Is the count value of generated dupli's readily accessible?

Just wondering if there’s a way to get a count value of dupli-frame or dupli-vert generated objects and have it available for use? I couldn’t readily find the info on that. Would be nice to have it for materials and perhaps the seed value used for particles. It seems like there should be some property name I could type into the attribute node or variable entry box.


Here’s a test render showing part of the problem that could be solved if there were some way to get a different sequential value for each duplicate. Hairs on icospheres which are generated by dupli-frames on a path. If I could change the seed value for each duplicate, it’d break up that repeating pattern. And if I could get the value in the materials, then I could also change the colors from start to end.

Surprised there’s no feedback on this. Maybe it’s something yet to be solved?