive license again, you can delete it using the web admin's Manage Licenses screen. You probably want to keep the demo license, so that if you clone your application to a server with a different IP address, you have a license that will work while you set it up until you can get a license for the new IP address.

Note: If your IP address changes, just let ElectroServer Support know. We can generate a replacement license for the new IP.

Binary protocol reads and writes directly from a ByteArray utilizing all appropriate data types. This means:

• Lowest impact messaging possible in Flash. Smallest message sizes with shorter parsing times.
• The ability to send/receive binary data. You can send screen data as a private message from one user to another, or to the server to be saved, or...[insert idea here].
• Unique security ideas to be unveiled in a future release of ElectroServer.

To use the new binary protocol you need to have the ActionScript 3 client-side API. It won't work with ActionScript 2 because ActionScript 2 doesn't support binary socket or ByteArrays. To enable the binary protocol in a Flash client you do the following:

1. Import this: com.electrotank.electroserver4.entities.Protocol
2. Add this line of code before creating a connection: es.setProtocol(Protocol.BINARY);
3. You'll also need to add a new gateway listener for binary, or modify the existing text listener for binary. See Gateway Listener for details. Restart ES4 to take effect.

That's it! Nothing else changes. But now you can use the setByte/getByte and setByteArray/getByteArray methods of the EsObject in very interesting and useful ways.

ElectroServer patch files are available online here. If you already have ES4.0.6 installed, here is how to patch it. Replace your ES4's server/lib/ElectroServer4.jar file by electroserver-4.0.7-a13.jar. You will need to compile your extension using this jar as well if you want to use the new "evict user from server" feature. Your AS3 client should use the latest swc which is as3-client-4.0.7-client-a12.swc.

If you have local access to your ES4 server, then you do not need to change the web admin start up settings. To enable remote access to the web admin for the server, edit these three lines of ES4 installation directory/server/config/ES4Configuration.xml :

	        	<Host>127.0.0.1	</Host>
	        	<Port>8080	</Port>
	        	<Ssl enabled="true"/>

Specify the IP, port, and whether to enable SSL. Save, then reboot the server.

ES4 for Windows

ES4 for Any Unix

ES4 for Linux RPM