Open action

The Open action opens the browser to a specific web page.

Using network path URLs

When you use network path URLs, you might encounter bot errors in the following scenarios:
  • When you open a network file path using the New tab, Existing tab, or New window option in the Internet Explorer browser.
  • When you open a network folder path using the Existing tab option in the Internet Explorer or Chromium (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge) browsers.
To fix these errors with network file or folder path, perform one of the following steps as required:
  • For network file path, select a Chromium browser (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge) in the action.
  • For network folder path, select a Chromium browser (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge) in the action with New tab or New window option.
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Settings

Note:
  • This action is used only to open a URL in the browser. You cannot download a file using this action.
  • This action does not support InPrivate or Incognito mode of browsers.
  • Select to open the web page in an existing tab, new tab, or new window:
    • Existing tab: Opens the web page on a currently open tab. Select the tab from the list of active supported browser tabs, the Last used browser tab option, or insert a window variable.
      Note: This option supports Google Chrome, Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, and Internet Explorer browsers.

      You can use a regular expression (regex) to identify a window title. Select the regular expression condition as either String or a Pattern and then enter the value. By default, the Window title field is case-sensitive.

      To identify a browser title, you can enable the Case sensitive option to match the letter case, or disable the option to identify a window title where the letter case does not match.
      Note: Ensure that the minimum Bot Agent version installed on your system is the version that was released with Automation 360 v.26. If you have a Bot Agent version released with Automation 360 v.25 or earlier, then by default, the window title will be identified only with matching letter case (case-sensitive).
      For example, to match all window title names beginning with a word followed by - Notepad, you can enter the String value as * -Notepad, or use Pattern value as ((\w)\s)*document-Notepad for only those window titles that match this pattern.
      Note:
      • When you use a regular expression of type String with -title as the input value for a window title in any action, the bot might encounter a run time error. To prevent the run time error, ensure that when you add the string input as *-title, the application with the specific title is open. The asterisk (*) is just a character, not a wild card character.
      • When you use a regular expression of type Pattern with -title as the input value for a window title in any action, the bot might encounter a run time error because the input value *-title is incorrect.

        Ensure that you use valid regex patterns.

    • New tab: Opens the web page on a new tab. Select the tab from the list of active supported browser tabs or insert a window variable.
      Note:
      • This option supports Google Chrome, Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, and the Internet Explorer browsers.
      • When you perform the action on the Internet Explorer tab, the action is executed in the matching tab only when it is in ready state.

      You can use a regular expression (regex) to identify a window title. Select the regular expression condition as either String or a Pattern and then enter the value. By default, the Window title field is case-sensitive.

      To identify a browser title, you can enable the Case sensitive option to match the letter case, or disable the option to identify a window title where the letter case does not match.
      Note: Ensure that the minimum Bot Agent version installed on your system is the version that was released with Automation 360 v.26. If you have a Bot Agent version released with Automation 360 v.25 or earlier, then by default, the window title will be identified only with matching letter case (case-sensitive).
      For example, to match all window title names beginning with a word followed by - Notepad, you can enter the String value as * -Notepad, or use Pattern value as ((\w)\s)*document-Notepad for only those window titles that match this pattern.
      Note:
      • When you use a regular expression of type String with -title as the input value for a window title in any action, the bot might encounter a run time error. To prevent the run time error, ensure that when you add the string input as *-title, the application with the specific title is open. The asterisk (*) is just a character, not a wild card character.
      • When you use a regular expression of type Pattern with -title as the input value for a window title in any action, the bot might encounter a run time error because the input value *-title is incorrect.

        Ensure that you use valid regex patterns.

    • New window: Opens the web page on a new window of a specific browser.
      Select the browser from the following options:
      • Default Browser

        Ensure that Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer is set as the default browser.

        Note: If any browser that is not listed is set as the default browser for the device, the bot might encounter an error.
      • Google Chrome
      • Internet Explorer
      • Microsoft Edge
      • Mozilla Firefox
  • Enter the link to the web page to open.
    Note: For web pages to open properly, we recommend that you specify a URL with the protocol information, such as http, https, or file.
  • Optional: In the Time out after field, enter the number of seconds the bot must wait for the specified webpage to load before the bot fails.
    Note:
    • You can enter a timeout value of at least 9 seconds.
    • Timeout value is applicable only for the New tab and Existing tab options.
    • For the Internet Explorer browser, the bot executes even if the webpage is not loaded completely after waiting till timeout.