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Studio Web User Guide

DELIVERY:

Automation Cloud Automation Suite

Last updated Oct 22, 2024

Configuring activities

Activities can receive data as input and can generate output data that can be used as input in other activities. Key activity options or properties are visible by default in activity cards, and if an activity has additional properties, you can configure them by selecting Show additional properties.

The Properties panel allows you to control how activity properties appear.

You can also use this panel to change the name of the project or the name of the workflow that is selected in the Project explorer.

To access the panel, select the corresponding icon on the upper-right side of the project page. Inside the Properties panel, you can switch at any time between two views:

Canvas view - All the properties of the selected activity appear in the activity card.
Panel view - All the properties of the selected activity, including advanced properties, appear only in the Properties panel and the activity card is collapsed.

Selecting See more docs image

next to an activity field displays the options for that field. The options for most fields are:

Use variable
Text builder
Create variable
Open expression editor

Note: The available options may vary depending on the data types associated with the field.

Dedicated input controls, editors, and builders are available to help you configure activities depending on the data type, either directly from the activity in the project designer, or from an editor or builder.

Some activities define a scope or the conditions to be met for the execution of other activities added inside them. These are called container activities, and examples include:

For Each activities - Define a collection of items and repeat the activities added inside them once for each of those items.
If - Evaluates a condition and determines the flow of the automation by executing specific activities based on whether the condition is met.
Use Browser - Attaches to a page in your browser and executes all the UI automation activities added inside it on that page.

The following sections describe how you can use some of the available editors and builders.

Expression Editor

Write complex expressions to configure activity properties. The Expression Editor is available for most activity properties and features intelligent code completion for variables, arguments, methods, properties, classes, or keywords. You can write expressions on multiple lines and use Ctrl + Space to see the list of available options. You can also select Insert variable to open the variable selection window and select a variable, argument, or property.

Use Ctrl + F inside the editor to open the search and replace capabilities. The error icon indicates if there is an incompatibility between an expression and the activity property type (for example, using an expression of type String in a property of type Boolean).

You can test the value of valid expressions by selecting Test. Testing expressions that use complex values is currently not supported.

Generate expressions using Autopilot™

You can also utilize natural language to describe your expression using Autopilot™ generative AI capabilities. Instead of manually writing an expression in the Expression Editor, you can use the generate expression field to describe your desired action (for example, “Extract the total revenue from the sales report”).

The AI model will generate an expression based on the provided description, which will then be displayed in the editor. You can then modify the generated expression or accept it as is. The AI model continuously learns from the descriptions you submit, allowing it to refine and improve its performance over time. The model is also capable of using user-defined variables and arguments and is aware of any expression already used.

Select the Fix button next to an error icon and Autopilot will try to fix the mismatch and provide a valid expression. An error message informs you if the expression cannot be fixed automatically.

Example of using the Expression Editor with Autopilot capabilities

A simple way to test the capabilities of Autopilot is to transform a variable from lowercase to uppercase. To do this:

Create a new project with a manual trigger and create a new variable (for example, MyVariable).
Set the variable's type to Text and Default value to "example".
Add a Set Variable Value activity.
In the Set value field, select See more > Open expression editor.
In the generate expression field, type your instructions in natural language (for example, "Convert MyVariable to uppercase").
Select to generate your expression. Optionally, select Test in the Expression Editor to test the new value of the variable.
Select Save to use the expression generated by Autopilot.
In the To variable output field, select MyVariable.
Add a Log Message activity.
In the Message field, write the message you want to log (for example, "My variable, MyVariable, is now uppercase"), and select a log level.
Select Test at the top of the designer to test the automation, and check the run output panel to see the variable changed from lowercase ("example") to uppercase ("EXAMPLE").

Filter Builder

Create a complex filter with one or more conditions. Filters allow your automations to pinpoint the exact items that should be used. For example, most event triggers contain filters that help you determine the exact criteria an event must meet for the automation to start.

To build a filter:

Select the item to filter on from the field on the left. For example, when filtering emails, you can select an email field such as From or Body.
Select an operator from the dropdown in the middle to use for comparing the item. There are multiple operators you can choose from depending on the data type. For example, when filtering emails by sender, you can select the operator contains or does not contain for the From field.
Select from the field on the right the value with which to compare the selected item.

To create a filter with multiple conditions, click Add condition in the Filter Builder and build each additional condition in a similar way. When you add multiple conditions, a dropdown menu appears at the top of the window where you must select when the filter applies: select All (AND) if the filter applies when all the conditions are met, or Any (OR) if the filter applies when any of the conditions is met.

Example of building a filter

You are designing an automation that is triggered by the File Created event in OneDrive or Google Drive and you only want the automation to run when files with the extensions are created: pdf, tif, jpg, png, jpeg.

In the trigger activity, select Additional filters to open the Filter Builder.
Add a condition for each file extension to include in the filter by selecting Extension from the first field, contains from the second field, and entering an extension in the third field.
Select Any (OR) from the dropdown at the top of the window to indicate that the creation of files with any of the extensions should trigger the automation.

Condition Builder

Define a true or false statement that an activity evaluates to determine how the automation should continue.

To build a condition:

Select a first value to compare from the field on the left, for example a variable from your project.
Select an operator from the dropdown in the middle to use for comparing the first value. There are multiple operators you can choose from depending on the data type.: greater than, greater than or equal, less than, less than or equal, equals, not equals, is empty text, is not empty text, is true, is false, starts with, does not start with, ends with, does not end with, contains, does not contain, has value, has no value, list is empty, list is not empty.
Depending on the operator, you may also need to select from the field on the right a second value with which to compare the first value.

To create a statement with multiple conditions, click Add in the Condition Builder and provide the same information for each additional statement. When you add multiple statements, a dropdown menu appears at the top of the window where you must select when the statement is true: select

All
                     (AND)

if the statement is true when all the conditions are met, or Any (OR) if the statements is true when any of the conditions are met.

Example of building a condition

You are designing an automation that moves every file that is created in a certain folder in your Google Drive or OneDrive to one of two folders based on the size of each file: files 1MB or over go to the Big files folder, while files under 1MB go to the Small files folder.

Configure the File Created trigger.
Add an If activity and click the Condition field to open the Condition Builder.
In the Condition Builder, add the condition "the file size is less than 1MB". We will use the SizeInBytes property of the created file, and 1MB = 1000000 Bytes.
1. Click the first field, and select File Created > Show more > File > SizeInBytes.
2. From the middle field, select less than.
3. In the third field, enter 1000000, and then click Save.
We will then add two Move File activities to move the created file as follows:
- One activity in the Then branch of the If activity. This is the activity executed when the condition is met (the file size is under 1MB) so we will select Small files as the destination folder.
- The other activity in the Else branch of the If activity. This is the activity executed when the condition is not met (the file size is not under 1MB) so we will select Big files as the destination folder.

Collection Builder

Create a collection of items of the same type.

To build a collection, select the item, and then select Add entry for each entry you want to add.

Example of building a collection

You are designing an automation that where you retrieved files in two different download activities. You then want to upload the files to OneDrive or Google Drive using one Upload Files activity.

In the Upload Files activity, select See more > Build a collection of files next to the File(s) field.
Select Click to open the collection builder.
Select Add, then click the first field and select the output of the first Download File activity. Repeat for the output of the second activity, and then click Save.

Date and Time Selector

Select a date from the calendar and a time of day (hour and minute). Available for fields that require a date and time value.

When using a variable in a field that accepts date and time values, snippets are also available, enabling you to quickly add common date and time variables: