Scriptable Auto-activation for Multi-seat Licenses - Mac Screenwriter 6.5

USING THE SCRIPTABLE AUTO ACTIVATION
 
For users that have a lot of licenses they wish to automatically activate across multiple machines (e.g., a Macintosh-based screenwriting lab at a school), we now offer a method of invoking the activation utility from a MacOS terminal (e.g. unix) command line.

IMPORTANT: although this process is command-line scriptable, it still must be run from a logged-in user account that has privileges to install, and you must take care not to run the installer simultaneously on multiple machines (the activation databases can become confused).  Also -- if you ran the installer from an account different than the logged in user that will use Screenwriter 6.5, you should COPY the entire TEMPLATES folder to the user's ~/Documents/Movie Magic Screenwriter folder.

Here is a link to download the installer for our new, scriptable "Activate and Register Screenwriter" app for Mac Screenwriter 6.5 (it is a pre-release version, and therefor NOT on the current distribution of 6.5.1.49):

https://we.tl/TaTa2Uutz5

Use of the activation utility presumes you have already INSTALLED the software.

The following are the command line parameters for automatic activation:

Here's an example, to launch it from a bash shell command line, which MUST be run from a user that has admin privileges:
 
open "/Applications/Screenwriter 6.5/Activate & Register Screenwriter.app" --args --AutoActivate --SerialNumber "MMSW-CROSSGM-M4D9JA8-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX" --AccountEmail "your_account_email" --AccountPassword "your_account_password"
 
Like all command line programs, a return value of 0 means success, any other value is an error:

Some quick notes:
 
1)  You will need to do one "normal" FIRST activation (not using the command line options) to create the account email, password, and the registration associated with the serial number.  After that, you can use the command line options in an automated fashion.
 
2)  Command line options REQUIRE (note the double dash prefix):
          --AutoActivate
          --SerialNumber "serialnumber"
          --AccountEmail "accountemail"
          --AccountPassword "accountpassword"
 
3) The --ComputerName "name" param is optional.  If you don't specify it, the MacOS network name of the computer will be used by default.  Unless your automation can create a command line with a unique name for this option, don't use it.  The default (without the --ComputerName param) is desirable so you can later tell which machine has been installed to what serial number.
 
4) Normally the use of --AutoActivate will cause the activation program to quit automatically when activation is completed, regardless if it fails or not.  Use --DoNotQuit if you want to have the automatic activation stop on the success/failure window.
 
5) Use of --AutoActivate will NOT launch Screenwriter immediately after activation (like the default for the manual process).  If you WANT Screenwriter to be launched automatically, add the --LaunchMMSW param.  The --LaunchMMSW param CAN also be used in conjunction with --DoNotQuit, which just means when activation is done you would need to manually press the "Finish" button, and then Screenwriter would launch.  Seems an unlikely combo for hundreds of machines, but in a smaller lab it might be useful to just see Screenwriter is successfully running on each machine.  But if you choose to make Screenwriter launch, you'll need to make it quit: that's outside the realm of the activation utility.
 
6) The quotes around params are optional, but any text param that has spaces or special characters (typically the param for --ComputerName) must be quoted.
 
7) The --AutoActivate ASSUMES you have enough activation slots available. If you don't have enough activation slots, you'll get an 1199 error from your command line invocation (YOU must ask the shell for the most recent error code!)
 
8) There is no harm if you try to autoActivate on a machine that already is activated.  It presently will just return 0 and tell you it has been activated.
 
9) You will NOT get an error if you have the incorrect serial number, account email, or password: the activation utility will simply stop at this point and display the step where it had a problem.  THIS IS BY DESIGN: it inhibits users from trying to automate a hack where they try to script an iteration through billions of combinations to discover a password or unused serial number.  We suggest you test the command line at least once before deploying it to dozens or hundreds of machines.
 
10) Using any activated and running copy of Screenwriter, YOU can manually use the HELP menu item that lets you run the "Activations and Registration" utility, manually enter your account email and password, and see every single activation associated with the serial number.  You can also forcibly deactivate any machine's activation, without connecting to that machine.  The copy of Screenwriter you deactivate on a machine other than your own gets deactivated the NEXT TIME that copy is run.  So, to the user of a deactivated copy, the software will run ONCE more, then not again until it is re-activated.