Windows
Applications Automation
This activity allows you to automate Windows thick client (.exe
files, the executable file for Microsoft Windows) such as Notepad,
Command Prompt and others in a codeless manner through out of
box adapter, WindowsApps.
Configuring Windows Application
You must configure the windows application in Automation
Studio before you start configuring the steps of automation process
workflow. This establishes the connection between the windows
application and Automation Studio to perform the automation.
Below are the minimum required properties for configuring the
intended windows application. If you want to define remaining
properties, refer WindowsApp
in the Admin Menu.
1. In
the Admin menu, add an
application of Application Type-
WindowsApps. The Add Application dialog box opens.

2. In
the Application Name field,
enter a desired name of the EXE application you want to add. The
name must not contain any special character or space.
3. Click
ADD and browse for the
windows application you want to configure. Click Open.

The windows application is configured.
Using Windows Application Activity
1. In
the Canvas Tools
pane, click Process Components to
expand the tool and view the associated activities.
2. Drag
the Application activity and drop on to the Flowchart designer on the Canvas area.

3. In
the Application Type list, select WindowsApps. You
must have at least one application added for it to appears in
the list.
4. In
the Select An Application list, select the configured
excel file that you want to automate. Alternatively, you
can add Windows application (EXE file) at this point of time.
To add the windows application:
a. In
the Select An Application list, click Add
New Application. The Add
New Application dialog box appears.

b. In
the Application Name field,
enter a desired name of the application.
c. In
the Path field, enter
the path of the EXE file of the windows application available
on the system.
d. In
the Additional Parameters
field, enter the path of the file (along with its name) that you
want to open within the application. Specify the file name in
double quotes, if there are spaces in the file name.
e. Click
SAVE. The windows application
is added.
5. Click
the (Settings) icon to launch
the WINDOWS MODE panel.

6. Click
the (Play)
icon. The Windows application appears and the Play
icon changes to the (Recording)
icon.
7. Press
the Ctrl key and hover over the windows application
to start capturing the automation steps that you want to perform
in the Windows application. The area that you can capture gets
highlighted with a red box.
8. While
pressing the Ctrl button,
click the intended area. The Field Properties
panel of the Windows Mode appears.
The fields that are mandatory are highlighted with red box.

9. In
the Action list, select the action that you want
to perform on the captured area. Other mandatory fields changes
depending on the selection from the list. Enter details of all
the mandatory fields and other relevant fields as per your
requirement. Refer Field
Properties table to know more about the available fields and
their respective properties.
10. Click
the (Save) icon to configure
the fields.
11. Repeat
steps 6 through 10 to capture all the steps involved in the automation
process workflow. The field that you configured and saved appears
in the Saved pane of the Field Properties
panel. You can edit or delete these steps in the Saved
pane.
12. Click
the (Save
configured field and return to studio)
icon to save the field that you configured and return to the Studio
menu.
The fields are configured and the
Application activity for Application
Type-WindowsApps is created.
Windows
Mode Control Properties
The properties of Windows Mode
fields are listed in the following table:
Property Name |
Usage |
Control Behavior |
Action |
The applicable action or interaction that can be
performed on the selected UI element. The available options
change as per the window application being automated:
· Click- Allows
to left click the selected UI element.
· Expand/Collapse-
Allows to expand or collapse the selected UI element.
· Legacy Interaction- Allows to configure UI element
of the Windows application which supports a legacy pattern.
· Get Text- Retrieves
text from the selected UI element.
· Set Text- Sets user
provided text input to the selected UI element and stores
it into a parameter. You must define the parameter in
the Parameter bar before you start
capturing the UI element.
· Mouse Click- Allows
mouse simulation. It requires the application to be in
focus. You can choose to perform Left
Click, Right Click
or Double Click
available from the drop down list.
· Keyboard Input-Captures
UI element input from the keyboard in the selected UI
element. This interaction allows performing different
keyboard input combinations with the help of Single
Key, Double Keys,
Triple Keys and
TextEntry options.
· Set
Focus- brings the UI element in focus before performing
any action on it.
· If Control Exists- Checks
availability of the UI element on the windows application.
It is used while working with dynamic controls.
· Get Radio Button Status-
Retrieves status of the selected radio button status.
It returns true or false.
· Toggle Checkbox Action-
Toggles the current state of a checkbox.
· Get Checkbox Status-
Returns the current selection status of a checkbox.
· Perform ComboBox Select Value-
Selects the specified value from the drop-down list.
· Get ComboBox Value-
Retrieves value of the selected combo box.
· Perform ComboBox Set Text-
Sets a user-specified value on the selected ComboBox.
All ComboBox controls do not support this interaction.
· Scroll Horizontal- Performs
horizontal scroll based on the input provided on the percentage
scale from 0 to 100.
· Scroll Vertical- Performs
vertical scroll based on the input provided on the percentage
scale from 0 to 100.
· Select Tree Node- Selects
a node of a tree control using this interaction. Specify
the input in a specific format. For example. for selecting
node 1.1, enter
the input value as Number/1/1.1.

· Expand Tree Node- Expands
a node of the tree UI element.
· Select- Selects a particular
UI element.
· Get DataGrid Value by Index-
Retrieves data grid value by its index. Specify the cell
index from which the input is needed.
· Focus Data Grid Cell by Index-
Brings a data grid cell in focus based on the input cell
index.
· Set DataGrid Value by Index-
Sets the value to a DataGrid cell based on its index.
· Get Data from Table-
Retrieves complete data of a table control to a DataTable.
If required, the data from the DataTable can then be saved
in an excel/CSV file. Following are the steps involved
to retrieve the data.
a. Create
an argument of type System.Data.DataTable,
before extracting the UI element.
b. Click
WINDOWS MODE to
extract the Data Grid Table control.
c. Select
Get Data from the Table.
d. Set
the Variable Name
as the argument created in the first step.
e. Save
the configuration.
f. Use
Export Data Table activity
to write data to excel.
· Set Focus- This interaction
is used to bring any control to focus before performing
an action on it. |
Interaction |
The corresponding interaction class name auto populated
against the selected action. |
Interaction |
The interaction or the action type corresponding
to the selected interaction. |
Appears
if Action selected
is Legacy Interaction. |
Action
Type |
The interaction or the action
type corresponding to the legacy interaction. |
Key |
Appears if Action
selected is Keyboard
Input. The single key set as input from the keyboard. |
Key |
Appears if Action
selected is Keyboard
Input and Interaction
selected is DoubleKeys.
The second key which is set as input from the keyboard
along with the first key. |
Key |
Appears if Action
selected is Keyboard
Input and Interaction
selected is TripleKeys.
The third key which is set as input from the keyboard
along with the first and the second key. |
Text |
Appears if Action
selected is Keyboard
Input and Interaction
selected is TextEntry.
Allows user input as a text. |
Mouse Action |
Appears if Action
selected is Mouse Click. Allows user input using the mouse.
Available options are:
· LeftClick- Performs
a left click at the specified offset point.
· DoubleClick- Performs
a double click at the specified offset point.
· RightClick- Performs
a right click at the specified offset point. |
Field Properties |
Display Name |
User specified display name of the windows element
selected. |
AutomationId |
Unique identifier for the automation element in
the automation tree. See Handling
Dynamic Controls section to know more about the usage
of this field. |
Class Name |
Class name of the UI element as defined by the UI
element developer. See Handling
Dynamic Controls section to know more about the usage
of this field. |
Container Class Name |
Container class name of the UI element as defined
by the developer. See Handling
Dynamic Controls section to know more about the usage
of this field. |
Container Control Type |
Control type of the container of the UI element
as defined by the UI element developer. |
Container Name |
Container name of the UI element as defined by the
developer. See Handling
Dynamic Controls section to know more about the usage
of this field. |
Control Index |
Index of the current UI element within the entire
set of elements with the same values of automation Id,
class name and UI element name as that of the current
element. |
Control Name |
Control name of the UI element as defined by
the UI element developer. See Handling
Dynamic Controls section to know more about the usage
of this field. |
Control Type |
Control type of the UI element as defined by the
developer. |
Appears
if Action selected is Mouse
Click. |
Offset From Control |
It is the distance between the UI element and the
anchor. |
Is applicable
only for AssistEdge Engage. Appears if Action
selected is If Control
Exist. |
Is C-View |
If selected, the field configuration captured in
Automation Studio is visible in the C-View
tab of Engage application. |
Search By Control Order No. |
Signifies if the UI element needs to be searched
based on the UI element order number. Control order number
is the index of the current element within the entire
set of elements with the same value of UI element Id as
that of the current element. |
Appears
if Action selected
is Get Text. |
Variable Name |
User defined name of the variable that stores the
captured value. |
Variable Type |
Type of the variable defined. Available options
are:
· Text
· Numeric
· Decimal
· Boolean
· Data
Table |
Misc
Properties |
Max wait for input idle |
The maximum time interval in milliseconds for which
the windows plugin waits on launch before it starts executing
the configured interactions. |
Retry Count |
Number of times, the plugin retries to find a UI
element, if not found. |
Retry Interval (ms) |
The time interval in milliseconds for which the
plugin waits before it attempts for a retry. |
Windows Application Properties
The properties of a windows application
are listed in the following table and can be edited in the Property
grid on the right pane.
Property Name |
Usage |
Control Execution |
Ignore Error |
When this option is set to Yes,
the application ignores any error while executing the
activity.
If set to NA,
it bypasses the exception (if any) to let the automation
flow continue; however, it marks the automation status
as failure, in case of an exception.
By default, this option is set to No. |
Delay |
Wait After |
Specify the time delay that must occur after the
activity is executed. The value must be in milliseconds. |
Wait Before |
Specify the time delay that must occur before
the activity is executed. The value must be in milliseconds. |
Misc |
Breakpoint |
Select this option to mark this activity as the pause
point while debugging the process. At this point, the
process freezes during execution allowing you to examine if
the process is functioning as expected.
In large or complex processes, breakpoints help in
identifying the error, if any. |
Commented |
Select this option to mark this activity as inactive
in the entire process. When an activity is commented,
it is ignored during the process execution. |
DisplayName |
The display name of the activity in the flowchart
designer. By default, the name is set as the name of the
selected application. You can change the name as required. |
Handling
Dynamic Controls
Automation Studio provides different identification criteria
and Parametrization of the value of the dynamic field properties
of the UI elements. You can reconfigure some of the auto captured
field properties of such UI elements to create a more effective
way of identifying the indented UI element. For such controls,
remove the dynamic part of the string and use an appropriate option
for UI element identification. For example, if a Class
Name field is recognized as AssistEdge_Studio_20180205083009,
the later part of the string, that is a timestamp,is dynamic and
can be removed. Retain only the static part and reconfigure
the field properties using the suitable option.
Following are the different field properties that can be reconfigured
against their respective values:
· AutomationId
· Class
Name
· Container
Class Name
· Container
Name
· Control
Name

Use the (drop
down arrow) icon to reconfigure the identification criteria. Available
options are:
· Equals- Identifies the UI element
based on the exact match with the value of the selected field
property.
· Contains- Identifies the UI
element based on the string present in the value of the selected
field property.
· StartsWith- Identifies the UI
element based on the starting string of the value of the selected
field property.
· EndsWith- Identifies the UI
element based on the ending string of the value of the selected
field property.
· Regex- Identifies the UI element
with the string matching
the value of the selected field property as per the identification
pattern defined through the provided regular expression such as
a.b, *txt and others.
· Variable- Identifies the UI
element as per the parametrization of the value of the selected
field property. Parametrization allows to run the identification
process over and over again using different values. With parameterization,
windows controls with looping and assignment activities, are used.
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