Configuring Analysis Asset Fields

The fields are set up in a manner similar to that found in the Scanner Generator. Five different types of fields can be constructed:

• Text file Extract - Takes data from a plain text file (similar to File Extract Field of Scanner).
• Ini Field Extract - Takes data from an ini file (no equivalent in Scanner).
• CSV File - Takes data from CSV files such as peripheral sheets (allows an external CSV file, containing a list of data associated with asset numbers to be parsed and loaded along side the other data).
• Environment - Takes data from environment strings (equivalent to same field in Scanner).
• Sequence - Takes data from a sequence of asset fields (equivalent to same field in Scanner).

To configure the asset field extract settings:

1. Select the Load Options command from the File menu.
2. Click the Asset Fields tab. The Asset Fields tab contains a pane with five columns:
   • Caption - The caption as specified in the Asset Data page of the Scanner Generator.
   • Field - The number of the Analysis field (1 to 28)
   • Field Type - The type of field to extract the information
   • Field Data - The source of the field information
   • Default - Any default value that has been set

3. Right-click anywhere in the pane to display a menu with the following options:
   • Add - Adds a new analysis asset field.
   • Edit - Edit the details for an existing asset field.
   • Remove - Removes an existing asset field from the list.

4. Select the Add option. A New Analysis Asset Field dialog box is displayed.
5. Select the type of field to be extracted.
6. Use the controls on this page to configure the desired fields.

This field type extracts information from a single line in a named text file.

A useful file extract includes the predefined SMS file which extracts the SMS Unique Machine ID.

To set up a new text file extract asset field:

1. Select Text File Extract as the field type.
2. Assign a caption for the field if required, by typing it in the Caption field.
3. In the File Name box, specify the name of the text file that the information is to be extracted from.
4. In the Search String box, specify the text string that is going to be located.
5. Assign the number for the analysis field by selecting it from the Field drop-down list.
6. Check the Remove leading blanks box, to remove blank spaces (if there are any) before the search string located in the text file.
7. Check the Remove trailing blanks box, to remove blank spaces (if there are any) after the search string located in the text file.

8. In the File Directory group box specify where to look for the file. This is a prioritized search sequence list. Select one of the following options:

   Use first occurrence Analysis Workbench uses the first match of the file that it encounters.

   Use prioritized directory list A list box is enabled, which allows you to specify the priority of directories where the file might be located. For example:

   %BASEOS% (the base operating system directory)

   C:\Winnt

   This location will have the highest priority, that is, if the file is located in this directory, then this file will be used.

   %BASEOS%\System (the System directory in the base operating system directory) C:\Winnt\System

   If the file is not located in the %BASEOS% directory and is encountered in the %BASEOS%\System location, then this location will have priority as the source for the text file, and so on.

9. Specify any extract options as required by clicking the Options button. See Specifying Extract Options for Text Files, ini Files, CSV Files and Environment Variables for information about how to do this.

Allows an external Comma Separated Variable (CSV) file, containing a list of data associated with asset numbers to be parsed and loaded alongside the other data.

1. Select CSV File as the field type.
2. In the CSV File box, navigate to the CSV file that is to be loaded.

Note The first row of this file must contain column headers.

3. Enter the number of the column that contains the machine asset number (that is, the primary identifier field). As the number changes so does the fields selection. For example, if the primary identifier is column 2 in the CSV file, then specify this as the number ‘2’ by either typing it directly into the field or by using the arrows.

The fields contained in the CSV file are displayed in the Fields list box. Select the fields to be included by selecting the check boxes next to the field names.

The primary identifier column (asset number field) check box is disabled and cannot be deselected. This is because it is necessary to load this field.

4. Select the Append (csv) to column name option if you want the extracted asset fields to be displayed with the word ‘(csv)’ after the column header name in the Machines window.
5. Specify any extract options as required by clicking the Options button. See Specifying Extract Options for Text Files, ini Files, CSV Files and Environment Variables for information about how to do this.

This type of field accepts data from a specified environment variable.

To set up an environment variable extract asset field:

1. Select Environment as the field type.
2. Enter the variable name in the Environment variable name field. An example of an environment variable is:

ComSpec=C:\WinNT\System32\cmd.exe

You can check for environment variable names by looking in the Hardware > System tab in Viewer.

3. Assign the number for the analysis field by selecting it from the Field drop-down list.
4. Assign a caption for the field if required, by typing it in the Caption field.
5. Specify any extract options as required by clicking the Options button. See Specifying Extract Options for Text Files, ini Files, CSV Files and Environment Variables for information about how to do this.

This field type extracts information from one of up to ten specified fields. The value returned as the results of the sequence field, will be the first of these fields which contains a non-blank value.

To set up a sequence asset field:

1. Select Sequence as the field type.
2. In the Field sequence box, click in the Field Name column and select the desired field.
3. In the Ignore strings group box, specify the criteria for a blank field using one or all of the following methods:
   • In the Matching box, enter a sequence of strings (case-sensitive) separated by semicolons.

   If the content of the field matches (is equal to) any of the strings specified here, the field is considered to be blank. For example, if the text string Not Found is entered here, then a field that has the value ‘Not Found’ is considered to be blank.

   Multiple entries must be separated by semicolons ( ;), for example:

   ‘Unknown;Not Tested’

   • You can type a strings in the form: *STRING*

   Here the asterisks (*) are ignored and any string that contains the text between the two asterisks will be ignored too.

   • Specify ignore strings that are less than ‘n’ characters.

   In the Shorter than box, use the arrow keys or type in a number to specify the maximum length of text strings that are to be used to define a blank field (between 1 and 255). If the string is shorter than the specified number, then the field will be considered blank.

4. Assign the number for the analysis field by selecting it from the Field drop-down list.
5. Assign a caption for the field if required, by typing it in the Caption field.

6. Specify any extract options as required by clicking the Options button. See Specifying Extract Options for Text Files, ini Files, CSV Files and Environment Variables information about how to do this.

Text file, ini file and environment variable asset fields can be set up so that only part of the string is extracted instead of the entire string.

They can also be set up, for example, to use the last part rather than the first part of the string. This can be very useful for obtaining the last part of an automatic field that is too long.

In addition, a default value can be specified for situations where no matching data has been found.

To specify extract options for text, ini and environment variables:

1. Click the Options button in the New Analysis Asset Field dialog box. The Asset Field Extract Options dialog box appears.
2. In the Extract characters from group box, specify whether you want to use the last part or the first part of the string. Select one of the following options:

Start - Uses the first part of the string. Use the arrows in the Skip characters box to specify how many characters you want to skip from the beginning of the string.

End - Uses the last part of the string. Use the arrows in the Skip characters box to specify how many characters you want to skip from the end of the string.

3. In the Options group box, select the options you want:

Convert to upper case - Select this option to convert the alphabetic characters to upper case.

Treat field as File Name - Select this option to treat the string in the asset field as a file name. Some characters are however invalid in file names, so any invalid characters can be replaced with the character specified in the Replace invalid characters with box.

For example, underscore ‘_’ is a valid file name character and can be used to replace invalid characters.

Alternatively, invalid characters can be deleted by checking the Delete invalid characters box.

If the extracted field is empty or is not found (that is, there is no matching data), then a default value for the string can be specified in the Default Value box.

For example, if the text string ‘Not Found’ is entered in this box, then an empty field or a field that has not been found will be displayed with this text.

After the asset field extracts have been selected, the columns need to be displayed in the Machines window. To do this:

Click the Columns toolbar button in the Machines window to display the Select columns to display dialog box.

The additional extract fields are included in the Assets category.

Refer to The Machines Window for more detailed information about how to include columns to display in the Machines window.

In the Analysis Workbench, select the Load Options command from the File menu. Click the Display Filter tab

When files have been processed by the recognition engine, the following options can be used to include only the files that are of interest, based on the recognition level.

These files can be identified in two ways when displayed in the Files information window:

• The color of the entry
• The entry in the Status column

The following table shows the default color and the Status column entry for the five different file recognition levels.

Recognition level	Default color in Files window	Status column entry in Files window
Main file	Red	1 Main
Associated file	Green	2 Assoc
3rd Party files	Green	3 3rd Party file
CheckVer file	Purple	4 CheckVer
Unknown file	Blue	5 Unknown
Unprocessed file	Black	6 Unprocessed
Auto-identified	Olive	7 Auto-id
Junk file	Olive	8 Junk

The colors associated with these file recognition levels can be customized. See Customizing Window Layouts.

Selecting the Files to be Displayed

In the Files group box, select the types of files to be displayed from the following three categories:

Recognized

This category deals with files that have been recognized. Select from the following:

• Main files

The main files for an application, for example, Winword.exe are displayed in red (by default) in the Analysis Workbench Files window.

They are used to determine how many copies of the application are found.

• Associated files

Files that are part of an application but not the Main file, for example, Printer.com are displayed in green (by default) in the Analysis Workbench Files window.

• 3rd Party Files

Files such as some DLL files that are technically used by the application, but are also distributed freely and can be used by other applications as well. Another example of a 3rd Party File is InstallShield, which is packaged with an application from a different vendor. The files are also displayed in green (by default) in the Analysis Workbench Files window.

Uncertain

This category deals with files that have been partially recognized (that is, they have been identified but the version cannot be established with certainty). Select one of the following:

• Treat as unidentified files

The files will be given an unidentified recognition level and will be treated as such.

• Display as CheckVer

No description or versions are given for these files, but the word <Check Ver> is shown in the version column. This indicates that something is known about the file but it does not accurately conform to the version information held for it, and the version should be checked.

• Do not display

The files will not be displayed in the Files window. In other words, they are ignored.

Unrecognized

This category deals with files that have not been recognized or have not been processed against the recognition engine. Select from the following:

• Unidentified file

These files have been processed, but not recognized.

• Unprocessed files

These files have not been processed by the recognition engine. These files have been selected for loading using the load filter, but have not been included in the recognition filter.

• Junk Files

These files have been set up to be treated as junk by the recognition engine (that is, recognition does not occur on these files). Check this option if you want these files to be displayed. The default is to have this option unchecked - that is they are not displayed.

• Auto-identified files

If this option is checked (the default), automatically identified files are loaded. If unchecked, these files are not loaded into memory.

Selecting the Application View

This is the same as globally tagging Main files in the Files window and applying a Files filter in the Applications window. In effect, this reflects the contents of the SAIs that have been recognized in the current load set.

In the Applications group box, select one of the following:

• Load Business View

The business view displays only applications with a Main file (that is, applications that require a license and have been recognized). Partially installed applications are not displayed.

• Load Operational View

The operational view displays all applications whether partially or fully identified. The Application window essentially summarizes what has been recognized – irrespective of whether the applications are recognized with a Main file (that is, licensable) or not.