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Licensing and Updates

This page explains how plugin updates reach your site, how Pro module licences work, and exactly what happens when a Pro licence is missing, lapses or expires.

Who this page is for: the site administrator. Only users who can manage the site (manage_options) can see or change licences.

Updates for the Free plugin

The Free plugin needs no licence. How updates arrive depends on where you installed it from:

Installed from	How updates arrive
The WordPress plugin directory	The normal WordPress way: Dashboard → Updates and the Plugins screen.
A download from the Dantian Studio store	The store’s update channel. An “update available” notice appears on the Plugins screen, and you click Update now. A Check Update link under the plugin’s row checks straight away — WordPress otherwise caches the update check for up to 3 hours.

Both channels deliver the same plugin, and updating never changes your settings or data. See 01 — Installation.

Pro and retired shortcodes on your pages

Pro shortcodes on a site without Pro. If a page contains a Pro shortcode and Pro isn’t active (for example after deactivating Pro), visitors see a short notice instead of raw [shortcode] text:

Shortcode	Notice shown
`[dthub_assignment_due_dates]`	Assignment due dates are not currently available.
`[dthub_extension_request]`	Extension requests are not currently available.
`[dthub_student_action_plan]`	Action plans are not currently available.
`[dthub_trainer_extension_reviews]`	Extension reviews are not currently available.
`[dthub_declarations]`	Declarations are not currently available.
`[dthub_assignment_hub]`, `[dthub_trainer_workspace]`	The assignment hub is not currently available.
`[dthub_assignment_setup_hub]`	The assignment setup hub is not currently available.
`[dthub_overdue_assignments]`	Overdue assignments are not currently available.
`[dthub_trainer_hub]`	The trainer hub is not currently available.
`[dthub_assessment_feedback]`	Assessment feedback is not currently available.
`[dthub_assessment_export]`	Assessment export is not currently available.
`[dthub_grading_queue]`	The grading queue is not currently available.
`[dthub_trainer_action_plans]`, `[dthub_planner_trainer_review]`, `[dthub_planner_trainer_unavailability]`	This content is not currently available.

Reactivate Pro to restore these pages, or remove the shortcode from the page.

One exception: the public timetable shortcode [dthub_timetable] has no fallback, so on a site without Pro the page shows the raw [dthub_timetable] text. Remove it from the page while Pro is off. (With Pro active but no Timetable Planner licence, it shows nothing.) Every shortcode is described in the Shortcode Reference.

Retired shortcode names (Pro). Some older rubric shortcode names have been retired. With Pro active, a page that still uses one shows nothing to students and other visitors. Administrators see a note telling them what to use instead:

Retired name	Use instead
`[tutor_rubric_feedback]`	`[dthub_assessment_feedback]`
`[tutor_rubric_grading_queue]`	`[dthub_grading_queue]`
`[tutor_rubric_bulk_export]`	`[dthub_assessment_export]`
`[dthub_trainer_workspace]`	`[dthub_assignment_hub]`

The administrator note reads, for example: “Training Hub: the shortcode [tutor_rubric_feedback] has been retired. Edit this page and use [dthub_assessment_feedback] instead. Only administrators can see this message.” The retired names don’t work as aliases — edit each page and replace the shortcode. [dthub_trainer_workspace] currently shows “The assignment hub is not currently available.” to everyone instead of this note, so replace it with [dthub_assignment_hub].

How Pro licensing works

🔒 Pro feature — requires Dantian Training Hub Pro.

Pro is sold as three separately licensed modules. Each module has its own licence key. A bundle purchase gives you a separate key for each module.

Module	What it unlocks (as named in the menus)
Timetable Planner (20, 19)	Timetable Planner · Settings → Timetable Planner
Rubric Grading Suite (21, 22)	Grade Criteria · Assignments → Grading Queue · Audits → Declaration Records · Audits → Video Management (plus the other rubric marking screens, and secure storage for new assignment submissions)
Progress Tracking & Analytics (13, 14)	Analytics · Action Plans · Follow-ups (plus the Analytics settings tab, early-warning emails, activity timing, and the completion import tool)

Everything else Pro adds does not need a module licence. It works as soon as Pro is active. That includes assignment due dates and extensions, extension requests, assessment quizzes and quiz reminders (15), the Trainer Hub and assignment workspaces (23), scheduled report delivery (26), ICS calendar feeds (16), the attendance audit trail (17), CSV session import (18), student feedback and the institutional privacy and retention controls (28).

An active licence also turns on automatic updates for Pro — see Updates for Pro.

Activating a licence

Training Hub → Settings → Modules

The Modules tab sits between the Core Settings and Feature Settings bands. It shows a table with one row per module:

Column	Shows
Module	The module name
Unlocks	The screens the licence unlocks
Status	Active, Not activated, Not activated — disabled in N days, or Disabled — license required
License key	The key you entered, partly hidden (only the first and last four characters are shown)
Plan	The plan name reported by the store
Expires	The expiry date in your site’s date format, or Never (lifetime)
(actions)	Deactivate, once a key has been entered

Below the table, Activate module licenses has one form for each module that isn’t active yet.

Copy the module’s key from your purchase email or your Dantian Studio store account.
Paste it into that module’s Enter license key box.
Click Activate.
You’ll see “Module license activated.” For Rubric Grading Suite, the message is “Rubric Grading Suite license activated and the module is now enabled.” — activating that licence also switches the rubric module on, so there’s no second switch to flip.

Repeat for each module you bought. When all three are active, the section reads “All purchased modules are active. Thank you!” Each form also has a Purchase module link (opens in a new tab), plus a short description of the module.

A key is only checked against the module whose form you used. A Timetable Planner key won’t unlock Rubric Grading Suite, even if both came from one bundle.

Other places you’ll see licence status

Getting Started has a Pro Module Licences card showing “n of 3 active”, with an Activate licences in Modules button.
Right after you activate Pro, a notice reads “Dantian Training Hub Pro is active.” and offers Activate licences, Open Getting Started and Dismiss. It disappears once any key has been entered or you dismiss it.

Deactivating a licence

Click Deactivate on the module’s row. The plugin tells the store to release this site’s activation (so you can use the key on another site) and clears the key from this site. If the store can’t be reached, the key is still cleared here. You’ll see “Module license deactivated on this site.”

Deactivating the Rubric Grading Suite licence also switches the rubric module off. Deactivating locks that module’s screens straight away — there’s no grace period after a deliberate deactivation.

Use this when you move Pro to a new site, for example from staging to production.

What happens when a licence isn’t active

A module is in one of three states:

State	What happens to the module
Active (valid licence)	Fully unlocked.
Never activated (no key ever entered on this site)	Locked straight away. There’s no trial or grace period. Status: Disabled — license required.
Lapsed (a key was entered, but the store now reports it expired, disabled or invalid)	Stays unlocked for a 7-day grace period, then locks. Status: Not activated — disabled in N days, then Disabled — license required.

The 7-day grace period starts when the daily licence check first confirms the licence is no longer valid. If your site’s scheduler isn’t running, it starts the first time the module is used after the lapse. Renewing and re-activating at any time — during or after the grace period — unlocks the module again immediately.

What a locked module looks like

Its menu items disappear from the Training Hub menu (for example Analytics, Action Plans and Follow-ups for Progress Tracking & Analytics).
Its settings tab disappears (Analytics, Timetable Planner).
Bookmarks still work: opening a locked screen’s old address shows the module name and the message “Module requires an active license on this site. Activate a license to unlock this screen.”, with an Activate your license link. Users without permission for that screen see WordPress’s standard “not allowed” message instead.
Its background work stops. For example, early-warning emails stop when Progress Tracking & Analytics is locked.
Rubric Grading Suite only: new Tutor LMS assignment submissions are stored in Tutor’s normal public upload location instead of secure storage. Files that were already secured stay private and downloadable.

Your data is not deleted. Rubrics, grades, action plans, timetables and analytics history all stay in the database and come back when the licence is active again.

Warnings before a module locks

On admin screens other than Settings, administrators see:

During the grace period (yellow): “Your Dantian Training Hub Pro license is not active. These modules remain available for N more days: modules.”
Once locked (red): “Your Dantian Training Hub Pro license is not active and these modules are now disabled: modules. Reactivate your license to restore them.”

Both have a Manage license link to the Modules tab. Modules you never bought don’t trigger these warnings — someone who bought one module isn’t reminded about the other two.

The daily licence check

Once Pro is active, the plugin checks your licences with the Dantian Studio store once a day (the first check runs about an hour after Pro is first loaded). For each module with a key, it:

refreshes the Status, Plan and Expires values on the Modules tab, and
starts the 7-day grace period if the licence is no longer valid, or clears it if the licence is valid again.

If the store can’t be reached (for example during a network outage), nothing changes — a temporary connection problem never locks a module. The check sends your site address, the Pro version and the licence key to the store. No student data is sent.

Development and staging sites

If a developer has set a special configuration option on a test site, the Modules tab shows “Developer unlock constant is set — all Pro modules are enabled on this site without a license.” Every module is then unlocked, no store checks run, and no licence warnings appear. Don’t use this on a production site.

Updates for Pro

Pro is never updated from the WordPress plugin directory — updates come only from the Dantian Studio store.

Updates switch on automatically once at least one module has a licence key on the Modules tab. The plugin prefers an active licence when it checks for updates.
When a new version is available, the usual notice appears on the Plugins screen. Click Update now, or use Check Update under the plugin’s row to check straight away.
With no key entered, no Pro updates are offered. If all your licences have lapsed, the store may decline to supply the download until you renew.

Updating Pro doesn’t change your licences, settings or data.

Uninstalling Pro

Deleting Pro from the Plugins screen always removes this site’s licence activation data. Your keys stay valid in your store account, so you can activate them again after reinstalling. Whether the rest of Pro’s data is removed depends on a separate setting — see 01 — Installation.

Troubleshooting

Message	Meaning and fix
“Please enter a license key.”	The key box was empty. Paste the key and try again.
“Activation failed: …”	The store couldn’t be reached, or returned an error (shown after the colon). Check the site can make outgoing internet connections, then try again.
“Module activation did not succeed — the store reported: “invalid”.” (or “disabled”, “expired”)	The key doesn’t match this module, has been disabled, or has expired. Check you used the key for this module, and renew if needed.
“This module is not yet available for activation.”	This module can’t be activated in your current Pro version. Update Pro, or contact Dantian support.
A module shows Disabled — license required after you moved the site	Activation data belongs to the site it was entered on. Deactivate on the old site if you can, then activate on the new one.
The Analytics menu vanished	The Progress Tracking & Analytics licence has lapsed past its grace period, or was never activated. Activate it on Settings → Modules.

Worked example

A college buys the Rubric Grading Suite and Progress Tracking & Analytics, but not the Timetable Planner.

After uploading and activating Pro, the administrator clicks Activate licences in the welcome notice.
On Settings → Modules, they paste the Rubric Grading Suite key and click Activate — “Rubric Grading Suite license activated and the module is now enabled.” They do the same for Progress Tracking & Analytics.
The Timetable Planner row stays Disabled — license required, and its menu item never appears. Because it was never licensed, the college gets no warnings about it.
A year later the Progress Tracking & Analytics licence expires. The next daily check confirms it, and a yellow notice warns that Analytics, Action Plans and Follow-ups remain available for 7 more days. The college renews in the store and clicks Activate again. The status returns to Active, and no data is lost.

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