VBO version numbers

[foehl]

Does anyone know why the version numbers in the Blue Prism VBOs don't seem to match the 'advertised" version?

For example: If I go to the DX and download 'MS Excel VBO', the asset page tells me that it is Version 10.6.0. The filename when I download it is also 'MS Excel VBO v10.6.0.bpobject', but when I open the bpobject file in notepad and view the XML, it has a version number of '6.8.2'.

This is just an example, and I've tried a bunch of VBOs and not found one yet where the version number in the XML itself matched the filename / version on the DX page.

The issue for me, is that once you import the bpobject file into Blue Prism, you usually take the name of the existing VBO, and in doing so, you lose the version number. At that point you have no way of knowing which version you are currently using (aside from a note in the newer versions in the 'Initialise' page of the object).

As far as I know, there is no way to view the XML version value within BP itself (you have to export it and then view the XML directly) so is this a redundant (and incorrect) value in the XML?

[Michael_S]

I think we'll have to call in an expert on this one - @ewilson do you have any insight on this?

[ewilson]

@foehl the version numbers listed within the source file are tied to the versions of the XML schema and Interactive Client the VBO was created/updated in. Those versions tend to be rather nebulous and are of little use when trying to version an actual piece of software because two different engineers working with the VBO could being using different versions of the Interactive Client. Further, those versions aren't actually published anywhere other than within the source of the object/process, so they're generally useless for the common user.

When the DX team took over management and maintenance of the core VBOs, as well as the other VBOs we post on the DX, we moved to a common semantic versioning scheme that is posted on the Initialize tab of most objects (it's actually listed in the Global Code section of Web API Service definitions) as it's easier for users to identify and consistent.

Cheers,
Eric