Licensing a GS Theme/Plugin - How to Implement This?

[shovenose]

Hi,
I am going to be putting a lot of time into a website template. It will be easy for me to make it a GetSimple CMS theme.
I need to however, license it. So they pay at my website, download the gs theme and the gs plugin, then upload the theme and plugin to their gs-based website.
They would enter their license key (which calls back to a remote server to check the domain, website IP addreess, and folder path on the site's server) in the plugin in the admin side of things.
I'm going to encrypt the plugin with IonCube, however obviously I can't encrypt the theme or else they couldn't edit it to their liking...
But I need to make sure the site won't function unless the license key in the plugin is checking and validated.
If somebody could explain how to do this it would be much appreciated. Thanks!
PS: here is the licensing system I purchased:
http://docs.whmcs.com/Licensing_Addon

[WebDevandPhoto]

I've yet to see something like this in web design, wow. I see it a lot with indie software like NetSeal. Let me know please how well it works out. Wish I could help ya but I don't have experience implementing this in web design projects.

[shovenose]

See, my problem is that even if I ecyrpt the plugin and force that to be licensed, and I could make it block the website from loading if the license is invalid, they could simply remove references to the plugin from the theme, and then remove the plugin, then just share the template.
I can't prevent them from removing the licending plugin code from the actual php/html templates in GetSimple, without encrypting it. But what's the point of a website template if you can't edit it??

[WebDevandPhoto]

Is there a way you can break your website theme into modifiable sections? And only have those sections modifiable via the plugin file? Might REALLY bloat your theme and code but perhaps it's possible?

I understand why you're wanting to do this... but by the time you're done it might not have been worth your efforts in a comparative advantage sense. And it may just make things more difficult for your clients which could go well beyond a potential clients reservation price (including their time and effort).

So to make it work, it may have to be stupid simple for the end user to deploy, edit, use, understand.

[shovenose]

Would it be possible (and compliant with the license) to encrypt the files but make my plugin decrypt them in the admin area in an editor of sorts?

[WebDevandPhoto]

I've no idea.... honestly.