Being in Smart Materials Classic, will always take a license, also if only the menu is open. Idle sessions can be sniped by Oracle PMON using the DBA setting IDLE_TIME. The cleanup job will return licenses of sniped sessions regularly.
The disadvantage is that it is disruptive, and users cannot continue the work they started before they had the break and then got sniped. They have to close the application and restart.
In order to release a license in Smart Materials Classic gracefully, user can choose Change Log In from the File menu before he leaves, and stay in the logon screen during his absence. Opening the Relogon screen will release the seat immediately. The advantage is that user only needs to press Cancel afterwards to re-acquire a license and return to the same login environment he worked in before.
Even if the idle session got sniped during user’s stay in Relogon screen, user can press Cancel button afterwards, to seamlessly re-connect to his old environment. Or he can choose another project or product group by selecting Working With.
Of course, the user would not be able to continue to return to the menu in case someone else uses 'his' license in the meantime and no more licenses are available.