RPA

Fine-tuning

-Dynamically generated Selectors: As it happens with some websites, the values of the attributes change with each visit. -Selectors being too specifice Some selectors are automatically generated with the name of the file or with a value that changes. Here, placeholders are very useful. -System Changes Some selectors contain the version of the application or another element that changes when the application is updated. -Selectors using IDX The IDX is the index of the current element in a container with multiple similar elements. This might change when a new element appears in the same container.

Watch Panel

-We've added variables to monitor from the Locals panel, the Variables panel and directly from the Watch panel. -We've added an expression to the Watch Panel to monitor its output value. -We've ran the workflow in debug mode and checked how the values in the watch panel change. -We've copied values from the Watch panel and removed entries.

Immediate Panel

-We've entered variables and expressions in the Immediate panel to get their current values. We've activated the IntelliPrompt. -We've changed the value of a variable in the Immediate panel and noted the change in the Watch and Locals panels. -We've copied values, deleted entries and cleared all in the Immediate panel.

Explain how to modularize multiple workflows by creating and using library components, and

.nupkgGood Case Practices - LibrariesIn libraries, each workflow can be set as public or private. Public items can be used as activities in projects where the libraries are added, while the private ones can be used only inside the libraries.

What are the situations when ContinueOnError Property set to True?

1.while using data scraping - so the activity doesn't throw an error on the last page (when the selector of the 'Next' button is no longer found); 2.when we are not interested in capturing the error, but simply in the execution of the activity.

What is the default for Timeout propert?

30000 milliseconds => 30 secs

What are Selectors?

A Selector in UiPath Studio is a feature that enables the identification of the User Interface elements through its address and attributes stored as XML fragments. The element identification is done to perform specific activities in an automation project. Selectors are generated automatically every time we use an activity that interacts with graphical user interface elements. We can think of the element identification process achieved through Selectors as a postman that delivers letters to a certain address. In order for the postman to deliver the letters, a specific path is required and must contain structured and hierarchized details such as Country > City > Zip Code > Street Name > Street Number > Apartment Number. Similarly, UiPath Studio requires the detailed path to a specific element within the user interface.

Describe how to use state machines versus flowcharts and sequences

A state machine is a type of automation that uses a finite number of states in its execution. It can go into a state when it is triggered by an activity, and it exits that state when another activity is triggered. Another important aspect of state machines are transitions, as they also enable you to add conditions based on which to jump from one state to another. These are represented by arrows or branches between states. The State activity contains three sections, Entry, Exit and Transition(s), while the Final State only contains one section, Entry. Both of these activities can be expanded by double-clicking them, to view more information and edit them.The Entry and Exit sections enable you to add entry and exit triggers for the selected state, while the Transition(s) section displays all the transitions linked to the selected state. Transitions are expanded when you double-click them, just like the State activity. They contain three sections, Trigger, Condition and Action, that enable you to add a trigger for the next state, or add a condition under which an activity or sequence is to be executed.

Testing of Activities

Activities can now be tested either inside the workflow using the Test Activity context menu option, or from the Activities panel by creating a test bench.

Identify and describe UiPath coding best practices; for example, reviewing code using best

Analyzing the process thoroughly, identifying the requirements and planning how the solution should look like before starting the actual development.Breaking the process into smaller workflows for a better understanding of the code, independent testing and reusability. This can also impact the effectiveness, as different team members can work on different (smaller) workflows.Grouping the workflows of your project into different folders based on the target application.Keeping a consistent naming convention across the project.Using the right type of argument (In/Out/InOut) when invoking a workflow based on the direction of information. For naming, our recommendation is CamelCase with the direction of the argument as a prefix (in_/out_/io_).Handling sensitive data responsibly: no credentials should be stored in the workflow directly, but rather loaded from safer places like local Windows Credential Store or Orchestrator assets and used with the Get Secure Credentials, Get Credentials and Type Secure Text activitiesUsing Try/Catch blocks to predict and handle exceptions. At the same time, remember that simply using Try/Catch will only identify the error, not solve it. Thus, make sure you develop error handling mechanisms and integrate them.Using Global Exception Handler for situations that are global and/or less probable to happen (for example, a Windows Update pop-up).Using Libraries for creating and storing reusable components for your projects.Adding annotations to your workflows to clarify the purpose of each workflow.Using logs in production to get relevant information regarding critical moments or anytime specific data is needed. You can read more about the types of logs

Types of Selectors

As previously presented, selectors are automatically generated when UI elements are indicated inside activities or when the recorder is used. Knowing the difference between full and partial selectors is very important when using activities generated or added inside containers outside the containers, or the other way around. The containers in UiPath are Attach Window, Attach Browser and Open Browser.

Tags & Attributes of Selectors

As you saw, selectors are made of nodes. And each node is made of tags and attributes. Let's take an example to explain the two. Below is a selector node. <webctrl parentid='slide-list-container' tag='A' aaname='Details' class='btn-dwnl' />

Identify and describe background versus foreground automation

Background Process Execution is performed by a Robot on a machine for a particular user. Processes run in the same Windows session at the same time. Each running process uses its own version of dependencies, even if multiple running processes require a different version of the same dependency. According to this type of license, an Attended Robot can concurrently execute one foreground process (with UI interaction) and multiple background processes (without UI interaction). A background process doesn't need to interact with UI elements on the screen but rather relies on background processes to pass along information. UIAutomation activities should not be used in these project types. Multiple such processes can simultaneously run on a machine, even if a foreground process is already running. By default, all processes are marked as foreground, unless specified otherwise. You can use the Run Parallel Process activity in your background processes to start other processes, based on triggers you need. Does not require a user interface, nor user intervention to get executed. For this reason you can execute multiple such jobs in unattended mode on the same user simultaneously. Each execution requires an Unattended/NonProduction license. Background processes run in Session 0 when started in unattended mode. Requires user interface as the execution needs the UI to be generated, or the process contains interactive activities, such as Click. You can only execute one such a process on a user at a time. Background processes must not make use of interactive activities, like Click or Type Into found in the UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package. A process may be turned into a Background Process as long as it does not contain activities with UI interaction.

Define Business Rule Exceptions?

Business Rule Exceptions are separate from all the System Exceptions listed above. These describe errors rooted in the fact that certain data which the automation project depends on is incomplete, missing, outside of set boundaries (like trying to extract more from the ATM than the daily limit) or does not pass other data validation criteria (like an invoice amount containing letters). The Business Rule Exceptions will not be thrown by using the generic System.Exception in a Try Catch activity.

Describe how to write coherent log messages and how to use them to debug a process-2

By default, running a process in Studio will record Trace level logs. In order to set logging to verbose level locally, access the Debug tab, enable the Log Activities option in the ribbon and run the process in debug mode. Use log message activities effectively;-Identify when Log Message activities should be used;-Identify the ideal log level to use for different situations. 1at the beginning and the end of every workflow (Log level = Information);2each time an exception is caught in a Catch block (Log level = Error);3each time a Business Rule Exception is thrown (Log Level = Error);4when data is read from external sources, for example, log a message at Information level when an Excel file is read (Log Level = Information);5in Parallel or Pick activities, log messages on every branch, in order to trace the branch taken (Log Level = Information);6in If/Flowchart Decision/Switch/Flow Switch activities (however, since processes might have a lot of these activities, we can decrease the Log Level from Information to Trace, so we don't have a lot of these logs in the database).

Define Catch?

Catch The activity or set of activities to be performed when an error occurs. Please note that multiple errors and corresponding activities can be added in this block.

How To set up a Global Handler to a Activity

Click New and Select Global Handler a new page with predefined template is created.

FULL SELECTORS

Contain all the tags and attributes needed to identify a UI element, including the top-level window Generated by the Basic Recorder Best suited when the actions performed require switching between multiple windows.

Define ContinueOnError Property

Continue on Error is a property that specifies if the execution should continue even when the activity throws an error. Keep in mind that, if the ContinueOnError is set to True on an activity that has a scope (such as Attach Window or Attach Browser), then all the errors that occur in other activities inside that scope are also ignored.

How do you convert string in a collection to a integer and compare?

Convert.ToInt32(row(1).ToString)>100

Where are details of thrown exception displayed?

Details about the thrown exception are displayed in the Locals panel.

Describe the differences between Dispatcher and Performer

DispatcherThe dispatcher is a process used to push transaction items to an Orchestrator queue. It extracts data from one or multiple sources and uses it to create Queue items to be processed by Performer robots.Information is pushed to one or more queues allowing the dispatcher to use a common format for all data stored in queue items.The major advantage of using a dispatcher pattern is that you can split the processing of the items between multiple robots The performer is a process used to pull transaction items from an orchestrator queue and process them as needed in the company. Queue items are processed one at a time.It uses error handling and retry mechanisms for each processed item.A major advantage of the performer is its scalability (multiple performers can be used with a single queue)

PARTIAL SELECTORS

Don't contain the tags and attributes of the top-level window, thus the activities with partial selectors must be enclosed in containers Generated by the Desktop Recorder Best suited for performing multiple actions in the same window.

Define Errors?

Errors are events that a particular program can't normally deal with. There are different types of errors, based on what's causing them - for example: Syntax errors, where the compiler/interpreter cannot parse the written code into meaningful computer instructions; User errors, where the software determines that the user's input is not acceptable for some reason; Programming errors, where the program contains no syntax errors, but does not produce the expected results. This are often called bugs.

ATTRIBUTES

Every attribute has a name and a value. You should use only attributes with constant or known values. For example: parentid='slide-list-container' tag='A' aaname='Details' class='btn-dwnl'

Define Exceptions?

Exceptions are events that are recognized (caught) by the program, categorized and handled. More specifically, there is a routine configured by the developer that is activated when an exception is caught. Sometimes, the handling mechanism can be simply stopping the execution. Some of the exceptions are linked to the systems used, while others are linked to the logic of the business process.

Define Finally?

Finally The activity or set of activities to be performed after the Try Catch block. This section is executed only when no exceptions are thrown or when an error occurs and is caught in the Catch section.

What is fine-tuning?

Fine-tuning is the process of refining selectors in order to have the workflow correctly executed in situations in which the generated selector is unreliable, too specific or too sensitive with regards to system changes. It mainly consists of small simple changes that have a larger impact on the overall process, such as adding wildcards, using the repair function or using variables in selectors.

Describe the differences between using full selectors versus using partial selectors

Full Selectors-------------------Contain all the tags and attributes needed to identify a UI element, including the top-level windowGenerated by the Basic RecorderBest suited when the actions performed require switching between multiple windows. Partial Selectors-----------------------Don't contain the tags and attributes of the top-level window, thus the activities with partial selectors must be enclosed in containersGenerated by the Desktop RecorderBest suited for performing multiple actions in the same window.

Fuzzy Selector

Fuzzy SelectorFuzzy string matching is a technique to search strings which are not 100% match, and match a pattern approximately, rather than exactly. A selector's fuzzy search capability enables you to locate strings based on a pattern, rather than on an exact match to your input. add matching:aaname='fuzzy' fuzzylevel:aaname='0.8' in the aaname tag.

Determine and describe the different logging levels such as Trace, Information, Error, and

Grey Color for Fatal and TraceRed for ErrorOrange for WarnBlack for Info Level : Information logType: Default / User message: start/end/ user message filename : invoked file names (main/process file...) verbosesactivity info: what activitystate : open/closedvariables : similary to local panel all variables arguments:

Managing Difficult Situations

In most of the cases in which the selectors automatically generated are not reliable enough, fine-tuning will solve the issue. However, there are some other situations, that we call difficult. Consider the example of a UI element that changes state, position or ID every time the workflow is run. -Anchor Base -Relative Selector -Visual Tree Hierarchy -Find Children

The UI Frameworks

In order to return the best selector for the element of interest, we can switch between the different UI Frameworks available in UiExplorer.

Describe how to work with Orchestrator queues and assets

Item statuses are controlled by RPA developers when they create the automation projects, while revision statuses are controlled in Orchestrator and enable you to perform version control, but only of queue items that have been abandoned or have failed with an application or business exception. You can search for a specific transaction or a group of them, according to a custom reference, which is added through the Reference property of the Add Queue Item and Add Transaction Item activities. The reference can be used to link your transactions to other applications used within an automation project. Additionally, this feature enables you to search for certain transactions in Orchestrator, according to the provided custom reference. To achieve better control in terms of Orchestrator performance, the Specific Data size of queue items is limited to 1 MB with the help of the Queue.MaxSpecificDataSizeInKiloBytes parameter in web.config Processing OrderWithin any given queue the transactions are processed in a hierarchical manner, according to this order:Items that have a Deadline, as follows:a. in order of Priority; andb. according to the set Deadline for items with the same Priority.Items with no Deadline, in order of Priority, anda. according to the rule First In, First Out for items with the same Priority. When setting a Deadline or a Postpone date, we recommend populating the respective fields with relative dates. For example, DateTime.Now.AddHours(2), DateTime.Now.AddDays(10) and DateTime.Now.Add(New System.TimeSpan(5, 0, 0, 0)). Additionally, you can use the US notation to add an exact time, such as 10/10/2019 07:40:00. Automatic correction of this date is available, for example, if you write 12 10 2019 9:0, it is automatically transformed to 12/10/2019 09:00:00. Queue SLA PredictionsThis tool helps you set an SLA (item Deadline) for newly added items in a queue. This helps you assess if they can be processed in a timely manner, and what resources you need to allocate such that their SLA is not breached. Whenever the SLA is in danger of not being met, you are properly notified such that you can make adjustments accordingly. The SLA only applies to those items that don't have a deadline set, meaning that a newly added item with no deadline defined beforehand, has it automatically filled in according to the value set as the SLA. Specifically, each item's deadline is represented by the value set for the queue SLA from the moment the item was added into the queue. For instance, if I set the SLA to 2 hours, and I add 3 items into the queue at 4, 5, and 6 PM, then my items have the deadlines 6, 7, 8 PM, respectively. The Priority of the items added in a queue after enabling SLA predictions is automatically set to High, regardless of how it was set in Studio or in the .csv file used for upload. You cannot delete a process associated to a queue with enabled SLA predictions. If at least one queue item exceeds its deadline, Over Capacity is displayed in the Necessary Robots (SLA) column and predictions are no longer calculated. Predictions are made for queue items with deadlines in the next 24 hours (can be changed using the Queue.SlaReadaheadTimeLimitHours parameter in web.config), and do not take into account the items' defer dates. Risk SLAYou can also define a Risk SLA for your items, which works like a buffer zone before the SLA. Explicitly, the risk deadlines of your items are calculated based on the Risk SLA from the moment the queue item was added in the queue. Say I set the Risk SLA to 2 hours, and I add 3 items into the queue at 4:30, 5:15, and 6:45 PM, then my items have the risk deadlines 6:30, 7:15, 8:45 PM, respectively.After the Risk SLA has passed and the queue item is not processed, the item becomes at risk of not meeting its deadline. The user is properly notified, such that he can make adjustments accordingly. Bulk Uploading ItemsEnables you to bulk upload queue items into a specific queue, directly from a .csv file.The upload is limited to 15,000 items per file. You can lower the limit using the Upload.Queues.MaxNumberOfItems parameter in web.config. Add Queue Item - populates the queue with items, defines a time frame when these items must be processed, and adds a custom reference to each item. By default, when an item is added to the queue its status is New. Add Queue Item - populates the queue with items, defines a time frame when these items must be processed, and adds a custom reference to each item. By default, when an item is added to the queue its status is New. Get Transaction Item - gets an item from the queue so that you can process it (start the transaction) and sets its status to In Progress. Add Queue Item and Get Reference - adds a queue item with parameters and retrieves the corresponding queue item object stored in a QueueItemData in order to wait for transaction completion at any time during the execution of the workflow.Wait for Queue Item and Resume - suspends the execution of the current workflow until a specified transaction is completed. To designate a transaction, a QueueItemData object obtained from the Add Queue Item and Get Reference activity must be supplied. Upon completion of the transaction, the execution of the workflow is resumed. Queue items can have two types of statuses:Item StatusesRevision Statuses New - the item has just been added to the queue with the Add Queue Item activity, or the item was postponed, or a deadline was added to it, or the item was added after an attempt and failure of a previous queue item with auto-retry enabled. In Progress - the item was processed with the Get Transaction Item or the Add Transaction Item activity; when an item has this status, your custom progress status is also displayed, in the Progress column; Retried - the item failed with an application exception and was retried. After the Robot finishes retrying the item, the status changes to Failed or Successful, according to your workflow. Deleted - the item has been manually selected from the Transactions page and marked as deleted; an item with this status can no longer be processed. Revision StatusesThese statuses let you perform version control but only of queue items that have been abandoned or have failed with an application or business exception. In Review - a user has marked an item that has failed with app exception as in the process of being reviewed. This status does not have other implications in Orchestrator or Studio than changing the value in the Revision column on the Queues page. Verified - a user has marked an item as verified. Items cannot be retried after the user sets this status. There are no other implications in Orchestrator or Studio than changing the value in the Revision column on the Queues page.Retried - the item has been marked manually for retry. As a result, a new queue item with the New status is created. This is displayed in the Items Details window of the indicated transaction.

Identify and describe the differences between a transaction process and a repetitive process

IterativeThe steps of the process are performed multiple times, but each time different data items are used. For example, instead of reading a single email on each execution, the automation can retrieve multiple emails and iterate through them doing the same steps. This kind of process can be implemented with a simple loop, but it has the disadvantage that, if a problem happens when processing one item, the whole process is interrupted and the other items remain unprocessed. TransactionalSimilarly to iterative processes, the steps of transactional processes repeat multiple times over different data items. However, the automation is designed so that each repeatable part is processed independently.These repeatable parts are then called transactions. Transactions are independent from each other, because they do not share any data or have any particular order to be processed.

DEMO AD

Let's recap the Activities and Methods used 1. We created a new Sequence, gave it a proper name and added an annotation; 2. We used an 'Attach browser' and selected the ACME webpage. Inside the container: We used a 'Get text' activity and indicate a cell in the wiid column We edited the selector using the UI Explorer:The Table Row had the values between 2 and 11We created a new Int32 variable ("index") with the default value "2"We edited the 'Table Row' with Ctrl + Space and added the "index" variable We added a 'While' loop, set the condition to index < 12 and placed the 'Get text' activity inside the 'Do' container:We created a new variable text as the output of the 'Get text' activityWe used a 'Log message' activity to log the text readWe used an 'Assign' activity to increase the value of the index by 1.

DEMO AC

Let's recap the Activities and Methods used We created a new Sequence, gave it a proper name and added an annotation We used a 'Read Range' activity to read the data from the Excel file and stored it in a newly created variable ("inputData"); We used an 'Attach window' container and selected the AnyTeller app. Inside the container:We used a 'Check' activity for the 'Use cash count' checkboxWe created a new variable named 'countOption' and use an 'Assign' for its value, equal to row("UseCashCount").toStringWe used a 'Check' activity for the 'Use amount' checkboxWe edited the selector of the last 'Check' activity using the UI Explorer:We unchecked all 3 wnd ctrlname attributesWe validated the selector to check if it remained correctWe edited the attribute 'name', pressed Ctrl + Space and selected the variable "countOption"We used 3 'Type into' activities for each of the fields:Row("CashIn").toStringRow("OnUsCheck").toStringRow("NotOnUsCheck").toStringWe used a 'Click' activity to the 'Accept' button.

Demo abc

Let's recap the Activities and Methods used We created a simple sequence with a 'While' activity, an Int32 variable with the default value 0 to be increased after each execution, and the condition to execute it as long as the variable value is lower than 5. 1. Anchor Base We used an 'Anchor Base' container: For the first activity, we used 'Find Element' and indicated the 'First Name' field that is next to the editable field; The second activity chosen was 'Highlight'. We indicated it the 'First Name' editable field. 2. Relative Selector We used a 'Highlight' activity for the editable field We edited the selector using the UI Explorer and clicked on 'Indicate Anchor'. We pointed to the 'First Name' text. We removed the 'id' attribute and added the 'text' type using the 'Edit Attributes' functionality 3. Visual Tree Hierarchy We used a 'Find Element' activity to generate the selector We navigated the hierarchy in the Visual Tree. The input field was under a DIV container. We added the tag corresponding to the parent from the Selector Editor and removed the 'id' attribute. This worked only because there is only one field with the 'INPUT' attribute under the DIV container. We used the selector generated in a 'Highlight' activity. 4. Find Children We used the 'Find children' activity and changed the option to 'Find descendants', to find also the lower levels in the hierarchy. We created a new variable of UI element type to store the children We used a 'For each' activity to loop through the found children, choosing the right type in the Properties panel - UI element. In the Body:We used an 'If' activity with the condition "element.GetFriendlyName.Contains("INPUT")" to isolate only the Input field. For the true condition, we used a 'Highlight' activity for the editable field.

DEMO AB

Let's recap the Activities and Methods used We opened a Notepad file We created a new Sequence, gave it a proper name and added an annotation We used an 'Attach Window'and indicate the Notepad file that is opened. Inside the container:We used a 'Send hotkey' to send Ctrl + h in order to replace 2 spaces with oneWe used 2 'Type into' activities - one for the first field (with 2 spaces), and another for the second field (with 1 space)We used 2 'Click' activities, one for the 'Replace all' button and the other for 'Close' We opened the second Notepad file and run the workflow. It returned the 'Cannot find element' error We opened the selector for the 'Attach window' container. The title attribute contained the name of the first file We used the repair function in the Selector Editor - the part of the date that was different has been replaced by "*" We opened a third file and re-run the workflow. We replaced the entire date by "*".

DEMO AA

Let's recap the Activities and Methods used We used the UI Explorer to generate a selector for the First name field in MyCRM. It had the actual name in the selector; We added a 'Type into' activity in a Sequence and copied/pasted the selector. We inputted a different name in the field; The new text has been written after the old one when we ran the workflow. We checked the 'Empty field' option in the Properties panel and changed the text to be inputted. We re-ran the workflow and it didn't work, as the value of the name attribute has changed; We edited the selector and unchecked the text attribute. The workflow worked flawlessly.

Demo 1

Let's recap the Activities and Methods used: We have started with a Click activity and used the 'Indicate on screen' option to point on a field in the MyCRM app; We have started the UI Explorer and indicated the same element to demonstrate the structure of the selector: the last line is the actual identifier of the UI element, the upper lines are successive "parents" and the first line is generally known as the root node; Most of the selectors that are automatically generated and retained in the activity are reliable enough to identify the UI element. However, there are situations in which they are not - some examples:We have opened the www.rpachallenge.com to demonstrate the dynamic selector and its unreliability - every time the page is refreshed, the fields' positions change and the selectors are no longer usable;In PDF files, the selectors contain also the file name - that makes them unreliable in case of building a process that scrapes data from the file;We have used the www.rpachallenge.com site to demonstrate the concept of index of the UI elements, which again has made it unreliable.

Describe how to write coherent log messages and how to use them to debug a process

Message - The message you want to log. Depending on the option selected from the Level drop-down list, the message is displayed only at that severity level. Only strings and string variables are supported. Level - The severity level of the message to be logged. The following options are available: Trace, Info, Warn, Error and Fatal. Log Level = VerboseActivitiesVariablesArguments Log Level = TraceLog Message Log Level = InformationWriteLine Log Message(ex: Message from Activity) Log Level = WarningWarnings/Errors/Critical(ex: Message from Logg message Activity/Errors/Critical Errors) Log Level = ErrorErrors/Critical/Fatal(ex: Critcal Errors) Log Level = CriticalCritical/Fatal(ex: Critcal Errors) If the logging level is set to Verbose, the messages contain all the details about the activities that were run at execution If the Robot is connected to Orchestrator, all execution logs are sent to Orchestrator and can be seen in the Logs page. The default logging level is controlled by the Level setting stored in Orchestrator Settings window. By default, it is set to Information. Robot Execution Logs are messages generated by the execution of a process and typically contain information related to its behavior and user-defined messages.- The Write Line activity creates logs at the Information level.- The Log Message activity creates logs at the level that is specified in the Level property field. Enabling Robot Diagnostic LogsBy default, Robot Diagnostic logs are enabled and any message with the Error or Warning levels is logged.

Describe how to filter datatables

Method 1: Filter Data Table activity in studionMethod 2: DataTable.Select() methodex: SampleDT.Select("[First Name]='John'").CopyToDataTableWith this method you can direclty assign filter rows to an array or datatable using the expression. Create a type variable either data table or data row[], that is an array of data rows. By default this method returns array of data rows.Method 3: DataTable extension method DataTable.AsEnumerable()SampleDT.AsEnumerable().Where(fucntion(r) r("First Name").ToString = "John").CopyToDataTableMethod 4: Filter with LINQ

What are some business scenarios in which Selectors are useful?

Most of the times when an automated process involves working with UI elements, selectors are used. Typical activities include: Clicking buttons Inputting or scraping text in/from a field on a website Choosing an option from a drop-down list

Describe how to initialize variables such as datatables

New System.Data.Datatable in default value in variable panel

TAGS

Nodes in the selector XML fragment Correspond to a visual element on the screen First node is the app window Last node is the element itself For example: wnd (window) html (web page) ctrl (control) webctrl (web page control) java (Java application control)

What are Different types of Exceptions?

NullReferenceException - This error usually occurs when using a variable with no set value (not initialized). IndexOutOfRangeException - Occurs when the index of an object is out of the limits of the collection. ArgumentException - Is thrown when a method is invoked and at least one of the passed arguments does not meet the parameter specification of the called method. SelectorNotFoundException - Is thrown when the robot is unable to find the designated selector for an activity in the target app within the TimeOut period. ImageOperationException - Occurs when an image is not found within the TimeOut period. TextNotFoundException - Occurs when the indicated text is not found within the TimeOut period. ApplicationException - describes an error rooted in a technical issue, such as an application that is not responding.

Non-Greedy

Once the top-level selector matches an application window, you only search the subsequent tags only under that specific window. For this reason, you can say that the search algorithm is not smart, or greedy, because it will not find the element if there are two or more windows that match the same top-level tag. Non-Greedy search gives you the option to search the subsequent tags in all the windows that match the top-level tag. Add idx='*' in the HTML tag.

Identify and describe how to use version control; for example, working with GIT, SVN, or TFS

Part of working with versioned files is the possibility to compare changes between the local version of the file and the one checked in the repository. You can do so using File Diff. If you want to compare two similar files in the same automation project, use Compare Files, which is also available for unversioned files. GIT is an open source version control system. Unlike older centralized version control systems such as SVN and CVS, Git is distributed, which allows every developer to have a full history of their code repository locally. This makes the initial clone of the repository slower, but subsequent operations such as commit, blame, diff, merge, and log dramatically faster. GIT also has good support for branching, merging, and rewriting repository history. The pull request is one popular feature that allows teams to collaborate on Git branches and efficiently review each other's code. Git is the most widely used version control system in the world and is considered the modern standard for software development. 1Create a repository (project) with a Git hosting tool;2Copy or clone the repository to your local machine;3Add a file to your local repo and commit (save) the changes locally;4Push your changes to the remote repository;5Another developer in the team can pull the file to their local repo and make changes, then they can commit and push the file6They can also create a branch (alternative), make a change, commit the change7Open a pull request (propose changes to the master branch)8Merge your branch to the master branch With a centralized system, the SVN version control system stores all files and historical data on a central server. The developers commit their changes to this central server repository.Trunk: The trunk is the hub of your current, stable code and product. It only includes tested, unbroken code.Branches: Here you add the new codes and features. Using a copy of the trunk code, team members conduct research and development in the branch. This allows each team member to work on the enhanced features without disrupting each other's progress.Tags: Tags are a duplicate of a branch at a given point in time. Tags are not used during development but are used during deployment after the branch's code is completed. Marking code with tags make it easy to review and, if necessary, revert your code. GIT utilizes multiple repositories: a central repository and a series of local repositories. Local repositories are exact copies of the central repository with the complete history of changes.The GIT workflow is similar to SVN, but with an extra step: to create a new feature, you take an exact copy of the central repository to create your local repository on your local machine (consider this as your "local trunk").Then you work on your local repository exactly as you would in SVN by creating new branches, tags, etc. When you're done, you merge your branches into your local repository (i.e. local trunk). When you're ready to merge into the central repository, you push your changes from your local repository to the central repository.Here are some of the benefits:It's faster to commitNo more single point of failureIt's available offline Create a GitHub repository;Use the GIT Init option to add our project to a new local GIT repository;Disconnect from source control.

Practice 1 - Get and Sort Data

Practice 1 - Solution Add a Select Folder activity to ask the user for the folder in which the excel file will be placed. Save the result to a variable ("theOutputFolder) Add an Input Dialog to ask the user to provide an excel file name. Save the result to a variable (fileName) Add a Build DataTable activity. Click DataTable and add the five columns. All columns must be of type sttring. Create an Int32 type variable ("Number Generator") and use an Assign activity to set its value to 10. This will server as the counter for the While activity we will add shortly. Add an Open Browser activity, create a new variable in the URL field ("FakePersonGenerator") and add https://www.fakepersongenerator.com/ as its default value. Add a While activity and set the condition to NumberGenerator > 0. Inside the Do container of the While activity:Add a click activity and use Indicate on screen to select the Generate button. Check the selector. No idxs here.To get the name: Add a Get Text activity and use Indicate on screen to select the name of the person. Check the selector. We have our first idx. To solve this:Click Open in UI Explorer and check the parentclass property. This should make it specific enough and solve our problem.To get the City, State, Zip: Add a Get Text activity and use Indicate on screen to select the City, State, Zip value on the website. Store the result in a new variable, citiyStateZip. Check the selector. We have an idx. To solve this:Click Open in UI Explorer or simply open UI Explorer and make sure the Visual Tree panel is open.Use highlighting and check for the lowest level parent where you could use a different property, like aaname instead of idx.In our case it's the third one from the bottom up. Select the parent's checkbox and the one for the aaname property.Change the aaname property to aaname='Gender:* Race:* Birthday: * (* years old) Street:* City, State, Zip:* Telephone:* Mobile:*'. You will notice the idx for this level is gone.Select the attribute lower and check the aaname property.Change the aaname property to aaname='City, State, Zip: *'All idxs should be gone here.Repeat this process for the following values (Name, Phone, Birth-date and Email-Address). You may find that some are a bit trickier. Create a separate variable for each of the cases.Ad an Add Data Row activity.Enter {TheName, ThePhone ,TheBirthdate ,TheEmail, cityStateZip } in the Array Row input field.Enter the OutputDtataTable variable into the Data Table propertyAdd an Assign activity with the values Number Generator = Number Generator - 1 After the while loop, add a Write Range activity.2Add the following expression in the Workbookpath field: TheOutputFolder+"\"+FileName+".xlsx"Add OutputDataTable to the DataTable Field. Save and Run the workflow.

Practice 2 - Set Data

Practice 2 - Solution 1. Start the project as a Sequence, give it a proper name and add an annotation. 2. Use a 'Read Range' activity to output the data in the Excel file in a newly created DataTable variable ("namesDataTable") 3. Use an 'Open Browser' container to open www.rpachallenge.com. In the container, use a 'For Each Row' to loop through each row of the DataTable variable. In the Body: Use 5 'Type into' activities to input the data from each cell in the corresponding field. Edit the selector of each 'Type into' activity with 'Indicate anchor'. Use row(n).ToString to locate the right cell, where n is the zero-based index of the right column Create 2 String variables to use them to assign the value of the first name and last name Use 2 'Assign' activities to isolate and assign the values of the two. Use the following string methods:row(4).ToString.Substring(0, row(4).ToString.IndexOf(" ")) for the "FirstName" variablerow(4).ToString.Substring(row(4).ToString.LastIndexOf(" ")) for the "LastName" variable Use 2 'Type into' activities to input the data from "FirstName" and "LastName" variables in the corresponding fields. Edit the selectors using the 'Indicate anchor' functionalities Use a 'Click' activity for the 'Submit' button. Edit the selector the same way as for the previous activities.

Practice 3 - Highlight WFT Type Items

Practice 3 - Solution Start the project as a Sequence, give it a proper name and add an annotation Use an 'Input Dialog' activity to give the user the option to choose between the 5 types. Write the 5 options in the designated field in the 'Properties Panel' and store the option in a newly created variable ("SelectedValue") Use an 'Attach Browser' container to navigate to the website https://acme-test.uipath.com/work-items. In the Container:Use the 'Find Children' activity with the scope 'Find Descendants' to retrieve all the children of the main container. Use a newly created variable to store them;Use a 'For Each' activity to loop through the children. Make sure you choose the right type of argument (UiElement). In the Body, use a 'Highlight' activity and edit the selector to point only to the items that match the "SelectedValue".

REGEX Selector

RegEx Selectorsdefine attributes used by selectors to match RegEx expressions.What it isA Regular Expression, regex or regexp is a sequence of characters that define a search pattern. You can now identify multiple target elements with a single search execution by using the RegEx search capabilities in selectors. Without RegEx, you had to build multiple selectors to identify each target element. add "matching:aaname='regex'".

Run to this Activity and Run from this Activity

Run to this Activity and Run from this Activity context menu options start debugging the workflow to and from a certain activity.

Differentiate between using the Settings fields and Assets fields in the configuration file

Settings: related to business process...Process specific variables like process name,url,credential names, queue nameConstants: store technical settings user for developersDeveloper techinical settings number of retries, image accuracy settings, time out settings,static log message part , exception screen shot locationsAssets : are like email ids, boolean values like prod/test, value per robot...so on.

ElementExists, FindElement, and Find Text

Text ExistsChecks if a text is found in a given UI element.Occurrence - If the string in the Text field appears more than once in the indicated UI element, specify here the number of the occurrence that you want to find. For example, if the string appears 4 times and you want to find the first occurrence, write 1 in this field. The default value is 1. Target.WaitForReady - Before performing the actions, wait for the target to become ready. The following options are available: None - Does not wait for anything except the target UI element to exist before executing the action Interactive - Waits for the target app to indicate readiness, although some assets may still be loading.Complete - Waits for all of the UI elements in the target app to load before actually executing the action.

What are different type of Execution options?

The Debug File or Debug Project, Run File or Run Project options are now states of the same button in the ribbon.

What actions does Global Exception Handler have?

The Global Exception Handler contains the predefined 2 actions below (that can be removed). Other actions can be added. Log Error This part simply logs the error. The developer gets to choose the logging level: Fatal, Error, Warning, Info, and so on. Choose Next Behavior Here the developer can choose the action to be taken when an error is encountered during execution: Continue - The exception is re-thrown; Ignore - The exception is ignored, and the execution continues from the next activity; Retry - The activity which threw the exception is retried; Abort - The execution stops after running the current handler.

How does Global Exception Handler work?

The Global Exception Handler has 2 predefined arguments, that shouldn't be removed: -errorInfo, with the In direction - contains the error that was thrown and the workflow that failed; -result, with the Out direction - will store the next behavior of the process when it encounters the error.

Define Global Exception Handler

The Global Exception Handler is a type of workflow designed to determine the behavior when encountering an execution error at the project level. This is why only one Global Exception Handler can be set per automation project. Only uncaught exceptions will reach the Exception Handler. If an exception occurs inside a Try Catch activity and it is successfully caught and treated inside the Catch block (and not re-thrown), it will not reach the Global Exception Handler. A Global Exception Handler can be created either by starting a new project with this type, or by setting an existing project as Global Exception Handler from the Project panel.

What is use of immediate panel?

The Immediate panel lets you evaluate expressions you define during debugging to inspect data.

Explain how to use the Invoke Code and Invoke Method activities

The Invoke Method activity helps us call a method that is outside the standard built-in activities. It is used to call a specific method in a class. The activity calls a public method of a specified type or object. It acts on either Target Type or Target Object. When we have a class library/DLL in vb.net or c# and want to call that method.When we want to use a method which does not generate an output (for example, Reverse) and therefore cannot be used in an Assign activity.When we want to use a method which generates several pieces of output (for example, TryParse which generates a Boolean and an Int32). Several values cannot be assigned using an Assign activity. There are two ways of configuring the Invoke Method activity depending on the type of method used. Methods can be of a Static or of an Instance type. Let's take a moment to learn more about the two types of methods and how we need to configure the UiPath Studio activity based on them. When a class is defined as static, we don't need to define the object. Thus, the static method can be called directly.If it's a static method, the Target Type is used. In the Instance Method, the object from which the method or members are derived needs to be defined.If it's an instance method, the TargetObject is used. A quick way to tell what kind of method you are dealing with is to check if the method signature contains the word "static. If it does, the method is static. If it doesn't, it's instance. The Invoke Code activity synchronously invokes VB.NET or C# code, optionally passing it a list of input arguments. This activity can also return out arguments to the caller workflow. When we want to simplify data manipulation procedures in our workflow;When we want to reduce the number of Assign and Invoke Method activities, by replacing several with a single Invoke Code activity;When we need to write custom code for some steps in the process. When using VB.NET code in Invoke Code activity, the assemblies must be added to the Import panel for them to function when executing the code. In Studio, the Name Spaces panel is used to add/delete namespaces.To add new Name Spaces to the library, follow the below method:Open the Imports panel.

What is Locals panel?

The Locals panel shows the values for arguments, the properties of the current and those of the previously executed activity. The values of variables and arguments can be modified from this panel. The design of the panel has been improved.

The Property Explorer

The Property Explorer is a functionality of the UI Explorer that displays all the attributes of a certain UI element, including those that are not displayed in the selector, like position, visibility, innertext, and so on.

Define REtry Scope Activity?

The Retry scope activity retries the contained activities as long as the condition is not met or an error is thrown. The Retry Scope activity is used for catching and handling an error, which is why it's similar to Try Catch. The difference is that this activity simply retries the execution instead of providing a more complex handling mechanism. It can be used without a termination condition, in which case it will retry the activities until no exception occurs (or the provided number of attempts is exceeded). Additional Properties NumberOfRetries - The number of times that the sequence is to be retried. RetryInterval - Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) between each retry.

Rethrow, and Retry Scope

The Retry scope activity retries the contained activities as long as the condition is not met or an error is thrown. It can be used without a termination condition, in which case it will retry the activities until no exception occurs (or the provided number of attempts is exceeded). Additional PropertiesNumberOfRetries - The number of times that the sequence is to be retried.RetryInterval - Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) between each retry. Continue on Error is a property that specifies if the execution should continue even when the activity throws an error. Keep in mind that, if the ContinueOnError is set to True on an activity that has a scope (such as Attach Window or Attach Browser), then all the errors that occur in other activities inside that scope are also ignored. The Global Exception Handler has 2 predefined arguments, that shouldn't be removed:errorInfo, with the In direction - contains the error that was thrown and the workflow that failed;result, with the Out direction - will store the next behavior of the process when it encounters the error. The Global Exception Handler contains the predefined 2 actions below (that can be removed). Other actions can be added.Log ErrorThis part simply logs the error. The developer gets to choose the logging level: Fatal, Error, Warning, Info, and so on.Choose Next BehaviorHere the developer can choose the action to be taken when an error is encountered during execution: Continue - The exception is re-thrown;Ignore - The exception is ignored, and the execution continues from the next activity;Retry - The activity which threw the exception is retried;Abort - The execution stops after running the current handler.

The UI Explorer

The UI Explorer is the functionality in UiPath Studio that allows analyzing and editing selectors. It contains a status button showing users the state of the selector, a Visual Tree Panel that displays a navigable UI of each application running at that moment, as well as the selected UI element. The UI Explorer displays all the available tags and attributes and gives the option to check them in or out.

When are partial or full selectors used?

The best example of using a Partial Selector would be a simple automation where the deployed workflow only performs actions in the same application without shifting through multiple windows like a simple CRM.On the other hand if the workflow would actually be required to interact with multiple windows like the same CRM and a document, which would make the UI elements required in this particular example dispersed in multiple windows, a Full Selector would be required.

Visual Tree Hierarchy

The hierarchy in the Visual Tree can improve the reliability of a selector by including the tags and attributes of the element that is above in the hierarchy. This is very useful when the target UI element's selector is not reliable, but the selector of the UI element right above in the hierarchy is. However, again, the selector needs further editing and validation, as the dynamic part needs to be removed and, at the same time, you need to make sure that the target element can be identified with a unique attribute.

new Step Out action

The new Step Out action finishes the execution of the current activity and returns to the level of the container, pausing the debugging process.

What are some business scenarios in which fine-tuning is required?

The workflow uses files that have timestamp in the name; The environment in which a workflow was built has different parameters than the production environment (for example, the application version); The use of dynamic selectors would improve the reliability and robustness of the automation.

Find Children

This activity can identify all the children of an element that is more stable. Since its output is the collection of children, you will need to come up with a mechanism to identify only the target UI element (using one of its attributes, that makes is unique between the children, but wouldn't be enough to identify it universally).

Relative Selector

This activity will basically incorporate the information about the anchor's selector in the selector of the target UI element. However, the new selector will probably need additional editing, as some nodes of the first selector will still be in the new one. The solution is to have that part (like a dynamic ID) removed, and the selector will stabilize using the anchor's selector.

What type of fields does ContinueonError Supports?

This field only supports Boolean values (True, False). The default value is False, thus, if the field is blank and an error is thrown, the execution of the project stops. If the value is set to True, the execution of the project continues regardless of any error.

UI AUTOMATION

This is the improved accessibility model from Microsoft, which is recommended when using newer applications in case the default framework does not work as expected.

DEFAULT

This is the proprietary method which usually works correctly with all types of user interfaces.

Anchor Base

This is very useful in cases in which the attribute values are not reliable (are generated at each execution, for example), but there is a UI element that is stable and is linked to the target UI element. The Anchor Base activity has two parts, one to locate the anchor UI element (like 'Find Element'), and the second to perform the desired activity

ACTIVE ACCESSIBILITY

This represents an earlier solution from Microsoft that makes apps accessible. It is recommended when using legacy software, if the default framework does not work as expected.

ElementExists, FindElement, and Find Text-1

To assess if an application is in the Interactive or Complete state, the following tags are verified:Desktop applications - A wm_null message is sent to check the existence of the <wnd>, <ctrl>, <java>, or <uia> tags. If they exist, the activity is executed.Web applications:a. Internet Explorer - The <webctrl> tag is used to check if the Ready state of the HTML document is set to Complete. Additionally, the Busy state has to be set to "False".b. Others - The <webctrl> tag is used to check if the Ready state of the HTML document is Complete.SAP applications - First the presence of the <wnd> tag verified, after which a SAP specific API is used to detect if the session is busy or not.

Define Try ?

Try The activities performed which have a chance of throwing an error.

Define Try Catch Activity?

Try Catch This activity catches a specified exception type in a sequence or activity, and either displays an error notification or dismisses it and continues the execution. As a mechanism, Try Catch runs the activities in the Try block and, if an error takes place, executes the activities in the Catch block. The Finally block is only executed when no exceptions are thrown or when an exception is caught and handled in the Catch block (without being re-thrown).

Restart ribbon option

Use the Restart ribbon option to restart the debugging process from the first activity in the process or the activity from which the Run from this Activity option was triggered.

The Structure of Selectors

User interfaces (UIs) are built using a series of containers nested one inside the other. Let's take the example of a selector for the First name input field in MyCRM Application, and try to understand the meaning of the structure.

DEMO BB

We used an 'Open Browser' activity to open www.rpachallenge.com; We used a 'Find element' activity to locate the "Start" button and store it in a newly created variable; We checked the selector to see if it's valid; We added a 'Wait attribute' activity, copied/pasted the selector and changed the value of the 'aaname' attribute to "Round 1"; We used a 'Highlight' activity to highlight the button; We ran the workflow and demonstrate that the button will be highlighted only after it has been clicked on.

Breakpoints Features

When working with breakpoints, you can now add conditions, a hit count and log a message when hit.

What are some business scenarios in which I will use the Property Explorer?

When you want to start an activity after a certain attribute changed its value (using the Wait Attribute activity) When you want to change the value of an attribute on a webpage, like its visibility (using the Set Attribute activity) When you want to check the state of a certain UI element by checking on an attribute (using the Get Attribute activity)

Ignore the error and Continue.

Whenever an exception is encountered during debugging, you can Break, Ignore the error and Continue. The Retry option re-executes the previous activity, and throws the exception if it's encountered again. These actions are now available in the Debug tab.

What are some business scenarios in which I will use the UI Explorer?

Whenever the selectors that were automatically generated are not stable or adaptable enough, according to the issues previously highlighted: The selectors change from one execution to another The selectors might change following product updates The selectors use unreliable info, such as index.

Call Stack panel

You can monitor the execution of activities, containers and project files by using the Call Stack panel. This panel allows for easy access to the activity which threw an exception.

How to add variables / Arguments to watch panel?

You can right click variables or arguments in the Locals panel to add them to the Watch panel.

What is System.Exception?

all exceptions are types derived from System.Exception, so using this generic type in a Try Catch, for example, will catch all types of errors.

How do you Abort the BOT action

by Assigning result to 'ErrorAction.Abort'

How do you continue the BOT action

by Assigning result to 'ErrorAction.Retry'

How do you throw a business exception?

by using a 'throw exception' activity and updating the message with 'New BusinessRuleException("The values are out of range. >100")'

Determine and describe how robust selectors are created; for example, dynamic versus

dynamically generated selectors, selectors too specific,System changes,selectors using IDX IDX;FileName;App Version;id

What are Exception Handling Activities?

exception handling activities (Try Catch, Retry Scope and Global Exception Handler) and a property that many activities share and can be very valuable - Continue on Error.

Describe how to write coherent log messages and how to use them to debug a process-1

main types of logs generated by the UiPath platform:-Studio Logs-Setup Logs-Orchestrator Diagnostic Logs-Robot Logs The types of logs generated while running processes in studio are a subset of Robot logs, called Robot Execution logs. Robot logs are messages generated by the UiPath Robot. There are two types of Robot Logs: Robot Execution Logs and Robot Diagnostic Logs. Robot Execution Logs describe the execution of processes while Robot Diagnostic Logs describe the functioning of the Robot. We will focus on Robot Execution Logs. Robot Execution LogsRobot Execution logs can be used to supervise, diagnose and debug processes in production, gather process performance data or even track business results like total value of transactions processed. In this lesson, we are focusing on the supervising, diagnosing and debugging aspects. Default Logs are generated automatically when certain events take place. The events logged by this category are: Execution Start is generated every time a process is started (Level = Information)Execution End is generated every time a process is finalized (Level = Information)Transaction Start is generated every time a transaction within a process is started (Level = Information)Transaction End is generated every time a transaction within a process is finalized (Level = Information)Error Log is generated every time the execution encounters an error and stops (Level = Error)Debugging Log is generated if the Robot Logging Setting is set to Verbose and contains, activity names, types, variable values, arguments etc. (Level = Trace) User-Defined Logs are generated according to the process designed by the user in Studio, when using the Log Message activity.

Identify and describe how string manipulation, regular expressions, and string methods are

text.Substring(0, 5) = Takes content 5 characters from the first character from the left (0) text.Substring(4, 6) = Takes content 6 characters from the fourth character from the left (4) text.Subtring(text.Length-3) = Takes contents of 3 characters from the end text.Replace(" ","A") = Replace changes the specified character type to another Removing spaces from text using regex System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(text, "[^a-zA-Z0-9]", "") Join: Concatenates the elements in a collection and displays them as a stringString.Join("|",CollVarName1) Lists (or List<T>, as you will encounter them) are data structures consisting of objects of the same data type (for example string or integer). Each object has a fixed position in the list; thus, it can be accessed by index. While arrays are fixed-size structures for storing multiple objects, lists allow us to add, insert and remove items. MatchesSearches an input string for all occurrences and returns all the successful matches.IsMatchIndicates whether the specified regular expression finds a match in the specified input string.ReplaceReplaces strings that match a regular expression pattern with a specified replacement string.

How do you capture Failed Activity

using 'errorInfo.ActivityInfo.Name'

How do you capture Retry Count

using 'errorInfo.RetryCount'