Evidence Tab: File Evidence
File evidence is simply a file that is found on a computer. It may simply be the name of the file, or the information found within the file (such as with ISO-compliant software identification [SWID] tags). File evidence may be used when installer evidence is not strong enough to sufficiently identify the installed application, and may be combined with installer evidence to improve the chance of recognition.
- File name (or Name in some listings)
- Version
- Company
- Description
- Size
(where this value is non-blank in the matching rule).Note: File size is rarely used for file recognition, and the Application Recognition Library normally records it only for file recognition on UNIX-like platforms where other properties may be insufficient.
- Examine details of the linked evidence: Select an item from the list of linked evidence, and click Open. Alternatively, use Ctrl-click (or your browser's alternative) on the hyperlinked evidence name to open the evidence properties in a new browser tab.
- Add more evidence: Optionally type some of the evidence name in the search field, and click Search. A list of matching evidence is displayed. Select the appropriate item from the search results (check that it is not already Assigned to a different application), and click Add evidence.
- Remove added evidence: You can only remove evidence that was previously linked within your enterprise (either the application source is shown as Local , or it is Flexera (Extended) and the Added evidence column displays Yes). Select this item, and click Remove to remove the link between the evidence and the application record (the evidence still exists within your computing estate).
The following columns (listed alphabetically) are available in the File evidence list. Some are displayed by default, and others are available in the column chooser (see Managing Columns in a Table).
| Column name | Details |
|---|---|
| Added evidence | This column displays Yes if an operator manually linked the evidence with the application. No displays if the evidence is unchanged, as provided through Application Recognition Library. This value is updated automatically when you link the evidence to the
application.
Note: To disassociate the evidence record added by an operator from
the application, select it, and click Remove. You cannot
remove evidence records stored in Application Recognition Library (the ones with
No displayed in the Added
evidence column).
|
| Assigned | Displays Yes when the evidence is matched to at least one application, and otherwise displays No. This assignment may have been done automatically through the Application Recognition Library rules, or manually by the operator. Not editable. |
| Company | The name of the publisher as reported by the file evidence. For manually-created evidence records, this field is editable in the General tab of the evidence properties. |
| Description | The file description either entered manually or reported during the inventory import. For the manually-created records, this field is editable in the General tab of file evidence properties. |
| Ignored |
Displays Yes when the file evidence is ignored for application recognition purposes, and No when the evidence may be used for application recognition. Ignored evidence remains linked to the application so that it does not clutter the list of unrecognized evidence. Can be edited by choosing from the Ignored options (on the General tab of the evidence properties). |
| Language | The language specific to this evidence (if any). For the manually-created records, this field is editable in the General tab of the file evidence properties. |
| Matches | Displays the number of times the file evidence is found in the new
inventory.
Note: The same file evidence might be identified in multiple folders on a single
system. A figure displayed in the Matches column may not reflect
the number of installations of the software applications: the installation count is
displayed in the Installed column on the Applications tab of the
evidence properties. These figures may be different for the following reasons:
This data is read-only. |
| Name | The name of the file evidence. The file evidence is derived from the
executables and other common program files that are installed on the computer's hard disk.
For example, on Windows devices this includes the .exe and
.dll files; on UNIX platforms it includes all files with no file
extension; and so on.
Tip: Clicking the hyperlink on the Name value opens the properties for that piece of file
evidence. In those properties, selecting the Devices tab lists all
the inventory devices where that file evidence has been reported in inventory.
This data is read-only. |
| Path | On Windows (where this value is not used for application recognition), this is the most common location in which this evidence was found on inventory devices. On UNIX, the value is returned along with the file name, and is included for application recognition (where the file evidence is so used). For the manually-created records, this field is editable in the General tab of the file evidence properties. For evidence supplied through the Application Recognition Library, the file path is not editable. |
| Product name | The name of a product retrieved from the file evidence. For the manually-created records, this field is editable in the General tab of the file evidence properties. Product names supplied by the Application Recognition Library are not editable. |
| Product version | The Product version specific to the application that includes the file evidence. For the manually-created records, this field is editable in the General tab of the File Evidence Properties. For file evidence supplied through the Application Recognition Library, the Product version is not editable. |
| Recognition rule |
Indicates how the file evidence is used when determining whether the
application is installed on a computer. The rule may be:
For records locally created or linked to applications, this is editable in the Applications tab of file evidence properties. Not editable for records from the Application Recognition Library. Tip: If a recognition rule set in the Application Recognition Library does not
suit your requirements, you can work around it as follows:
|
| Size (bytes) | Indicates the size of the evidence file. Tip:
You can edit this on the General tab of the application
properties when Local is displayed in the
Source column (which means the application was
added manually by an operator).
|
| Source | Displays the origin of the
file evidence, for example:
|
| Version | The version recorded for the file evidence. This may be tracking the version of a linked application, or may be an independent file numbering version. For the manually-created records, this field is editable in the General tab of the evidence properties. An
evidence version retrieved from Application Recognition Library is not editable.
Note: Incorrectly editing a version may stop the inventory agent from
recognizing the applications linked to the evidence. If you edit the version number, be
sure to check the association with the application and ensure that the rule (or wildcards)
still applies to the modified evidence.
Tip: While each piece of evidence should have a distinct version, you can link
them to an application using the percent wildcard character
(%). This represents zero or more characters. For example,
the evidence versions reported for a single application on 3 different computers might be
10.1.123.0045, 10.1.126.0000, and
10.1.123.0048 (they might represent different service packs and
hot-fixes). On the linked application, you can merge this evidence to a single rule for
version 10.1.%. Then license calculations will link all three pieces of
evidence to the same application.
Note: The period and a comma characters
are counted as matching each other. There is no single wildcard character.
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