Answers to commonly asked questions. If your question is not answered here please do contact us.

General

Why should I choose Syncfusion?

• At Syncfusion, our mission is to produce world-class software components that enable developers to produce quality software for the most demanding environments. Our 100% C# components for User Interface, Business Intelligence, and Reporting are quite simply ".NET Essentials."
• Each of our products has a unique and useful feature set that developers find to be an indispensable part of their programming arsenal. Working with Syncfusion's Essential Studio packages and individual products, you can quickly and easily add cutting-edge functionality and the very latest look and feel to your .NET applications, taking the grunt work out of the development cycle and freeing you to focus on the core business logic of your applications.
• Built with the future in mind - Our products are geared toward long life-cycle applications and architected to meet high standards for flexibility and long-term maintainability.
• Full source code - We believe in empowering developers with source code, and ours is written to be redistributed and shipped in a tightly integrated manner—switch to using our components in debug mode at the "flick of a switch."
• First-rate technical support - Our team's 24x5 availability and online, phone, and forum-based support ensure you'll get the answer you need, when you need it.
• Straightforward, flexible licensing - Syncfusion components are licensed on a per-developer basis with no royalties, run-times, or server-deployment fees. Each licensed developer may install on multiple personal machines at home and work.
• A viable base for standardization - The wide range of solid products in our suites allows our customers to reduce their dependence on multiple vendors and streamline their use of components.

What are Syncfusion's product offerings?

• Syncfusion offers user interface, business intelligence, and reporting components.

• Essential Grid

  A fully customizable, industry-standard, high-performance grid control with an extensive Excel-like feature set. Supports extremely detailed customization down to the cell level. Numerous cell types and unmatched extensibility. Available for Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight.

• Essential Tools

  A collection of professional-class user interface controls with complete support for the Office 2007 look and feel. Docking windows, customizable menus, complete support for themes, localization, and much more. Available for Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET, and Silverlight.

• Essential XlsIO

  Read and write Microsoft Excel files (Excel 97-2007) with this library, which can be used on systems that do not have Microsoft Excel installed. Available for Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight.

• Essential Diagram

  An extensible, high-performance .NET diagramming framework that can be used for developing Microsoft Visio-like interactive graphics and diagramming applications. Available for Windows Forms, WPF, and ASP.NET.

• Essential DocIO

  A .NET library that can read and write Microsoft Word files. Features a full-fledged object model and can be used on systems that do not have Microsoft Word installed. Available for Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight.

• Essential Edit

  A syntax-highlighting edit control designed to be extensible and easy to use. Supports automatic outlining, multilevel undo-redo, rich formatting options, and easy configuration. Available for Windows Forms and WPF.

• Essential Grouping

  A high-performance, extensible grouping engine that can group any list of data and handle large amounts of dynamic data. Supports related data and filters. Available for Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET, and ASP.NET MVC.

• Essential HTMLUI

  A Windows Forms control that renders Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). With functionality similar to a Web browser, it is used primarily for display. Available for Window Forms.

• Essential Calculate

  Add calculation support to your business objects and easily set up forms that have calculation dependencies among various controls. Supports cross-sheet references and includes a function library with over 150 commonly used formulas. Available for Windows Forms, ASP.NET, WPF, and Silverlight.

• Essential PDF

  A .NET library that allows you to produce and modify Adobe PDF files. It features a full-fledged object model, allowing for the easy creation and modification of PDF files from any .NET language. It has no dependency on any external library, and is built from the ground up using C#. Available for Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight.

• Essential Schedule

  A UI control library available as part of Essential Studio Enterprise Edition. This component lets you add Outlook-like scheduling support to your applications. The UI presented in the Windows Forms and ASP.NET versions mimics the Outlook user interface. Also available for Silverlight.

• Essential Gauge

  The Syncfusion WPF Gauge library allows you to use XAML and C# to draw circular gauge designs. The gauge control comes with sophisticated customization support that provides endless possibilities for control modification. With Essential Gauge, users can concisely display several data points or data ranges in a compact area. Data given in a control can be easily depicted and quickly understood by users of any level. Available for WPF and Silverlight.

What Essential Studio packages does Syncfusion offer?

Syncfusion offers 4 Essential Studio packages. Please click herefor further details:

• Essential Studio Enterprise Edition with TestStudio - includes all other Studio products
• Essential Studio User Interface Edition
• Essential Studio Business Intelligence Edition
• Essential Studio Reporting Edition

Can I buy Essential Studio components (Grid, Tools, etc.) separately?

All of our components can be used independently of each other, so they can be purchased separately if desired. Each product includes a one-year subscription for technical support and updates.

What are the differences between the full source and binary versions?

Essential Studio Source (or any individual product with Source) has the full source code for all the controls included with the product. The binary version is functionally the same as the full version, but simply does not contain source code. Advantages to obtaining the full source code are discussed later in this FAQ.

What are the advantages of obtaining full source code?

When you buy from Syncfusion, you do not have to make the traditional, “buy vs. build” tradeoff, wherein you give up source-level transparency for the ease of being able to add a feature using a binary third party control. With source code, our component becomes an integral and well-documented part of your application, and in some sense we become part of your development team. Benefits of source code include:

• No hidden “Black Box” code.
• Well-commented and documented source code.
• Ability to step into our source code within your application.
• No bothersome zip files with pages of instructions to configure debugging. We support one-click debugging.
• We even support changes to our source code.

We do not stop with shipping full source code. We ensure that the source code can be used with minimal effort. We incorporate a unique debugging support system that allows switching between Debug and Release versions of our library with a single click.

Syncfusion's Essential Studio includes a utility called the AssemblyManager that provides an easy way to change the version of the Syncfusion assemblies you link to. You can choose between Debug and Release on a per-product basis. When the version you wish to link to is changed in the AssemblyManager, the references in the current project are automatically updated so that the new assemblies will be used the next time you run the application.

When linking to the Debug version, you can step right into the component source code to debug a problem, should the need arise.

What is the language used to write your components?

Syncfusion's components are written completely in C#. These components can be used in C#, VB.NET, or any other .NET language. We provide samples in both C# and VB.NET.

I have a question that is not answered in this FAQ. Where can I ask it?

Please contact our sales team using the contact information provided and we will be happy to assist you.

Does the current release of Syncfusion Essential Studio support my configuration of Visual Studio and .NET?

• Our Windows Forms and Reporting products are compatible with .NET 2.0 or later and can be used with VS 2005 or later.
• Our WPF, Silverlight, ASP.NET, Business Intelligence, and ASP.NET MVC products are compatible with .NET 3.5 for use in VS 2008.

Evaluating

Can I evaluate Essential Studio before buying?

You can download a 30-day evaluation and have full access to samples and documentation.

You can even test the deployment of your application. However, after 30 days, your unlock key will expire. If you need more time or have any questions, please contact sales.

I am having trouble downloading the evaluation.

Our evaluation files are fairly large. We recommend downloading with a download manager utility such as the one from Free Download Manager. If this does not help please, contact us for assistance. We appreciate your interest and thank you for your patience in this matter.

Pricing

How much does Syncfusion Essential Studio cost?

A single developer license for Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise costs $1,995.00 US (Source) and $1,295.00 US (Binary) and includes a one-year subscription. We offer discounts for volume licensing, academic pricing, and competitive upgrades. Please refer to our Price List page to view our entire price list.

We license Syncfusion Essential Studio on a per-developer basis. That means that any developer who accesses Syncfusion libraries needs to be licensed. We do not charge run-time, royalty, or deployment fees. You have the right to install the products on multiple machines. Please refer to the section on Licensing for more details. Please check our special offers for information on currently available discounts. To obtain a quotation, please email sales@syncfusion.com or fill out our Contact Sales form.

Special Pricing

What types of special pricing are offered?

Syncfusion offers the following types of special pricing:

• Site Licenses
• Academic Pricing
• Volume Discounts
• Promotional Discounts
• Competitive Upgrades

Does Syncfusion offer site licenses?

We offer discounts based on the number of licenses you wish to purchase. Please contact our sales team to obtain information about site licensing. You can email the sales team, or you can fill out the sales contact form.

Does Syncfusion offer academic pricing?

Yes, we do offer academic pricing. Our products are available at reduced prices to students, faculty, and staff members of schools, colleges, and universities, as well as charitable organizations that qualify for tax exemptions as described in the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3).

Single user upgrades are not available at reduced prices. If your purchase qualifies for the above discounts, please contact us, including your IRS tax ID or school ID. Academic pricing is not available through our online ordering system.

Are volume discounts available?

Yes. Please contact our sales team to obtain a customized quotation based on the number of licenses required. You can email the sales team, or you can fill out the sales contact form to obtain more information on volume licensing.

Does Syncfusion offer competitive upgrades?

Yes. Please contact sales referencing the following information: product name, vendor, and date of purchase. Please select "competitive upgrade" on the form.

Are there any promotional discounts available?

Please see our specials page for our current specials.

License Terms

How does Syncfusion license software?

We license on a per-developer basis, so each developer working with Essential Studio will require a license. That means that each developer with Syncfusion libraries installed requires a license. We do not charge run-time, royalty, or deployment fees. For additional details on our licensing, please refer to our licensing model.

Does my license purchase entitle me to support and new releases?

Each license includes the first year of subscription services to ensure access to all minor and major releases as well as access to technical support. Please see the subscription section below for details.

What are the terms for licensing the source code of Syncfusion products?

You may choose to purchase the source code edition for any of our products. If you choose the Essential Studio Enterprise Source Edition, the full source code will be made available to you. Please contact sales if you need further details.

Can one licensed copy be installed on more than one computer?

In some cases we understand that developers will need to use more than one computer. You can install one licensed copy of our product on several computers as long as it is used only by a licensed developer.

Does Syncfusion's licensing policy require run-time or distribution fees?

There are no run-time or royalty fees for any of our products.

How can I obtain a copy of your latest software license agreement?

To obtain a copy of our latest software agreement, please download the file.

Does Syncfusion allow license transfers?

Only in exceptional cases does Syncfusion allow license transfers. Transfer requests are only considered for active subscribers within the same organization. Please contact your Account Manager to request further information.

Subscription Service

What is Syncfusion's Subscription service?

All Syncfusion licenses include a one-year subscription for unlimited support including access to Direct-Trac, Syncfusion's support database, which allows customers to interact directly with our engineers 24x5. Direct-Trac allows Syncfusion customers to enter questions, track responses, and review solutions. All Syncfusion licenses also include one year of access to all new releases, both major and minor. After one year, you may choose whether or not to renew your subscription to retain access to support and new releases. Please note that the licenses themselves are perpetual. If you need technical support or access to the latest release, you can choose to renew your subscription.

Do I have to renew my subscription service to keep working with the software license?

You retain the choice to renew your subscription or not. Since the licenses themselves are perpetual, you can continue to work with the latest software release obtained before your subscription expired. If you need access to a later release or need technical support services, you can choose to renew your subscription.

Why should I renew my active subscription?

We encourage you to renew your subscription while it is still active, since this will lock in the renewal pricing for the next year and ensure uninterrupted access to technical support services and updates.

If you're deciding whether or not to renew at this time, please keep in mind that an active subscription entitles you to unlimited tech support and new releases, and if you choose to renew more than two weeks after your subscription expires, the cost to renew will be 60% of the full license list price.

How can I renew my subscription?

To renew now, you can renew online or contact sales to make the request.

Can I renew my subscription if it has already expired? If so, how?

Yes, you may renew your lapsed subscription online. If your subscription has lapsed more than two weeks, the reinstatement/renewal will be 60% of the license list price.

What technical support options does Syncfusion offer?

Each of our licenses, as mentioned above, includes the first year of subscription service. The subscription service includes unlimited Web-based technical support, phone support, and access to all minor and major releases for a period of 12 months. Along with our subscription service, we offer Platinum Support and custom support agreements, such as 24 x 7 support. Please contact your Account Manager if you require further information.

What is Platinum Support?

Platinum support complements our standard support and offers the following:

• Incident turnaround time of 12 hours or less (to confirm receipt and share the time required to address the issue).
• Access to a dedicated support contact for regular support issues.
• Priority escalation is given for Direct-Trac incidents.
• Special e-mail support with guaranteed callback (when requested) on all days including weekends and holidays between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Ordering

How can I place an order for Syncfusion products?

You can place an order for Syncfusion products using any of these methods: over the Web, by phone or by fax.

• Online: You can order Syncfusion products through the Web site using our secure ordering system.
• Phone: You can order Syncfusion products over the phone by calling our sales team at 888-936-8638 (+1-919-481-1974).
• Fax: You can order Syncfusion products using an official company purchase order (PO) by fax or printing a fax order form and faxing it to us. Purchase orders are accepted for orders over $2,000 US only and must specify a billing contact and billing address.

Please note that to fulfill your order, we require the names and e-mail addresses of each end-user. This is to ensure quicker turnaround and access to software. After placing your order, you will be e-mailed download instructions for the product you purchased as well as the required key to unlock the product. If you need assistance placing your order, please contact sales.

How do I order through the Web site?

You can order Syncfusion products through the Web site by using our secure ordering system. Just follow the instructions on the page and contact us if you have any questions.

What is the turnaround time for orders to be fulfilled?

You should receive your unlock key and download instructions within four hours if your order is submitted before 4 p.m. Eastern time on a business day. Orders submitted after these hours or on a non-business day will be handled by 12 p.m. Eastern time on the next business day.

What are the delivery options for Syncfusion products?

You will be sent download instructions electronically. You will be provided a URL to download Essential Studio and an unlock key to access the products purchased.

If you would like us to ship you a CD, there is a $20.00 US fee.

What payment options are available?

You can pay by credit card, check, or wire transfer. Please contact sales for more information or our bank details.

Will I receive an invoice?

If you purchase with a corporate purchase order, the invoice will be mailed the business day following the order. If you want your invoice faxed to you, let us know by e-mailing us. You can also view your invoice(s) by logging on to your account in the Direct-Trac Developer Support System.

If you place your order using a credit card, your invoice will be e-mailed to you. It will detail the amount charged to your credit card.

What is Syncfusion's return policy?

All our products come with an unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee. Contact our sales team for more information.

Can I purchase Syncfusion's products through resellers or distributors?

You may certainly purchase our products directly or through one of our reseller partners. If you need to locate a reseller in your country, please visit our reseller page.

I am an international buyer, can I buy Syncfusion products?

Yes, international buyers can buy our products subject to US government regulations. You may purchase directly or through a resellerin your country.

I just purchased a license of Essential Studio and have a question about deploying, compiling and/or upgrading. Where can I go for assistance and further information?

• Please check out the documentation installed with the product or available online.
• You can log in to Direct-Trac at http://www.syncfusion.com/Account/Logon using your email address and password to contact technical support services.
• If the above has not addressed your question, please contact salessupport@syncfusion.com.

I had downloaded the evaluation of Essential Studio Enterprise and just purchased a full license. Do I have to uninstall the evaluation and then download and install the full release?

If you have purchased Essential Studio Enterprise Binary Edition, or any other binary product, you can simply add or remove the evaluation unlock key and apply the full unlock key for full access (use the License Manager Utility available on the Syncfusion Dashboard). If you purchased the source code edition of any of the products, then you will need to uninstall the evaluation first, download the source edition, and then apply the source unlock key.

I just purchased a license and my unlock key is not working. What should I do?

There are a few things to check:

• Does the unlock key you received match the version you have installed?
• Have you applied the full unlock key and not the evaluation unlock key?
• Please note that you may generate your own unlock key by logging into Direct-Trac at www.syncfusion.com/support using your email address and password.
• Still need further assistance? Please email salessupport@syncfusion.com.

I just purchased the binary edition of Essential Studio Enterprise. Can I upgrade to the Source Edition in the future?

Yes, you certainly can do that. You will need to contact sales with your request. You simply would pay the difference in price between the binary and source editions of your product.

If I purchase an individual product, like Essential Grid Binary, can I upgrade at a later date to the Essential Studio Enterprise?

Yes, we offer upgrades from individual products to any studio of your choice. Like the upgrade mentioned above, you will simply pay the difference in list price between the product you purchased and the studio. You will need to contact sales with your request.

I just purchased a license, where can I access online documentation and further resources?

The best URL to bookmark is our support page, which will give you access to our knowledge base, Direct-Trac, and online documentation: Syncfusion technical support.

I just joined a project team that has standardized on an older release of Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise. Can I order an older release?

Yes, this is possible. When you place your order, please be sure to reference which version you need to access. You may also contact sales to make your request.

To place an order, I need Syncfusion's ECCN number. How can I obtain that?

Syncfusion's ECCN information can be obtained by download. If you have further questions, please contact sales.