Viewing and playing protected bots

The code of a protected bot downloaded from the Bot Store cannot be copied and redistributed by others. Automation Anywhere supports protection of the Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the original creator of the Digital Worker or bot, by ensuring the bot code is not exposed.

Viewing protected bots

You can identify protected bots from the Protection Type column of the Task List in the Enterprise Client main window. The Protected and Unprotected values are shown for the Task Bots in the My Tasks sub-folder under the Bot Store folder. For files in all other folders, the value is shown as N.A.

The upload and download dependencies table also includes the Protection Type column for identification of protected bots. However, this column is shown only for bots located within the Bot Store folder.

By default, the Protection Type column is hidden in the Task List. To include the column in the Task List, see Customizing the Task List.

Ensure you are aware of the following considerations related to a protected bot:

  • You can not view, add, edit, copy, paste, or delete the commands of the protected bot and the commands list is not shown in the Actions List of the Workbench.

  • The Record, Filters, Search text, Actions, Enable Debugging, and Set SnapPoints options in the Workbench are not available for a protected bot.

  • The variables are visible in the Variable Manager and you can:

    • View the variable and change the variable values.
    • Copy the variables from the protected bot and paste it in another bot that is not protected.
    • Tag a variable for analytics.

    However, you cannot:

    • Add any new variables or edit existing variable attributes using Add and Edit options.
    • Paste variables in the protected bot that are copied from another Task Bot.
    • Delete any existing variables using the Delete option.

    The Queue Category link in the Variable Manager is disabled.

  • The Bot Dependencies of the protected bot are visible. However, you cannot add, edit or delete any of the bot dependencies.

  • The Edit, Debug, File -> Save As, Tools -> Run from Step, and Tools -> Disable Snap Image View menu options are disabled.

    You cannot save the protected bot as an XML file from the command line.

  • The Visualize tab does not display snappoints or images captured during recording. Instead the following message is shown:

    You cannot set SnapPoints or visualize the images of 
this bot as it is protected however you can view or 
edit the variables value or view the bot dependencies only.

  • The Error View does not show the actions when the protected bot uses the Error Handling command.

You cannot view a protected bot in a previous version of the Enterprise Client. An error message is shown indicating that the task file format is invalid.

Playing protected bots

When a Bot Creator or Bot Runner executes a protected bot, the player window of the Enterprise Client does not show the command information nor is the information sent to or stored in log files that are generated at run time.

  • The command related information of a currently running bot is not shown on the player window, even when the bot is scheduled and deployed from the Control Room.
  • The player window displays the message 'Not available for Protected bot' against the Action for each command that is executed. This message is displayed for a protected child bot, even when the parent bot is not a protected one.

However, if a protected bot encounters an error, the error message that is shown includes the command line number and the command information of the protected bot. The email notification contains error description and command information.