Developer Activities

Last updated Oct 23, 2025

Detect and Analyze an XML File

The following example explains how to use activities such as Deserialize XML or Execute XPath for deserializing and analyzing a XML file. You can find these activities in the UiPath.WebAPI.Activities package.

Note: Download and extract the archive with the project in this example and copy the folder MissingScreenshotSampleProject-ForTestPurposes to your project folder.

This is how the automation process can be built:

Open Studio and create a new Process.

Drag a Sequence container in the Workflow Designer.

Create the following variables:

Variable Name	Variable Type	Default Value
`SelectedProjectPath`	String
`WorkflowXMLString`	String
`WorkflowXML`	XDocument
`ScreenshotAttributes`	Object

Add a Select Folder activity inside the Sequence.
- In the Properties panel, add the variable SelectedProjectPath in the SelectedFolder field.
Add a For Each activity after the Select Folder activity.
- Add the value WorkflowFile in the ForEach field.
- Add the expression Directory.GetFiles(SelectedProjectPath, "*.xaml", SearchOption.AllDirectories) in the Values field.
Add a Read Text File in the Body container of the For Each activity.
- Add the value WorkflowFile in the FileName field.
- In the Properties panel, add the variable WorkflowXMLString in the Content field.
Add a Deserialize XML activity after the Read Text File.
- Add the variable WorkflowXMLString in the XMLString field.
- In the Properties panel, add the value WorkflowXML in the XMLDocument field.
Add an Execute XPath activity after the Deserialize XML activity.
- Add the value WorkflowXML in the Existing XML field.
- Add the expression "//@InformativeScreenshot" in the XPath Expression field.
- In the Properties panel, add the variable ScreenshotAttributes in the Result field.

Add a For Each activity after the Execute XPath activity.

Add the value Attribute in the ForEach field.
Add the expression CType(ScreenshotAttributes, IEnumerable).Cast(Of XAttribute) in the Values field.

Select the Body container of the activity and create the following variable:

Variable Name	Variable Type	Default Value
`ScreenshotFileExists`	Boolean

Add a Log Message activity inside the Body container of the For Each activity.
- Add the expression "Looking for: " + SelectedProjectPath + "\.screenshots\" + Attribute.Value + ".png" in the Message field.
Add a Path Exists activity after the Log Message activity.
- Select the File option from the Path File drop-down list.
- Add the expression SelectedProjectPath + "\.screenshots\" + Attribute.Value + ".png" in the XPath Expression field.
Add an If activity after the Path Exists activity.
- Add the expression Not ScreenshotFileExists in the Condition field.
Add a Log Message activity inside the Then field of the If activity.
- Select the Warn option from the Level drop-down list.
- Add the expression String.Format("Could not find the screenshot file {0}.png referenced by file {1}", Attribute.Value, WorkflowFile) in the Message field.
Run the process. When prompted, select the MissingScreenshotSampleProject-ForTestPurposes folder. The XML workflow file in the folder is read and deserialized. Information about screenshots referenced in the XAML is used to identify and log found and missing screenshots in the folder.