KACE Systems Management Appliance 14.0 Common Documents - KACE Service Desk Administrator Guide

The rules that end with ValueReturn enable you to gather information from the device. You can use these rules to collect information that the KACE Agent normally does not collect.

The returned values are set with the custom application display name (Title). This appears on the Device Detail page under Software in Installed Programs and Custom Inventory Fields.

Use the Custom Inventory Field values to manage installations and to distribute software as well as reports, View By filtering, Smart Label search criteria, or any other process that can be performed with an automatically detected setting.

This section covers the following topics:

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Value Return rule reference

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Getting registry key values

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Getting command output

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Getting PLIST values

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Getting multiple values

Value Return rule reference

The following table shows all available value return rules that you can use to set a Custom Inventory Field :

Syntax	Win	RHEL	OS X	Description
RegistryValueReturn (registryPath, valueName, type)	X			Returns the value of a registry entry, and sets the datatype to the one you specified.
EnvironmentalVariableReturn (var, type) Specifying environment or user variables	X	X	X	Returns the value of an environment variable, and sets the datatype to the one you specified.
FileInfoReturn (path, attribute, type)	X	X	X	Returns the value of a file attribute, see valid types in Defining rule arguments.
ShellCommandTextReturn (command)	X	X	X	Returns the output of the command, and sets the datatype to TEXT.
ShellCommandDateReturn (command)	X	X	X	Returns the output of the command, and sets the datatype to DATE.
ShellCommandNumberReturn (command)	X	X	X	Returns the output of the command, and sets the datatype to NUMBER.
PlistValueReturn (fullpath, entry, type)			X	Returns the value of the PLIST key, and sets the datatype to TEXT, NUMBER, or DATE.

Getting File Information values

You can set the Custom Inventory Field to any of the Windows File Information attributes using the FileInfoReturn rule.

Example: Getting Mozilla Firefox version

The following example sets the Custom Inventory Field for the Mozilla Firefox Product Version as a NUMBER:

In the Custom Inventory Field, enter the following:

FileInfoReturn(C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,CurrentVersion,TEXT)

Getting registry key values

You can set the Custom Inventory Field to a registry key using the RegistryValueReturn rule. Where the registryPath (on left) is the path to the entry, the valueName (on right) is the key you want to return. The illustration shows Registry Editor, with a directory tree panel on the left, and name, type and data on the right.

Example: Getting the Mozilla FireFox CurrentVersion key

To set the CurrentVersion registry key as a Custom Inventory Field:

RegistryValueReturn (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox\CurrentVersion, TEXT

Getting command output

Command rules enable you to set the output of a command to a Custom Inventory Field. The command depends on the command interpreter and executable path on the device.

For example, on Windows devices you can write MS-DOS commands, but not Cygwin-style UNIX commands unless Cygwin is installed and available in the default path for all users.

Use any of the following rules to set the output of the command to a Custom Inventory Field:

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ShellCommandTextReturn (command)

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ShellCommandDateReturn (command)

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ShellCommandNumberReturn (command)

Example: Getting uptime on a Mac OS X

To set the uptime as a Custom Inventory Field:

ShellCommandTextReturn(/usr/bin/uptime | sed -e 's/.*load averages://' | awk '{print $1}')

Getting PLIST values

PlistValueReturn rules enable you to set a Property List (PList) key as a Custom Inventory Field.

Example: Getting the system locale

To distribute applications using Managed Installations based on the System-provided language, enter the following rule to get the device locale and then create a corresponding Smart Label that is applied to the device based on the language code reported by the KACE Agent in the Custom Inventory Field:

PlistValueReturn(~/Library/Preferences/GlobalPreferences.plist, AppleLocale, TEXT)

Getting multiple values

Join ValueReturn rules using either the AND or OR operator. The rule shows the application as an Installed Program, if any of the values are not empty.

The joined values are all set in the same Custom Inventory Field separated by the operator and therefore are technically considered for the purposes of Search Criteria, filters, reports, and other appliance processes as TEXT.

ValueReturn rules joined by the:

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AND operator: All the values are reported in the Custom Inventory Field.

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OR operator: All values are reported in the Custom Inventory Field.

In the Custom Inventory field, join rules using the following syntax:

Function(arguments...) AND Function(arguments) AND ...

Separate the conditional statements from the operator with spaces. Do not join AND and OR operators in the same rule.

Matching filenames to regular expressions

Understanding regular expressions

Regular Expression Rule Reference

Regular expressions match a character or the specified string to the filenames in the specified directory.

This section describes the regular expressions that match filenames in Conditional and Value Return rules using a regular expression.

NOTE: The KACE Agent only provides functions that compare filenames using regular expressions.

Understanding regular expressions

You can use regular expression syntax to match filenames.

Tip:	TIP: For more information on writing regular expressions go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/az24scfc.aspx.

The following table provides an overview of the regular expression syntax used to match filenames:

Character	Description	Example Expression	Target Files	Files Matched
(any string)	Non-special characters match any filename that contains the string.	abc	abcFile.xls Example.jpg File.doc Myabc.txt MyFile.abc	abcFile.xls Myabc.txt MyFile.abc
.	Dot matches any single character. When entered alone it matches all files.	.	abcFile.xls Example.jpg File.doc Myabc.txt MyFile.abc	abcFile.xls Example.jpg File.doc Myabc.txt MyFile.abc
\	Backslash is used to escape a special character and for creating a back-reference. For more information, go to http://rexegg.com/regex-capture.html.	.*\.txt$	abcFile.xls Example.jpg File.doc Myabc.txt MyFile.abc	Myabc.txt
^	Caret matches the characters you specify to the start of the filename.	^k	install.exe kinstaller.exe runkbot.bat	kinstaller.exe
\|	Pipe separates a list of options to match.	run\|install	install.exe kinstaller.exe runkbot.bat	install.exe kinstaller.exe runkbot.bat
$	Dollar matches the characters you specify to the end of the filename.	bat$	install.exe kinstaller.exe runkbot.bat	runkbot.bat
?	Question mark makes the preceding character optional in matches.	\.log10?$	a.log1 afile.txt3 app.log appconf.log11 mylog.log10	a.log1 mylog.log10
*	Asterisk matches the preceding character zero or more times.	\.log1*$	a.log1 afile.txt3 app.log appconf.log11 mylog.log10	a.log1 app.log appconf.log11
+	Plus matches the preceding character one or more times.	ap+.*\.log	a.log1 afile.txt3 app.log appconf.log11 mylog.log10	app.log appconf.log11
[ ]	Brackets enclose a character class and match any character within the brackets. Character class special character rules differ from normal regular expressions.	[123]	a.log1 afile.txt3 app.log appconf.log11 mylog.log10	a.log1 afile.txt3 appconf.log11 mylog.log10
()	Parentheses enclosing characters create a back reference and match the preceding characters and/or the enclosed characters. For more information, go to http://rexegg.com/regex-capture.html.	(p)\1	a.log1 afile.txt3 app.log appconf.log11 mylog.log10	app.log appconf.log11
{n}	Curly brackets repeat the preceding character the number of specified times, where n is greater than or equal to 1.	{p}\.log$	a.log1 afile.txt3 app.log appconf.log11 mylog.log10	app.log

Regular Expression Rule Reference

The syntax of a regular expression rule varies slightly from the other File rules. The fullpath argument is a string that matches the absolute path to the file location, but does not include name of the file. The filename is specified as a separate argument using a regular expression.

The following table provides a list of rules that allow you to use regular expressions.

Syntax	Win	RHEL	OS X	Description
FilenamesMatchingRegexExist (fullpath,regex)	X	X	X	Returns true if any files in the specified directory match the filename you entered using a regular expression.
FilenamesMatchingRegexGreaterThan (fullpath,regex,value)	X	X	X	True if the number of files that match is more than the value.
FilenamesMatchingRegexLessThan (fullpath,regex,value)	X	X	X	True if the number of files that match is less than the value.
FilenamesMatchingRegexEqual (fullpath,regex,value)	X	X	X	True if the number of files that match is the same as the value.
FilenamesMatchingRegexReturn (fullpath,regex,type)	X	X	X	Sets the Custom Inventory Field to the matching filenames (includes path).

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KACE Systems Management Appliance 14.0 Common Documents - KACE Service Desk Administrator Guide

Getting values from a device (Custom Inventory Field)

Matching filenames to regular expressions

Understanding regular expressions

Regular Expression Rule Reference