Version Data Based Recognition Rules

A version data based recognition rule provides a rule-based extension to the software recognition in the User SAI by using the embedded version data information in Windows executable files. Recognition rules, if triggered, create entries in a separate rule-based SAI (by default, auto.zsai) that sits alongside the standard User SAIs.

This rule-based recognition feature helps Universal Discovery anticipate new versions of the applications already installed on your scanned devices and already saved in your User SAI. By looking at the current data for an application, you can create a rule (based on a series of regular expressions) that will provide automatic recognition of any new versions of that application.

This means that you will not have to teach each new version of an application. The rule should automatically recognize an application upgrade.

Prerequisites:

Rule-based recognition using version data works on a unique file found in only one directory on each machine. If this directory contains files that can also belong to other applications (libraries, for example), then the rule may not trigger the recognition. This is because the recognition level from the other applications may swamp the recognition level of this one target file.

For Windows devices, the Scanners must be configured to collect file signatures, identify Windows executable files, and collect internal file identification from them. See:

Scanner Generator Wizard > Software Details > File Scanning > File Identification

Example 1: For the prediction of the format of a future version of a product

If an entry in the Product Version field of the version data had the format 1.2.345, for example, a rule could be created based on a release and version having the format 1 and 1.2 respectively. The release rule would take the portion of the string before the decimal point and classify it as the release, the version would take the string up to the second decimal point and ignore the remaining digits.

Example 2: For translation of the Version information associated with a file

This could be mapped to a marketing version name. For example, the file version is 9.0 but the marketing name is 2009.

After the rule entry has been created, it must go through the recognition process to produce an entry in the rule-based SAI.

Universal Discovery locates the rule-based SAI as follows:

If a file name appears in the SAI used to store rule-created items box at the bottom of the SAI List tab in the SAI Editor Options dialog, this file is used.

To open this dialog, click Edit > Options in the SAI Editor, and go to the SAI List tab.

If no file name appears in the SAI used to store rule-created items box, the auto.zsai file located in the same directory as the first Master SAI file is used.

Note: The XML Enricher is also impacted and updated when a rule is created.

The rule needs to have enough information to create the release and version for the selected application.

When you create a rule by using the embedded version information in a Windows executable file, the names for the release and the version are extracted from one of the version fields collected by the scanner from that file.

The version fields include:

• CompanyName
• FileDescription
• FileVersion
• InternalName
• LegalCopyright
• OriginalFilename
• ProductName
• ProductVersion

When you create a rule by using installed package information, the names for the release and version are extracted from various package properties, including hardware fields.

In either case, a regular expression is defined that can match against the version data of a target file. The rules relating to these entries are stored in the current SAI selected by the SAI Editor. If there is a match between the regular expression and the information in the target file, an entry is triggered and written to the rule-based SAI file.

This file is defined on the SAI List tab in the SAI Editor Options dialog or created as auto.zsai in the same directory as the first Master SAI.

If mapping is invoked, the result of the trigger may be mapped to a different output value. For example, if a mapping has been defined as 9 = 2003, then when there is a successful match, it produces a result of 9. However, instead of reporting the value as 9, it is reported as 2003. This is used in situations where a publisher uses version descriptions for marketing purposes that are different from those used by the software development team.

It is possible to perform the match using the full field value or to match on just part of the field, known as Regular Expressions (Regex) Group. To create a Regex Group, it is necessary to insert parentheses ( ) around the chosen expression. These groups allow part of the string to be extracted and used for naming the release and version.