How to get and configure the serial key?

To use EDI Tools for .NET, you need a valid serial key. Once you order a plan from EdiFabric, follow the instructions in this article to create an account and get your serial key. The trial comes with a provisional serial key that is valid for 14 days and can be downloaded from here.

The serial key is applied programmatically using the following code:

EdiFabric.SerialKey.Set("Valid Serial Key");

If you can't find your serial key or don't know how to apply it, contact us for assistance.

How does the serial key work?

The same key can be used across all products that come with every EdiFabric plan - as the API key when accessing EdiNation or EdiNation InHouse and as the serial key when using EdiFabric EDI Tools.

When EdiFabric.SerialKey.Set is invoked, EdiFabric EDI Tools initiates an HTTP request to the authentication API to acquire a token. The serial key is used to authenticate the caller with the authentication API.

A call to the authentication API is made only when there is no token, or the token has expired. No calls are initiated when EdiFabric.SerialKey.Set is invoked, and a valid token exists.

The token is valid for several weeks, so if your application is constantly running, there will be no additional external calls until the token is valid.

EdiFabric EDI Tools will internally try to renew the token a few days before it expires, so the token will be renewed in advance to avoid hard expiration. To know the expiration date check the EdiFabric.SerialKey.TokenExpirationDate, and if you wish, manually renew the token proactively by calling:

EdiFabric.SerialKey.Set("Valid Serial Key", true)

This overload of EdiFabric.SerialKey.Set forces a new request for a token, even if a valid token is available in the cache. 

What to do if there is no access to the Authentication API?

We have prepared multiple servers for the authentication API shared between Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS, so the servers going down altogether is highly unlikely. When acquiring a new token, EdiFabric EDI Tools first calls the authentication API in Azure. If there is no response after the configured timeout/retries, the backup authentication API in AWS is called.

The tokens are cached in a .NET static variable, so your process only calls the authentication API once, regardless of how many times EdiFabric.SerialKey.Set is invoked. Long-running processes benefit from minimum external calls for token refreshing.

However, in the event that the authentication API is down across the primary and the backup instances, you need to contact us here or at support@edifabric.com, and we'll provide you a temporary token that can be installed on your server(s) as an environment variable so that EdiFabric works in full offline mode until connectivity to the authentication API is restored.

We will also publish the temporary token on our Twitter, so contacting us there is also recommended.