Error Handling

When using Kotaqx License Whitelist for EDD, you may restrict license activations to a set of allowed URLs.
If a site attempts to activate a license on a URL that is not included in the whitelist, the activation request will fail with a specific error code.

This document explains how developers can detect this condition and respond accordingly.

Error Response Example

When calling:

?edd_action=activate_license

EDD Software Licensing returns a JSON response.
If the requested URL is not in the whitelist, the response includes the following error:

{
"item_id": 7,
"item_name": "My Digital Product",
"license": "invalid",
"success": false,
"checksum": "c7f7370deb8dxxxxx81581ba3c509788",
"error": "url_not_whitelisted",
"expires": "lifetime",
"payment_id": 1,
"customer_name": "Kotak Digital",
"customer_email": "[email protected]",
"price_id": false,
"license_limit": 0,
"site_count": 1,
"activations_left": "unlimited",
"is_local": true
}

The important piece of information is:

"error": "url_not_whitelisted"

What Does “url_not_whitelisted” Mean?

This error indicates that:

• The domain or site URL making the activation request
• Is not included in the allowed domain list for the license key
• And therefore cannot be activated

This is part of the License Whitelist enforcement provided by Kotaqx License Whitelist for EDD.

Detecting the Error in Your Code

PHP Example (Client Plugin / Theme)

$response = wp_remote_get( $activation_url );

if ( is_wp_error( $response ) ) {
    // Network or request-level error.
    return;
}

$data = json_decode( wp_remote_retrieve_body( $response ), true );

if ( isset( $data['error'] ) && $data['error'] === 'url_not_whitelisted' ) {
    // The activation was rejected because the site URL is not permitted.
    error_log( 'License activation failed: URL not whitelisted.' );
}

JavaScript Example (REST or AJAX-based Licensing)

fetch(activationUrl)
    .then(response => response.json())
    .then(data => {
        if (data.error === 'url_not_whitelisted') {
            console.error('Activation failed: URL not whitelisted.');
        }
    });

Handling the Error Gracefully

If you want to provide a user-friendly message inside your plugin UI, you may translate the error like:

“Your license cannot be activated because this website URL is not allowed.
Please contact support to add this site to your whitelist.”

Example in PHP:

if ( $data['error'] === 'url_not_whitelisted' ) {
    $message = __( 
        'This site URL is not whitelisted for this license. Please contact support to add it.', 
        'text-domain'
    );
}