UI Automation Activities

Studio features activities that simulate any type of keyboard or mouse input that a human would use. Also, there are activities that can set focus to a certain window, minimize or maximize it, or perform any other kind of action on it. These activities are essential in creating an automation that simulates human behaviour. As explained here, there are several technologies that can be used for these activities, each with their own advantages in certain situations.

Click, Hover are activities that simulate the clicking or hovering of UI elements. These activities are very useful in situations when human behavior must be mimicked. As input, these activities receive a Target, which can be either a Region variable, a UIElement variable or a selector, that helps you identify what you want to automate and where the actions must be performed. The target can also be automatically generated by using the Indicate on Screen functionality, which tries to identify UI elements in the indicated region, and generates selectors for them. If this does not work for you, then manual intervention might be required.

Type Into sends keystrokes to a UI element. Special keys are supported and can be selected from the drop-down list. This is a basic text input activity that is widely used in automations and is also generated by the automatic recording wizards. As input, this activity receives a string or a string variable that contains the text to be written, and a Target, which can be either a Region variable, a UIElement variable or a selector, that helps you identify what you want to automate and where the actions must be performed. The target can also be automatically generated by using the Indicate on Screen functionality, which tries to identify UI elements in the indicated region, and generates selectors for them. If this does not work for you, then manual intervention might be required.

Type Secure Text sends a secure string to a UI element. As input, this activity receives a SecureString variable that contains the text to be written, and a Target, which can be either a Region variable, a UIElement variable or a selector, that helps you identify what you want to automate and where the actions must be performed. The target can also be automatically generated by using the Indicate on Screen functionality, which tries to identify UI elements in the indicated region, and generates selectors for them. If this does not work for you, then manual intervention might be required. This activity is useful for secure automations, as it can use passwords that are stored in SecureString variables. Usually, the SecureString variable is supplied by a Get Secure Credential activity.

Send Hotkey sends keyboard shortcuts to a UI element. This activity is useful for accessing shortcuts in applications and can help you simplify your automation project. For example, you can replace multiple activities that perform UI automation if there is a keyboard shortcut available for revealing certain UI elements or performing specific actions. As input, this activity receives a string or a string variable that contains the keys to be sent, and a Target, which can be either a Region variable, a UIElement variable or a selector, that helps you identify what you want to automate and where the actions must be performed. The target can also be automatically generated by using the Indicate on Screen functionality, which tries to identify UI elements in the indicated region, and generates selectors for them. If this does not work for you, then manual intervention might be required.

Set Focus sets keyboard focus to a specified UI element. The ability to bring a certain window to the foreground is essential when performing image and text automation. As input, this activity receives a Target, which can be either a Region variable, a UIElement variable or a selector, that helps you identify what you want to automate and where the actions must be performed. The target can also be automatically generated by using the Indicate on Screen functionality, which tries to identify UI elements in the indicated region, and generates selectors for them. If this does not work for you, then manual intervention might be required.