Sometimes an email is worth a thousand words...my response to these 8 questions sent via email makes up a sort of FAQ's for folks inquiring about self hosting. I'm guessing the person that sent me the email will see this post and smile a bit. Good stuff. Anybody want to make a PDF out of this? LOL. ### EDIT. @Photon was kind enough to make a PDF out of this. It's already in the How To's ### --------------------------------------------------------- Q1) Do we have to pay the $29.99 every month even if there may be 3-4 months in a year which we are not publishing any apps? No. The idea is simple. When you click the "download source code" button in your self hosted panel, you need a valid API key to make it work. This means you could upgrade your account (to get an API key), use it for a few weeks (or months, or whatever), then downgrade your account back to "free." This would invalidate your API key. Your self hosted software would continue to work with the apps you already created but you would need to "upgrade" again to get another API key in order to package more apps. We understand why you would want to prevent monthly fees. But, we ask that you consider your business plan (and us and our effort to improve your software) before upgrading and downgrading and upgrading and downgrading in order to save a few bucks - that sounds exhausting. Q2) Can the API be reused should the App be rejected on the App Store? The quality of your app determines whether Apple rejects or accepts it. This idea is not related to how you create the app or what software you use to help you create the app. There is no concept of "reusing" an API key. It's either active or not. An API key allows you to take advantage of our application source code packaging solution. Q3) For unused APIs for that month, can we bring forward or will it expire by the end of every month? Unused API calls are not "carried forward." If you use less than 100 API calls a month (it sounds like you will), you'll need to have an active API key the next month. The monthly fee doesn't take into account "how many" you have not used, it simply stops working after 100 in any given month. If you exceed this limit, it will "re-set" at the start of the next month. Q4) For Apps that we published to the App Store, is there caching for the Apps in the user's iPhone or Android Phone such that even while they are not connected to the internet, they can still see the content because it was downloaded to their phone and can be seen offline? In many cases yes. In many cases no. This depends on the type of plugins you're using, the type of content you're delivering, and the type of devices the users are using. Some apps work 100% offline. Some work 100% online, and some work in both ways, this is up to you to consider when using each plugin / screen type in your apps. Q5) If we update the App by adding more tabs or changing tab icons, do we need to reupload the newly updated App to the App Store? Probably. Apple's developer guidelines offer lots of advise and rules about what can and cannot be changed without a new App Store update. Generally speaking, it's best not to totally re-design your app, using online content (provided by your control panel) without submitting an update. People do this lots of times anyway. Some have no trouble, some hear from Apple, it all depends on what you're attempting to change. If Apple believe you're trying to circumvent the spirit of their developer terms, they will find out and they will pull your app from their market without notice. In most cases this means after your app is approved and available in the App Store, major design changes require an app update via their online control panel and approval process. We can't decide what "major design update" is, that's up to you, the app owner. Q6) Can we setup our self hosted buzztouch server first then wait a few months to gather our clients and once we get 100 clients who confirm want to publish than we start to upgrade our account to pay the $29.99 per month to get the 100 API? Sure, you can do whatever you want with the self hosted package, assuming you understand the open source license included in the download. The self hosted software works well for all kinds of things without an API key. Depending on your skill level, you may or may not be able to take advantage of some of it's flexibility and power? Lots and lots of people around the world download the self hosted panel, run it on their backends, and never upgrade or use a buzztouch API key. What their using it for is unknown. We can only imagine that they appreciate it as a flexible, open source, and efficient database management tool. There are countless ways this concept could be applied without relying on our backend to help them "package application source code." Q7) Is there a limitation on the number of client login accounts we can create on the self hosted buzztouch server? No. Your ability to manage a large scale database and web application is the only limitation. There are installs with a few users and their are installs with thousands of users. Every registered user at buzztouch.com (there are lots) is using one instance of the self hosted software. Knowing this helps some IT professionals understand the potential. It works well under extreme conditions so long as a professional database / web server administrator is monitoring it. All highly available, high volume web applications require ongoing maintenance performed by professionals. Q8) I am planning to charge mine client a monthly or yearly subscription fees for every app they publish, can the self hosted buzztouch server achieve this by allowing me to only reveal the download source code button to those who have paid and remove it from those accounts who failed to pay the following year? Not without some customizing. Easily with some customizing. The self hosted software is open source so you can add or remove any kind of functionality you need given some skill. We don't offer custom programming as a service, lots of companies do. You're welcome to hire somebody to help you customize the control panel if you think it's necessary to fit your organizational requirements.

Great read. New FAQ to brief before PM Here ya go.. Pay it forward ;) http://cloud.dloaded.com/o/50519c173953b.pdf

@Photon: Great work! It's already in the How To's and we've tossed you some cred points for the effort. We'll done.

8) http://i.imgur.com/ABI5D.jpg

Love it, Stanley has sent me actually way more then this that could be used in the FAQ too, he's a very curious guy - awesome. :-) Cheers, David buzztouchmods.com

This is very helpful. Thanks, -Led

Interesting read! I happen to think the self hosting fee is a great price and I can think of more plus points than negative points. Love Buzztouch!