Web Recorder command

Use the Web Recorder command to automate internet-related tasks.

Overview

The Web Recorder command enables users to record tasks to extract data from the web, download data, test web sites, extract source code, and more. Press the F2 key to insert a Credential Variable for enhanced security. See Assigning credential variables from credential lockers.

Note: Search in the following sequence: By Caption, By Attributes and By Index.
Open Browser
Opens a window in Internet Explorer to a specified URL.
Close Browser
Complements the Open Browser operation by closing the active browser.

Define the closebrowserbyhandle value to True/true in the AA.Settings.xml file to support the Close Browser command behavior. This is required in the scenario where the Open Browser command is used in a child task and commands such as Keystrokes and MWC are followed by Close Browser in the parent task.

Define the following setting in the AA.Settings.xml file in the Enterprise Client application path:

<Main>
<options>
<advancedsettings>
<closebrowserbyhandle>true</closebrowserbyhandle>
</advancedsettings>
</options>
</Main>
Manage Web Controls
Identifies properties of a UI control from a specified website. Users either input the URL or select an active window from a drop-down menu.
Download File
Downloads file from specified URL and saves to a file path.
Extract Table
Extracts table from a specified URL and optionally saves to a new CSV file or appends to an existing CSV file.
Advanced View
  • Name the session.
  • Mark the checkboxes to add the Page Title and Page URL properties to the command.
  • Select tags from the drop-down menus to extract Tag Details to the CSV file.
Find Broken Links
Tests either the entire website or a specific web page for broken links, and saves the results as a CSV file to a specified location.
Select the encoding: ANSI, UNICODE, or UTF8.
Extract Data
Extracts data from a specified URL.
Use pattern based data extraction when the web entries follow a pattern. This feature recognizes the pattern and extracts the data, even if it spans several pages. The extracted data is saved to a CSV file.
Navigate URL
Opens a new window.
Mark the check-boxes to add the Page Title and Page URL properties to the command.
Extract Source
Extracts source of an element on a specified webpage, and assigns the value to a variable.
Search By Caption
Searches the first opened Internet Explorer window for the specified caption and occurrence frequency.
Go back
Navigates to previous page.
Execute a JavaScript Function
Executes JavaScript internally on a web page.
Tip: Ensure JavaScript has been enabled for Internet Explorer. If disabled, you will receive an access denied message. See the Microsoft Support section on enabling JavaScript in Windows.
When Secure Recording Mode is enabled:
No values, caption, or default texts are captured. No values are captured for Extract Data and Extract Multiple Data.

When to use the Web Recorder and Object Cloning commands

The Web Recorder command accurately records and automates web-based tasks while the Object Cloning command enables you to create and play Task Bot and MetaBot logic that use technology-specific applications. Use the Object Cloning command if you want to capture objects within Windows application that use technologies such as Flex, Silverlight, Java, and HTML.

The Web Recorder command works only with the Internet Explorer browser while the Object Cloning works with browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.

Troubleshooting: Capture button is disabled for 'Extract Source' and 'Execute JavaScript'

The Capture button will be enabled for the following options:

  • Extract Source: if the launched webpage has an iFrame.
  • Execute JavaScript: if the launched webpage uses JavaScript.