Method and system for managing license objects to applications in an application platform

1. A method comprising:

providing, by a system a platform shared by license managers, application developers, and subscribers;

installing, to the system by one of the license managers, a license manager organization for the license manager, the license manager organization allowing the license manager to access applications associated therewith;

receiving, by the system from the license manager, a license manager application allowing the license manager to manage the applications associated with the license manager organization;

creating, through the system by one of the developers, an application;

receiving, by the system from the developer, a specification of the license manager organization for the application;

associating, in the system, the license manager organization with the application;

storing, by the system, the application in an application exchange directory of the system;

retrieving, within the system by the license manager application, package information for the application stored in the application exchange directory;

installing, through the system by one of the subscribers, the application from the application exchange directory to an organization of the subscriber within the system;

storing, by the system through the license manager application, a record of the installing of the application to the organization of the subscriber; and

enabling the license manager to manage licensing properties of the application including access by the subscriber to the application using the license manager application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to storing the application in the application exchange directory, sending a message to the license manager application so the license manager application can get the package information for the application.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein enabling the license manager to manage licensing properties of the custom application using the license manager application includes:

tracking the subscriber's installation of the application; and

enabling the license manager to specify at least a number of seats, a license status, or an expiration date of the installed application.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

tracking, by the license manager application, the subscriber's upgrade of the application;

tracking, by the license manager application, the subscriber's uninstallation of the application such that a message is sent to the license manager organization and a license object status is changed to uninstalled; and

tracking the subscriber's version of the application installed to the subscriber organization.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

notifying the license manager of a new version of the custom application being uploaded to the platform of the system; and

enabling the subscriber to update the application installed to the subscriber organization to the new version.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

notifying the license manager of upgraded versions of the application.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application is an unmanaged package that cannot be upgraded.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program code executable by a processor in a computer for:

providing, by a system a platform shared by license managers, application developers, and subscribers;

installing, to the system by one of the license managers, a license manager organization for the license manager, the license manager organization allowing the license manager to access applications associated therewith;

receiving, by the system from the license manager, a license manager application allowing the license manager to manage the applications associated with the license manager organization;

creating, through the system by one of the developers, an application;

receiving, by the system from the developer, a specification of the license manager organization for the application;

associating, in the system, the license manager organization with the application;

storing, by the system, the application in an application exchange directory of the system;

retrieving, within the system by the license manager application, package information for the application stored in the application exchange directory;

installing, through the system by one of the subscribers, the application from the application exchange directory to an organization of the subscriber within the system;

storing, by the system through the license manager application, a record of the installing of the application to the organization of the subscriber; and

enabling the license manager to manage licensing properties of the application including access by the subscriber to the application using the license manager application.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the program code is further executable by the processor in the computer for:

in response to storing the application in the application exchange directory, sending a message to the license manager application so the license manager application can get the package information for the application.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the program code is further executable by the processor in the computer for:

tracking, by the license manager application, the subscriber's installation of the application; and

notifying the license manager of a new version of the application being uploaded to the platform of the on system; and

enabling the subscriber to download or update the application installed to the subscriber organization to the new version.