Recorder package
Recorder package captures a series of tasks in a process and then automates them. You can automate your business applications (for example, desktop, Web, SAP, and Java applications) using the Recorder to capture actions performed on application objects such as a text box, button, table, radio button, combo box, and list view.
You can use two recorders in Automation 360, the Universal Recorder and AISense Recorder.
When to use Universal Recorder and AISense Recorder
- Universal Recorder
- Use Universal Recorder when you want to record
interactions such as click, read, or write with user interface objects
on your business application. After you have captured the object, you
can specify your requirements in terms of the action to
be performed on that object.
For example, if you capture a hyperlink, you can select an action to click the link or to retrieve the link text. Similarly, if you capture a table object, you can specify to either retrieve the total number of rows from a table object or retrieve each row one by one and perform any actions on it. This is the most reliable form of automation because it is performed on user interface objects rather than coordinates, images, keystrokes and so on.
- AISense Recorder
- Use AISense Recorder when you are building and automating
your bots on applications that are exposed over Citrix or
accessed over RDP. You can also reduce the time spent on building and
automating your bots for legacy applications where
object-based automation is difficult.
The recorder's resiliency to screen resolution, browsers, and user interface alterations reduces limitations and obstacles when recording tasks across your business applications.
Capture action
You can capture and automate objects inside a cross-domain IFrame that has multiple IFrames with same frame source and IFrames that are loaded dynamically during runtime in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Chromium browsers. After you have captured an object inside a cross-domain IFrame, the frame path is stored in the FrameDOMXPath property, by default.
You can automate web Java applications running on Microsoft Edge Chromium with IE mode.
Object properties
- Verify that the captured object properties match your intended object.
For example, when capturing a table from a website, ensure the Control Type and HTML Tag values are TABLE.
- Retrieve a property value. Use
the Get property
action and enter the name of the property in the
Property name field or select an object
property from the list of available properties. The list includes
suggested property values from the search criteria in the
Object Properties table. To select an object
property from the list of properties, move the mouse pointer to the
right of the Property name field and click the
arrow.
For example, to retrieve the text of a link, use the Get property action and enter HTML InnerText in the Property name field or select HTML InnerText from the list of properties.
- You can select a combination of properties for the bot to search the object in your business application window uniquely.
The search algorithm for the Recorder package ensures that when you run a bot an object is captured only if its properties match the exact search criterion that you selected in the Object properties table. If the properties of the object do not match the search criterion exactly, then the bot fails with an error message. However, if the search criterion includes a wildcard character, then the bot captures the first object that matches the criterion.
For example, to capture a text box from an application that has three text boxes named firstname1, firstname2, and firstname3, if you select HTML name as the search criterion, enter the value firstname in the HTML name field, and run the bot, then the bot fails with an error message because a text box with the HTML name firstname does not exist. However, in the HTML name field, if you enter firstname*, and run the bot, then the bot captures the first text box that matches the criterion.
Actions performed on captured objects
Background processing
- Click
- Set Text
- Get Text
Secure recording
When you record a task in secure recording mode, the Preview window temporarily shows an image of the captured area. This image is hidden after you navigate away from the Bot editor window or refresh it.
A user with admin privileges must enable this setting. See Settings.
Proxy support
If your device is configured with a proxy, all outbound requests from this package are routed through the proxy server. See Connect Bot agent to a device with a proxy.
Use cases on how to use recorder
Use these example tasks to become familiar with the use of the recorder in building bots.