- Get started
- Best practices
- Capabilities
- Skills
- CLI
- Examples
- Examples overview
- Recipe: build an agent
- Recipe: automate with RPA
- Recipe: enter data into a web app
- Recipe: extract data from a desktop app
- Recipe: refactor and test a workflow
- Recipe: a queue-based process with REFramework
- Recipe: build a Maestro Flow
- Recipe: coded app and API workflow
- Recipe: verify a release with Test Manager
- Recipe: extract data from documents with IXP
- Advanced
- Help
This recipe builds a workflow that reads values from a desktop application that has no API, and writes them to a spreadsheet. It shows the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) sweet spot: getting data out of a system you can only reach through its interface.
Prerequisites
- A coding agent set up for UiPath work, with an authenticated session (see Install and set up).
- The target desktop application installed and reachable, with a record open or searchable.
Build the workflow
-
Open your coding agent in your project folder, with the application running.
-
Describe the task:
"Build an RPA workflow that opens each record listed in
ids.xlsxin our desktop app, reads the customer name, status, and balance, and writes them toexport.xlsx." -
Let the agent capture the fields it needs to read, screen by screen, and register them in the Object Repository.
-
Review which fields it reads and how it moves between records.
-
Ask the agent to run the workflow.
-
Open
export.xlsxand confirm the values match the application. -
Refine the handling for missing records or fields that load slowly.
-
Run the workflow again to confirm the fix.
Result: a workflow that extracts data from an interface-only application into a clean spreadsheet.
Exact activities, captured selectors, and run commands vary by agent, application, and prompt. Confirm success from the exported file against the application, not from the agent's "done" message.