Licensing issues with WinForms ?

[PeterSt]

Hi,

I don't know what's up with my VS2022 install (which was fresh a couple of weeks ago), but what I was able to do with WPF, I can't do at all with WinForms. This involves the obtainment of the SF controls in the Toolbox (VB).
This is what I did throughout time :

1. Download/Install WPF from SF. Use that in normal fashion.
2. Obtained a Community License.
3. Decided that WPF would not be my path to go and installed WinForms instead. The pages that allowed me to do that, somehow implied that WPF had to be uninstalled. Maybe at the time I did not look carefully how to do this all, but anyway it came down to WPF being uninstalled. WinForms seemed fine, but the screens now told me that it was not licensed. I can solve that by obtaining the license string in the Controls (Sub New etc.), and whether normal or not, I deem this workable.
4. With WinForms I never managed to have the SF controls in the Toolbox. Please keep in mind, with WPF that just worked fine;
   With WinForms I sure am able to get the controls in there, but it is only on a per project base, and I have to do it over and over again, and that per individual control. Do notice that with the Add Items I could theoretically add all SF items, but that is only theory because that does not work or takes too long (yesterday I aborted one of the attempts after more than 24 hours). Anyway, the "per project" is not workable to begin with, plus all takes too long. In addition, as a newbee to SF I can't know in advance which controls to add (individually), so that workflow can't work at all.
5. At regular times I see the "not licensed" popup in the bottom right corner, but the necessity to obtain the license string in the Sub New etc. is not always there. It is or feels wacky and something has to be wrong.
6. The Essential Studio form tells that all is fine.
   
   
   
7. I have attempted to reinstall SF but I forgot or and what in the many attempts to solve this, but anyway I can't get it done.
8. Maybe it is an indication, but installing the Help system also does not work out :
   
   The stuff within VS for this has been done, but it does not help a thing.
   On a side note, I started to install this, because help pages on the web are incomplete or not to be found to begin with (this could be my bad).
9. From the start of working with SF I encounter not working or (too) vague descriptions of what to do when and where, regarding licensing. Notice the example of Metro Studio, of which it is not clear whether it is deprecated or does not work for another reason. Then filing a ticked about that just brings an install key ? Even in aftermath I can't see how this oughts to work, although it works. But it is the same thing : stuff is going on with licensing and it consumes about 100% of my time. This can't continue like this.

In other words : please help me to continue with SF after all.
We can do this bit by bit, and the firs bit would be : get all the SF controls for a VB project automatically in the VS designer environment. Thus, start VS2022, create a VB project and they should be there because I defined that once. FYI : adding my own tab and add the controls from there, is the thing that works for a few controls (tick the checkboxes), but is not permanent (it does not stick for the next created project) and tick them all won't finish (the 24 hour thing).

Please respond soon because this starts to work on my nerves. ;-)
Regards,
Peter

[PeterSt]

I think this appears once per new day that VS is started, or something :

These were put there manually for this project (they stick for the project, for a new project they're not there) :

[Prashanth Sundhar]

Hi Peter,

Q1) With WinForms I never managed to have the SF controls in the Toolbox. Please keep in mind, with WPF that just worked fine.

A1) Could you please let us know the target framework of your application?

For the WinForms installer, could you please ensure that you have selected the following highlighted options to install the Syncfusion controls in Visual Studio during the installation?

For WinForms, .NET Framework 4.0 to 4.6 only we are providing the toolbox support from installer.

For .NET Framework 4.0 to 4.6 - https://help.syncfusion.com/common/essential-studio/utilities#for-wpf-windows-forms-and-aspnet-web-forms-platforms

We are not providing toolbox support for WinForms .NET 5.0\.NET 6.0 or.NET7.0\.NET 8.0 projects through the installer. We have already logged a feature request for this and it will be available in any of our upcoming releases.

Feedback link: Provide toolbox support for WinForms netcore projects through the installer in Install and Configuration | Feedback Portal (syncfusion.com)

For WinForms .NET 5.0\.NET 6.0 or .NET7.0\.NET 8.0 projects, as of now you should install the NuGet packages from nuget.org to obtain toolbox support for your netcore projects.

For WinForms .NET 5.0 to 8.0 - https://help.syncfusion.com/common/essential-studio/utilities#configuring-toolbox-for-windows-forms-net-5060-projects-from-nuget-packages

Refer to this documentation link to find Syncfusion WinForms Nuget packages for the appropriate controls.

https://help.syncfusion.com/windowsforms/control-dependencies

When you are using Syncfusion nuget packages from nuget.org, you should generate and register the corresponding version and platforms license key in your application to avoid a trial license warning. 

Refer to this link for generating the license key,

https://help.syncfusion.com/common/essential-studio/licensing/how-to-generate

Refer to this link for registering the license key,

https://help.syncfusion.com/common/essential-studio/licensing/how-to-register-in-an-application

If you are using .NET Framework versions, please follow the steps below to reset or reinstall the toolbox to reflect the Syncfusion components properly in your Visual Studio. Let us know if this works for you.

1. Open Visual Studio 2022and Navigate to Extensions -> Manage Extensions
2. Search for the "Syncfusion Toolbox Installer" VSExtension and uninstall if it is installed.

​

3. Run the Assembly manager utility to install the assemblies into GAC. Refer to the below documentation to know about this.

https://help.syncfusion.com/common/essential-studio/utilities#assembly-manager

4. Now , please run the toolbox utility to configure the controls in the Visual Studio toolbox. Follow the documentation given below for Toolbox configuration. 

https://help.syncfusion.com/common/essential-studio/utilities#toolbox-configuration 

5. Open Visual Studio 2022 Toolbox and check whether the Diagram Toolbox control is configured with the icons after running the utility.

Q2) "At regular times I see the "not licensed" popup in the bottom right corner."

A2) We were able to reproduce your mentioned notification popup issue in the VB applications. Please note that our team is actively working on resolving this issue, and it will be addressed in our upcoming releases. To stay updated on the progress of this matter, please refer to the feedback portal link provided below:

Feedback Link: [52099]

Regards,
Prashanth S

[PeterSt]

Hi Prashanth,

Than you for your extensive answer.
I think I better answer your questions first, so that you can copy-paste from your own post what is still applicable. I say this, because I feel I need to uninstall stuff first; you may have advices on that. But example :

That is what happens when I apply this (from your link) :

hence when I choose a SF Project first. Now, this "Refreshing cache" is the thing which takes endlessly. So that is not the way to go. Thus, this I can not use :

Then, I always use .Net core 8.0. This seems crucial because formally that is not supported in normal fashion yet (derived from your text).

Then :

there I used my own install folder. For all (three of them) the same folder. I take it that this is harmless, and would not incur for a reinstall (hence uninstall first). However :

that part I seriously wonder, because that is (or could be) related to the fuss I experienced with the install in aftermath of WinForms (remember, at first I only installed WPF). Also, for WPF I did NOT use NuGet, but local install. And WPF worked fine, while currently things seemed to be messed up (say by me).

... So ... I am on the verge of uninstalling first :

But how to do this in a formally proper way ?

I deem this not important, but it may tell you something which could be crucial :

or this :

all these links provide the same error message, and now I think of it : to me this feels like something wrong with a Network connection. Or a Service which should run, but does not. And thinking twice ... maybe - very maybe I ran into the same message when I tried to use NuGet. Please notice this is Windows 11 (licensed and updated till the last updates two weeks back). It does not show Internet issues whatsoever elsewhere.
Not important for you ? then I have no issues with it.

---------------------------

All summarized for this post : How can I formally Uninstall SF ? It is fine with me to reinstall after that.

Thank you !
Peter

[Kalavathi Nallathambi]

Hi Peter,

We have created a separate ticket under your account. Please follow the further updates for the issue: How can I formally Uninstall SF ? It is fine with me to reinstall after that.

Regards,

Kalavathi Nallathambi