About Function Discovery

[Function Discovery is available for use in the following versions of Windows: Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista. It may be altered or unavailable in subsequent versions.]

The Function Discovery application programming interface (API) addresses the issue of a lack of consistency in managing resources for devices by providing uniform interfaces for resource discovery, metadata retrieval, and notifications. Function Discovery also provides a flexible schema for resource categorization. With Function Discovery, resources are not tied to a single category and can be re-categorized as needed. Function Discovery provides application developers with a single API to find and use devices and resources that are connected to a computer, regardless of whether they are physically connected or connected through the network.

Function Discovery serves as an abstraction layer between applications and devices, allowing applications to discover devices by referencing the device's function, rather than by its bus type or the nature of its connection.

For more information, see the following topics:

• Architectural Description
• Unifying the Discovery Process
• Function Instances
• Function Discovery Categories
• Function Discovery Queries
• Category Metadata Manifests
• Constraints
• Built-in Providers