Object properties configuration

MetaBot creation often starts when a bot developer records the screen included in an automation task. Bot developers need to identify and handle as many task process scenarios as possible.

Object properties help to uniquely identify the associated object during playback. A significant part of object configuration is done automatically. However, for complex cases, bot developers can adjust object properties to improve MetaBots reliability.

Configure a screen object

Select an existing screen and use Configure to edit its properties.
  • Provide aliases such as a Screen Nameand a Screen Title
  • Properties such as Name, Path, Value, ID, Class, and Index can be modified and saved.
Select an object to define, States and the Play Mode to be used when running tasks.

  • Provide a Screen Name.

    Note: Screen Name is the one that we provide to the added screen, where Screen Title is the one that appears on the screen window that is configured.
    • Rename the screen if it would be easier for a user to identify with something else.

    • It is recommended that generic screen title are used to ensure compatibility with all situations.

      Tip: Use ' * ' to add a generic title.
  • Screen Type Identifies the object capture type that was used.
    • Standard: For Standard captures, Technology is shown as UIAutomation.
    • OCR: OCR automation, the system displays the OCR engine used to capture the object.

Configure object properties

Configure object properties using View, Selected Object Details, and Object Search Criteria.
  • Rename the objects
  • Select a play type
  • Manually link one object with another
  • Define the search criteria to be used when running the automation

Object types

  • Custom Objects: Are defined when the object properties are not captured while recording or capturing a screen.

    Select an area to define it as a custom object. Custom objects include:
    • Push Buttons
    • Text Boxes
    • Static Text
    • Links
    • Images
    Tip:
    • All custom objects are highlighted with a blue outline when selected and non-custom objects are highlighted in red outline. Object outlines are visible on mouse-over also.
    • Anytime objects are moved or are re-sized, update relevant Screen(s) to reflect the change.

  • Linked Objects: Are linked to other objects or UI elements that can be searched easily during automation execution.

    For objects that are captured using OCR, the linking is done automatically. However, for screens that are captured using Standard technology must be linked manually. Read more about MetaBot in the topic Build advanced bots with the Enterprise Client.

  • Text Box Objects: Objects that appear as text-boxes in the captured screen.
  • Static Text Objects: Objects that appear as text in the captured screen.
  • Co-located Objects: Objects that are neighboring to the currently selected object belonging to the same parent control. Co-located objects are not visible in the View filter.
  • Nameless Objects: Objects that have not been categorized in any of the other object types. These objects appear on the screen, but are not configured. Unique system generated names enable Nameless Objects to be identified during Screen and Import/Export Command configuration.

    The Nameless objects captured before an upgrade to the 11.0 version continue to exist as Nameless. However, it is recommended that you assign names to those for easier identification in Import or Export automation.

Customize object details

After configuring object properties, choose the Selected Object Details panel to customize an object for specific automation requirements. Set the following properties:
  • Name: Specify user friendly, easily identifiable names for the objects.
  • Play Type: Select Object, Image, Coordinate or Text. Play types are enabled automatically depending upon the selected object type. Change the Play Type if needed.
    • Object: Use this as the play type for object selected on the basis of its object properties. This could be useful when the selected objects are dynamic in nature; in the sense that they keep shifting their positions in the target application. This is considered the most reliable form of automation as it is performed on the UI based elements of the object.
      Tip: If object based automation execution is not possible, use one of the other play modes Image, Coordinate, or Text.

    • Image: Use this as the play type for objects selected on the basis of its image properties. This could be useful when object based automation is not feasible or fails for certain reasons. For example, image based automation works for Citrix, RDP, and Legacy applications such as delphi.

      You can also use this option when you want to run automation to extract text from screens that were captured using OCR. Actions in the Workbench

    • Coordinate: Use this as the play type for objects selected on the basis of its coordinates properties. This could be useful when selected object is available at the same co-ordinates in the target application.
    • Text: Use this as the play type for objects selected on the basis of its text properties. This could be useful when you want to extract text from an image based object in the target application. Since the text is extracted using an OCR engine while configuring screens, only that OCR engine is used to execute the automation. Hence, the selected OCR engine should also be installed on the Bot Runner machines to ensure your automation do not fail.
      Note: In case the object is not located using OCR Occurrence, the system automatically searches using Image Occurrence.
  • Object Properties:
    Select Properties type that you want to use during play time from Object Search Criteria. You can choose to view select properties or view them all. Some properties are selected by default.
    Note: Objects that are not linked manually to other objects, its own search properties are used whereas for objects that are linked to other objects using the Link option, the selected object will be searched based on search properties of the linked object during automation execution.

    You can also change the Values of the properties, if required to make your MetaBots more reliable.

    Note: Properties could differ depending upon the type of object/control captured. For example, for objects captured using OCR, the object properties show the number of times an object appears in the screen. You can also choose to update the occurrence manually.